Surf Lifesaving: Moodie out for fifth win

Daniel Moodie has seen his training schedule badly affected but is still in good form. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

There's already been tragedy, tribulations and a tsunami - now surf lifesaving star Dan Moodie wants to add another title to his alliterative resume this season.

The Hawke's Bay-born ironman heads to the black sands of Ohope Beach in the Eastern Bay of Plenty this week, for the four-day national championships starting on Thursday.

Still only 22 and now based in Queensland, Moodie will be hunting a fifth consecutive New Zealand surf lifesaving ironman title.

To put that feat into perspective, a bloke named Cory Hutchings had won three at the same age, though he ended up with an astonishing 11. The only others to win four titles are Olympic kayaker Ian Ferguson and Waimairi's Geoff Walker.

After making his debut on Australia's Kellogg's Nutrigrain series this year, you'd expect Moodie to be in the form of his life, ready to sweep all before him.

"Not quite," the Westshore club member explains.

"The season's been long and I haven't had a weekend off since early January. That's starting to hit me now -6 Kellogg's is over and it's almost like my body wants to start winding down."

The tragedy aspect came late in January when his father and staunchest supporter John died suddenly. It threatened to rip his season apart, though mum Debbie, his two siblings and the rest of the surf lifesaving fraternity quickly rallied around.

He also injured a foot at the Lion Foundation Surf League in Mount Maunganui three weeks ago and has been doing it tough, scraping by on a wage from craft manufacturer Dolphin while still trying to train fulltime.

"This season has just been all over the show - it's probably been the worst year for training because I just haven't been able to put as much effort in," said Moodie.

"The strange thing is that I've been getting better results, which is weird. That's really made me want to put my head down this coming winter and just go for it."

Moodie finished 17th in the Australian series, with a best result of 11th. His Northcliffe (Australia) clubmate Shannon Eckstein romped home to claim his fifth series title, equalling the record of another Northcliffe lifeguard, Zane Holmes.

All three superstars were on New Zealand sands last week, ambassadors at the Ocean Athletes under-14 national championships in Mount Maunganui, which had the last day ruined because of the Chilean tsunami warnings.

Holmes is sitting out this season with a back injury but double world champion Eckstein could see first-hand the improvement in his young Kiwi clubmate.

"It's always tough in your first year on the series because the races are a lot different from a normal surf carnival but he'll be better for the year and he'll adjust for next season," Eckstein said.

"He's a talented kid and a very good board paddler and he's got some things to work on for next year but you can learn a lot on the go, especially when you're young."

Moodie will also be defending his surf race title in Ohope and wants to grab back his board race crown which he won two years ago at the same venue - but which he lost last year in Gisborne when Mount Maunganui's Andrew Newton outsprinted him up the beach.

On that front, he's still got a long way to go to catch nine-time board champ Hutchings.

But that's what Moodie who burst onto the national scene as a fresh-faced schoolboy in New Plymouth in 2006 loves so much about coming back to these shores.

"There's something about coming home and racing - I know there's a lot more pressure and I've got a target on my back - but I love nationals and I wouldn't miss it for anything."