JOSH TURNS BACK THE CLOCK AS TARA CLAIMS A SPOT IN THE BIG TIME

February 20: Newcastle's veteran Ironman Josh Blair has qualified for his first Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman final since 2006 with a gut-busting sprint to the finish in today's qualifying round at North Cronulla.

Blair, 32, took the third and final qualifier's place in tomorrow's series when he finished behind young guns Hayden White and Hayden Allum.

In the women's qualifier, Tara Coleman, the 19-year-old daughter of former South Sydney rugby league star Craig Coleman, won her way into the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain series at her third attempt, by winning from Maddison Prior and Harriet Brown.

They will all line up in the climax of the $250,000 series at North Cronulla tomorrow, taking on the best Ironman and Ironwoman competitors in the country.

Shannon Eckstein (Northcliffe) holds a commanding lead in the Ironman series, with High Dougherty (Tugun) and Ky Hurst (Kurrawa) hoping the surf throws up some surprises as they try to catch the 2009 champion.

Hayley Bateup (Kurrawa) leads the Ironwoman pointscore but is only two points ahead of Coolangatta Gold winner Alicia Marriott (Mooloolaba) and four clear of defending champion Naomi Flood (Manly).

Blair, from Swansea-Belmont, was once among the top echelon of Ironman competitors but has been off the scene for the past few years.

He only decided to contest today's qualifier two weeks ago and was happy to get the chance to take on the sport's stars once again.

"It's one thing to go well today but tomorrow will be another challenge altogether," he said.

"I hope I can recover well and get up feeling good tomorrow.

"The guys competing tomorrow are at a whole different level and it will be interesting to see what my level of performance is compared to them with the Australian championships just around the corner."

Blair struggled to remember the last time he had competed alongside the best in the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series but a few calculations helped him work out it was probably 2006.

His CV remains mightily impressive, having been the under-16 Australian Ironman champion in 1993, the national under-18 champion in 1994 and the NSW Open Ironman champion in 2000.

He even finished third at the world championships in 2000, with the winner on that occasion being his good mate Phil Clayton, now the coach of Nutri-Grain Series leading lights Hurst and Bateup.

Clayton was one of the first people on the beach to congratulate Blair today.

Blair and clubmate Adrian Tobin decided to tackle today's race after fighting out a sprint finish in the Ironman final at the recent Newcastle branch championships.

"I've been doing what training I can, fitting it in around work," the sales executive for Toohey's said.

"A few of us decided to get some club teams together to contest the State and Australian championships but this was never a goal."

He needed another big sprint to make it through today after he hit the beach for the run to the finish level with rivals Scott Smith, Ben Squiers and Ryan O'Grady.

With White (Warilla Barrack Point) and Allum (Wanda) safely over the line, that quartet were fighting out the final qualifying place.

Calling on his years of experience, Blair put himself in the best position and was first up and running off the ski.

Smith looked as if he may run down the old man of the field but Blair was able to hold on.

In the women's race, Coleman (Maroubra) ensured her persistence paid off by scoring a comfortable victory.

She had tried to qualify for the series in the trials last December and at the qualifying race before rounds one and two at Kurrawa last month but missed out on both occasions.

It was third time lucky for the youngster after she picked up a broken wave in the swim leg to open up a big lead and was able to safely negotiate the ski leg to cross well clear of Prior (Warilla Barrack Point) and Brown (Northcliffe), who has made it successfully through the three qualifying races in this year's series.

For Coleman the victory was a great morale boost after a tough week in which she had seen a 17-year-old friend die suddenly last Monday. She wore a black arm band today as a mark of respect.

Also very happy at the victory was her rugby league legend father who will be back at North Cronulla to support his daughter today, along with Tara's godfather, another South Sydney hero, Mario Fenech.

The final round will be contested in the Eliminator format with the 2 competitors in the men's and women's races staring the first race. The field will be whittled down to 15 for the second race and the top 10 for the third and deciding race.

The action starts at North Cronulla at 11.30am, with live television coverage on the Seven network.