Coolangatta Gold champion Ali Day wants to take on race king Caine Eckstein

FOUR-time Coolangatta Gold champion Ali Day says he is excited at the prospect of taking on race king Caine Eckstein in a showdown between the pair.

Ali Day wins the Coolangatta Gold. Photo: Harvpix.com

FOUR-time Coolangatta Gold champion Ali Day says he is excited at the prospect of taking on race king Caine Eckstein in a showdown between the pair.

Day won his fourth title from four attempts in the great race yesterday to sit just one title shy of Eckstein, who holds the record with five Gold crowns.

Taking inspiration from comments Eckstein made in the Gold Coast Bulletin before the race, Surfers Paradise ironman Day cruised to the line to win by almost eight minutes from Kurrawa’s Matt Bevilacqua in a dominant performance. The win sets up the prospect of a mouth-watering clash between Day and Eckstein next season.

And while Day was keen to soak in another win in the 41.8km race, he is already looking ahead to next season and the prospect of a clash against Eckstein.

“I think everyone since I first did the race has matched us together and they all want us to do it,’’ Day said.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for him and his family and they’ve just made me want to do this sport since I was a young kid.

“I remember seeing Caine in his first Coolangatta Gold and thinking, ‘holy crap, how can this guy do that?’

“I just wanted to be like him.

“Hopefully, the respect’s mutual and I’ll see how things go next year, but I will enjoy this fourth one and worry about it (later).’’

Ali Day works hard on the board leg. Photo: Harvpix.com

Eckstein bypassed this year’s Gold after deciding to race at the world titles in the Netherlands last month and train for the gruelling Coast to Coast multi-sport marathon in New Zealand.

But he said he would relish the prospect of defending his record in a clash with Day next season.

“I read the article (in Saturday’s Bulletin) and it gave me a lot of inspiration,’’ Day said of Eckstein’s support for his fourth win.

“Caine said he was going for me and I really respect that and I think the respect is mutual between the both of us.

“He was one of the main reasons I wanted to tackle the race three or four years ago and I saw him on the course again today like last year and high fived him.

“If (a match-up) happens next year it happens.”

Day will now turn his attention to the Nutri-Grain series in February, an event in which he finished second to Shannon Eckstein last summer.

With the shortened series not on until February, the 26-year-old is likely to rest up bef­ore heading into Summer of Surf events after straining his calf just over a week ago, an inj­ury that threatened his place in yesterday’s race.

“It’s a relief for me (to win), you put a lot of preparation into it,’’ said Day, who made a decisive break from Bevilacqua in the swim leg and pressed his advantage out on the board leg to ensure he did not face a sprint finish.

“I had a bit of a calf injury during the week and that wasn’t great.

“I was at the physio a couple of hours every day this week.

“I had an amazing team around me to get me to the line. I had a fitness test done by my physio Brad Beer (on Saturday) and he said it was all good to go, and I’m just really grateful that I got to the start line and got to finish the run off,’’ he said.

The word “believe’’ scraw­led on his hand provided a rem­inder of the enormous preparation Day had for the event and his ability to compete regardless of his injury.

“I wrote that this morning just because of the situation this week,’’ he said.