Open letter from Iron X founder Mike Porra

The man behind the controversial Iron X concept has his say on why the sport must get on board.

LAST year I received a call from Surf Life Saving Australia CEO Adam Weir to discuss the future of elite sports programs in surf lifesaving. 

Being a lifelong surf club member, I was delighted to agree to help with a review of their iron racing program.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF UGLY SURF LIFESAVING FEUD

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN: $5 A MONTH FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS

It had been decades since I was involved in the sport at the elite level and I was surprised to learn how it was performing. 

DON’T KNOCK IT UNTIL YOU TRY IT: Ironman’s plea

National media coverage, TV ratings, athlete profiles, crowds on the beach and commercial investment were all at their lowest ever level.

Mike Porra.

Commercial sponsorship was particularly worrying with the total commercial investment in the Nutri-Grain series down to one fifth of what it was only five years earlier.

Any further diminishment of commercial sponsorship in the sport would mean it would be almost impossible to conduct the elite series at all.

The SLSA board and CEO also saw these trends as worrisome and recognized that action was needed.

HENDY CAN’T WAIT FOR NEW SEASON

While this information was hard for many surf clubs and competitors to hear, the facts were undeniable and showed that not taking any action would essentially spell the end for the Nutri-Grain Series.

 The SLSA board recognized just how important iron racing and the elite sports are to the whole surf lifesaving movement.

It inspires young people to get involved in sport, attracting more people to get active. 

Surf lifesaving is a national icon and Aussies love to see our fit surf lifesavers battling the elements, showcasing their lifesaving prowess.

So, something really exciting and even revolutionary needed to be done to re-engage the national media with a view to putting iron racing back at the top of Australian summer sport.

The concept behind Nutri-Grain Iron X is based around the inarguable positioning that the ironmen and ironwomen are some of the fittest and most skillful athletes on earth. 

The task was to create a concept that categorically proved that positioning.

BRING IN CHANGE AND I’LL QUIT: Ironman’s threat

So SLSA, with my assistance, set out to create a race that would test the competitors to their absolute limit and thereby prove to sports followers across the country that our ironmen and ironwomen are almost super human.

We looked at trends across the globe in fitness-based sports.

The CrossFit World Games were held in the USA last year in front of 80,000 spectators and televised live around the world.

Obstacle racing now has 10 million competitors worldwide. Spartan and Tough Mudder are global phenomenons.

Then in the ocean, stand up paddling is one of the fastest growing participation sports in the world with five million paddlers in the USA and almost 250,000 in Australia.

So Nutri-Grain Iron X takes some of these hugely popular disciplines and combines them with the traditional iron legs of swim, board and ski paddling to create the toughest and most spectacular multi discipline ocean race in history.

SIGN UP NOW FOR OUR FULL ON FOOTY GOLD COAST NEWSLETTERS

The race will be telecast live on Fox Sports and news coverage will be sent to networks across Australia and around the world.

The race will pit the best traditional ironmen and ironwomen against the greatest all round ocean athletes, like world No.1 stand up paddler and ironman Lincoln Dews, a proud member of Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club.

So next Australia Day weekend on beautiful Mooloolaba Beach, in front of a huge

crowd and on live television, we will crown Australia’s greatest all-round ocean athletes.

Importantly however, Nutri-Grain Iron X is a one-off trial race and not the only iron racing fans will have the chance to see this summer.

There will also be the traditional five rounds of the Nutri-Grain ironman and ironwoman series across Queensland and New South Wales beaches.

All shown live on Fox Sports as well. As for the future?

SLSA have not made a decision beyond running this one-off trial event.

But let’s say Nutri-Grain Iron X does capture the imagination of Australia’s media and

the general sporting public, would that be such a bad thing?