Completing one Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain IronMan race is tough. Completing a whole Nutri-Grain Series of races, even tougher. Doing it year after year for 15 seasons, just plain crazy.
Add in running two businesses, finding time to train three hours a day and starting a young family, and you’d wonder where you’d even find the energy to make the start line.
If you think it sounds pretty hectic, it is. Just ask Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park’s Nutri-Grain IronMan Series competitor Wes Berg.
The 32-year old Berg is once again producing a top season. He is at his consistent best, extending his run of top 10 finishes to nine in two seasons, and currently sits in seventh place overall.
And while a prized top three podium finish eludes the former Nutri-Grain Series runner-up, Berg said he wouldn’t change a thing so long as he was still able to compete in the sport he loves.
“I am so stoked with where I’m at,” Berg said.
“There’s always a case of going better, but the way I look at it with my family commitments and business commitments, I don’t get a chance to train as much as the younger guys, so to be where I am is very pleasing.
“Of course being able to get on the podium is what we aim for, and at the start of the year that was definitely the aim, but with such the high level of talent we have, to be in seventh, and at age 32, it is a great reward.
“Sunday’s race in Perth, though, was such a hard slog. I reckon it is the hardest race I’ve done in my 15-year career and I’m still recovering from it.
“To get ninth though, was great and to see some of the other old blokes like Hugh (Dougherty), Rhys (Drury), Ky (Hurst) and Phil (Clayton) also do so well was even better.”
However, there was no stopping for Berg after the 22.8km event. He was straight back on a plane to the Gold Coast to get back into the thick of things.
“After the marathon I got straight on the red-eye flight to be back at training with my world junior surfing guys. I only got into Perth late as well, so it’s been a pretty hectic time for me,” Berg said.
“It’s only going to get worse, I think. The ASP tour starts up soon on the Gold Coast and we have the last two Kellogg’s IronMan races in Coolum and Noosa so it’s all hands on deck.
“I definitely have to thank my wife Jade for all the help during these times. Competing and being in the surf is part of me and being able to do all of it is great.”
Berg, who needs just two more top 10 finishes in Coolum and Noosa to ensure himself a berth in next year’s Nutri-Grain Series, said that while last weekend’s round in Perth was tough, it definitely had earned its place in the Nutri-Grain Series.
“Look, Perth definitely has a massive future. Whether it is a marathon again or we go down to somewhere like Margaret River, I don’t know. But the reaction we got from the people of Perth was amazing,” he said.
“On Friday for example, Sam (Hamilton), Rhys (Drury), Courtney (Hancock), Harriet (Brown) and myself did a nipper clinic up at Mullaloo where there was over 270 kids.
“There was music pumping and microphones for all of us to talk to the kids, and overall it was really well run and the kids had a ball.
“They clearly appreciated us up there, so it’s great for the Series and from a personal point of view these chances are great to be able to put back into the sport we love so much.”
The Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain IronMan Series now heads to Coolum on the Sunshine Coast for round five, which will be held on Sunday February 12.
The round introduces a new race format called the ‘pursuit’ where there are individual swim, board and ski races, before a traditional ironman, and Berg is hoping the renowned Coolum swell picks up so he can chase down that top three result.
