Gold tempting Minogue back

JOSH Minogue says the lure of competing against the world's best ironmen in the toughest race on the planet could prompt him to return for another dig.

Josh Minogue wants a crack at the Coolangatta Gold when all the big guns are competing. Picture: Brett Wortmanscnaussies

JOSH Minogue says the lure of competing against the world’s best endurance ironmen in the toughest race on the planet could prompt him to return for another dig at the torture test.

Mooloolaba’s Minogue finished third in last year’s Coolangatta Gold, coming in behind four-time champion Caine Eckstein and Cory Hill.

While the podium placing was his best result in the Gold Coast race, it came against a weakened field, with a number of the sport’s top athletes opting not to race because it was scheduled just two weeks before the lucrative Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ironman Series.

This season’s Ironman Series doesn’t begin until December, with the Gold to be raced on September 25, and Minogue said the scheduling could entice some big names to return to compete for the $20,000 prize.

“With that gap, it’ll entice a lot more guys to do it,” Minogue said yesterday.

“It could be a better field and that’s what I’m looking for.

“The top guys have opted out for the last few years but if there are 10 or 12 guys it’ll be hard to say no.”

Eckstein has won the race the past three years, with Dicky Beach’s Rhys Drury winning it in 2007.

Minogue, 24, returned to training last week with his Mooloolaba clubmates and while his chances of winning the race would be diminished if the top ironmen returned, he said that was just the type of challenge he was looking for.

“I want to do it well.

"Getting third last year was great but I know I can do better,” he said.

“Hopefully I can be better and challenge Caine for the title.”

Minogue finished 15th in the 2010-11 Ironman Series and did not gain automatic qualification for the upcoming series.

He has his sights set on the August 27-28 trials for the series at Noosa Heads and says he will make a decision on the Gold after that.

“I’m pretty keen. My heart’s saying do it but the head’s saying hold out and see how the trial goes,” he said.

“Kingy (coach Michael King) wants me to do that, so I’ll listen to him and if he says we’ll go for it then I will.”

Originally published as Gold tempting Minogue back