Karlee Nurthen won the race that every ironwoman wants to win but she wasn’t even partly satisfied

She’s the world’s best ironwoman but when Karlee Nurthen crossed the line in first place at the World Surf Lifesaving Championships last December, she felt nothing.

SHE’S the world’s best ironwoman but when Karlee Nurthen crossed the line in first place at the World Surf Lifesaving Championships last December, she felt nothing.

After finishing 20th and 9th in the opening two rounds of the Nutri-Grain series last summer, the 23-year-old arrived at Adelaide’s Glenelg Beach trapped in a ‘funk’ she couldn’t seem to escape.

Karlee Nurthen has qualifed for the nutri-grain series and will compete in round 2 this weekend. She moved clubs in the off season from Currumbin to Surfers to help combat losing her love for the sport. Picture Glenn Hampson

“I wasn’t loving it as much as I should,” the Currumbin turned Surfers Paradise athlete said.

“I’d go to training and get home and cry.”

Surf athletes are supposed to be made of iron, but blood tests revealed that Nurthen was anything but as the source of her emotional state was in partly uncovered.

“We did some blood tests and found out my iron levels were really low and I was basically racing with pneumonia,” she said.

Nurthen’s iron reading came back at a level of 28, a far cry from the 100-150 required range for elite athletes.

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The Mooloolaba product kicked off her world’s campaign with a women’s board final win in choppy conditions, beating four fellow paddlers in a sprint to the finish and paving the way for her ironwoman victory.

“I had a good start in the board and own that so I thought just to go into the iron final happy and then I got to the front and got a wave in,” she said.

“Because I was in such a down and I guess depressed state, I felt like I didn’t win.

“It’s one of the biggest races you can win and I felt nothing.”

Karlee Nurthen from the Currumbin Surf Club wins gold at the the Ocean women's event at Glenelg in the Lifesaving World Championships. Picture: Supplied

As the summer drew to an end, Nurthen decided she needed a change and so made the jump from the Vikings to Surfers Paradise where she now trains under Zayne Hamill.

Not even a 40 minute drive to training can dampen the Currumbin’s resident mood because she’s finally ‘happy’ again.

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“Currumbin was great while I was there but I just needed a new mindset because I lost my love for the sport,” she said.

“I’d met Zayne a few times over the years and we always got along really well but he’s honestly a gift from god.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t get a call or text from him.

“I feel like I’m home.”

Karlee Nurthen has qualifed for the nutri-grain series and will compete in round 2 this weekend. She moved clubs in the off season from Currumbin to Surfers to help combat losing her love for the sport. Picture Glenn Hampson

Nurthen qualified for the Nutri-Grain series at the trial in September and will now get the chance to put her winter wares to the test at Burleigh this Sunday.

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“Nobody knew the points total (at the trial) and then the speaker called out the first four names and then paused and I thought ‘oh god I haven’t made it’ but then they said ‘Karlee’ and I was like ‘thank the lord’ and was just so relieved,” she said.