My life in sport: Daniel Moodie

Daniel Moodie's move to Queensland has helped him make it to the elite ranks of surf lifesaving. Photo / Supplied

Hawkes Bay surf lifesaver Daniel Moodie will next year make the giant leap to the elite ranks of the sport, after qualifying for the lucrative Kelloggs series in Australia earlier this month.

The 22-year-old Westshore club member secured one of 11 qualifying spots in Tugun, Gold Coast, and will line up in the A$250,000 ($320,000) five-round series starting in January.

The four-time New Zealand Ironman champion is just the third Kiwi male to break into the professional ranks, after Cory Hutchings and Glenn Anderson.

It is a goal Moodie has been chasing for a few years now, but making the move across the Tasman in March 2008 to join the powerful Northcliffe club in Queensland has helped push him to the next level.

Northcliffe has had a stranglehold on the Australian titles for the past three years and is under the guidance of Australian surf sports coach of the year, Pat O'Keefe. The training is as intense as the racing, which suits Moodie perfectly.

"There'll be training sessions where I'm among current and former world ironman champions, and we'll all be pushing each other to go harder and faster - if you drop off someone's wake you will know all about it," said Moodie.

What did you have to do to qualify for the series?

Well, we had three rounds of Ironman and for each round you had to do three races - heats and finals - and they accumulated points from each round. And the top 11 competitors got through. I've had a couple of goes at qualifying - last year I got a reserve position, so this is the first time I've made it.

How much of a step up will it be?

It's definitely a huge step up. The competition will be heaps tougher, but it'll be good to get more race experience against those top guys. You've just got to go in there and not make mistakes or those guys will punish you.

What's the training load been like as you prepare for the series?

It's definitely been a lot more intense since I qualified, we've been doing a lot more different stuff. There's probably half-a-dozen guys in our club that are right up there that I sort of train with, three of the top four guys from last year train in the same club as myself [Northcliffe on the Gold Coast] so it's quite good in that way.

How does the Ironman series work?

It's all based on Ironman racing and this year it's gone back to individual competition. There's five rounds and each round you accumulate points, the fifth round is double points, which goes towards the overall title for the series. But throughout every round there's different formats, some rounds are dash for cash, one round is the athlete's choice, so the competitors decide how it works, other ones are eliminator rounds so every round so many people drop out and things like that.

Sounds pretty cut-throat ...

Yeah definitely. After they dish out the wildcards there's only around 20 people in the competition so it's pretty small fields so if you make mistakes it really costs you.

How big is the sport over in Australia?

It's pretty huge over here. Just Queensland State competitions are the same size as New Zealand nationals. There's a lot more media coverage and big sponsorship deals.

Who are considered the superstars in the sport over there?

At the moment for the guys - Shannon Eckstein, Zane Holmes and Ky Hurst. Those are the ones everyone is trying to catch at the moment. Those guys are the more consistent performers and I'd say every round they'll be up near the top of the field.

How did you come to be involved with surf lifesaving?

I used to swim a wee bit when I was younger and one of my friends became involved with surf lifesaving and so I tagged along with him one day and really enjoyed it. It was heaps of fun mucking around and a lot better [than] swimming up and down a pool all day so I just kept on going with it.

When you were a kid were there any other sports you fancied yourself as a future star in?

Nah, not really. Like most Kiwi kids I sort of tried a bit of every sport when I was younger but you sort of run out of time to do everything. Swimming took up quite a lot of time and then I ended up getting full-on into surf just because it was heaps of fun and more recently that's what's taken priority.

Can you make a decent living out of the Ironman series?

Unless you're winning, nah not really. I was talking to Ky Hurst [seven-time Australian Ironman champion] and when he was 17 he made $150,000 - that was for winning the series and now you win 11 grand for winning the series, so it's sort of dropped off a bit in the last few years.

Why has the prize money dropped off?

A few years ago there were two rival series so they tried to buy each other off and things like that. I think there was a Kellogs series and an Uncle Toby's series and they each shelled out big money to get the top guys to go compete for their series.

What's the best thing about surf sports?

Definitely getting to be at the beach all day in the sun.

And the worst thing?

Probably the early mornings. Swimming training starts at 5.15am. We do five mornings a week and then there are five midday or afternoon sessions a week as well so it's pretty full-on.

What's your greatest achievement of your sporting career?

Probably winning back-to-back Ironmans in New Zealand from 2006-2009. And also winning board at the World Games [in Taiwan this year] was pretty cool.

What has been your greatest disappointment?

Probably not moving over here [Gold Coast] a bit earlier. I've been here about two years now but I kind of regret not moving over sooner so I could have experienced that sort of competition and trained with better teams when I was younger. There's a lot more people doing it over here so it's a lot easier to turn up to training every day when all your mates are doing the same. Also the programmes over here are a lot more professional and you get more coaching support.

Who was your sporting hero growing up?

I suppose when I started getting into surf I really looked up to people like Cory Hutchings and Ky Hurst.

What do you do to get away from competitive sport?

Just have a few beers with friends and relax really. I've also started to get into surfing a wee bit.