The Nutri-Grain series comes to a head this weekend with Sunday afternoon’s final at Coogee beach in Sydney.

I’d love to see a heap of fans down there this Sunday as I try and overhaul Shannon Eckstein in my attempt to go back-to-back and claim my sixth Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ironman title.

Heading into the weekend, I’m feeling very confident in my ability to win the final round and heap the pressure on Shannon.

Like last year I know all I can do is win and then hope someone splits us in the final race.

This will be my fifth start in a final of this format and I have won three of the past four, so I have good reason to feel confident.

With the eliminator format I will be trying to do as little work as possible in the early rounds while still progressing to the next.

As for Shannon, we’re mates but he still has the spectre of last year’s fourth in the final hanging over him.

I read during the week that Shannon described his fourth place in last year’s final race as “one of the worst races of my career” and it’s hard to disagree with him. Shannon is a top competitor and so consistent that finishing fourth for him is out of character and come Sunday I know he will be out to avenge last year’s loss.

However there will be pressure on from some of the guys who are on the bubble of automatically qualifying for the 2010 series. The top six competitors from this season are automatically invited back and there are several guys fighting for those spots.

Nathan Smith, Pierce Leonard, Corey Jones, Hugh Dougherty and Wes Berg are all in the mix to grab the final three spots and will be pushing hard to get them and maybe one of them can split Shannon and I, provided I win.

Pierce did it last year and in the probable flat conditions at Coogee I wouldn’t be shocked if he was a factor in the finish once again.

When it comes to the way the weekend is set out we won’t be in the water till around 2pm and for me that’s not ideal.

I like to get the racing over as early as possible so I’m not sitting around trying not to waste energy, but I will attack the day as best as I can.

I always feel better if I get some early morning activity in, so I will probably rise early on Sunday and go for a ski, run or swim and come back grab some breakfast before tuning out while watching a movie.

I think I handle the waiting better then I used to and, while I don’t really enjoy waiting and the nerves building up, I do enjoy the buzz of knowing I will be competing in the final.

That buzz will be building up from today when we begin our promotional and media commitments, but the part I am most looking forward to is putting a smile on some kid’s faces at The Children’s Hospital today.

Media day is Friday and from there it will really feel like it is time to be on the big stage.

I’ve talked about the men’s race but it’s the women’s final and the team’s event which are the most open.

In the women’s event I think it is hard to go past Naomi Flood, but history shows upsets do happen and if one does I would expect Krystyl Smith to be the cause.

Speaking of Floody I heard she wants to take the team title away from us at the Telstra Southern Queensland Sunfish or as she called us “The Hollywood All Stars”. Well we won’t be giving that up easily to her Northern NSW Hammers and I think if everyone in our team races to the best of their ability this weekend we can take the team title for the third straight year.

Make sure you check out my video page where I just added new videos on training and surf lifesaving.

Looking forward to the weekend - Zane

I can’t hide my disappointment at the way my weekend went at Coolum. We had some big, rough conditions I felt I should have thrived in but I came up short on both Saturday and Sunday and will now head into the final at Coogee in a fortnight, three points adrift of Shannon Eckstein.
 
Funnily enough [...]

The weekend off was just what I needed as I watched 21-year-old swimmer Melanie Schlanger  take out the 20th Sunshine Coast Sportsperson of the Year award.
 
The guest speaker was a bit of a hero too – Wally ‘The King’ Lewis who was filling the role. Hearing him tell his stories of some intense rugby [...]