Shannon Eckstein will make his racing return at the Gold Coast classic ocean race this weekend
Gold Coast ironman great Shannon Eckstein has revealed his next racing move.
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GOLD Coast ironman great Shannon Eckstein has revealed his next racing move, with the six-time world ironman champion set to swap his white and marron cap for an ocean ski this weekend.
After dominating the sport for 17 years, Eckstein retired at the conclusion of the 2019 Aussies but will make his racing return this weekend at the Gold Coast Classic Ocean Race.
“It’s been four months since the Aussies and I spent two of them doing absolutely nothing but then I got to a point where I wanted to get a bit more active,” he said.
“I’m working full time now but it’s been good to get out on the water early in the morning.
“This is the first big race of the ocean ski racing season with races in Hong Kong and Perth to come so I’ll be trying to get to them later in the year.”
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Even four months on from his surf life saving retirement, Eckstein said his competitiveness is yet to wane after he joined a paddling group a few weeks ago.
“Once you start the session, you always want to be up the front and to compete so you don’t lose competitiveness,” he said.
Eckstein will today come up against a star studded field, including Olympic medallist Ken Wallace, Jordan Mercer and Cory Hill but the great doesn’t expect to produce the sort of form that saw him win nine Nutri-Grain series.
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“It’s a world class field,” he said.
“Hopefully by November, I’m up the pointy end of the field but I probably haven’t done enough training to be up there this weekend.”
The Gold Coast Classic ocean race begins today at 1pm.
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