Queenslander Lana Rogers has maintained a vice-like grip on the Ironwoman title after claiming the Bulli leg of the championship on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rogers extended her lead over defending champion Georgia Miller and has now secured all three rounds this season.
Showing her versatility in the surf, Rogers won the Bulli event, which consisted of three 10-minute sprint race, with just five minutes break in between, following the stamina demands of the Coolangatta Gold and the Burleigh Heads Endurosurf rounds.
"It's pretty surreal right now," the Noosa Heads star said of being on the verge of an Ironwoman title.
"I really just wanted that Coolangatta Gold, but this is just icing on the cake for me.
"I'm really, really happy with that outcome."
Rogers declared she had every intention of making the most of her series advantage with two rounds remaining.
The next is the 'specialist' round at Surfers Paradise, made up of six minute races, one for each discipline of swim, board, ski and run.
Round five will be at Cronulla, a survival elimination competition, before the Iron X, which brings land-based fitness disciplines to add to the tradition surf racing.
"My program is pretty thought out," Rogers said.
"We just got into that short and sharp stuff after the long stuff (of the first two rounds). I'm looking forward to the individual races, I'm pretty sure we'll keep working towards that short and sharp stuff."
Northcliffe's Luke Cuff emerged from the ruck to bounce back from a horror day at Burleigh last month, stunning the leading contenders. Cuff revelled in the windy and choppy conditions to win the Bulli leg.
"I was really confident leading into the last round, so to come out with a bad result was really frustrating to go back to the drawing board and iron out those mistakes," Cuff said.
"And stay sane with your preparation and say I am doing the right things.
"So to work through that and trust yourself with the process and come out with a good result today, it worked well."
It's the second straight year the Illawarra has held a round of the iron series, after Kendrick Louis won at North Wollongong last year, but Kiama's Ali Day, out for the season with wrist injuries, took out the overall title.
Kendrick Louis stayed in the Ironman title hunt by finishing second overall, while Kurrawa's Tanyn Lyndon backed up his second in the previous event with third at Bulli.
Newport's Lizzie Welborn had her second straight round on the podium, as Georgia Miller is still the nearest challenger to Rogers after placing third.
The Surfers Paradise specialist round will be held on December 15, before the Cronulla survival in January.
While you're with us the Illawarra Mercury is offering sport readers 20% off an annual digital subscription. Sign up to stay up to date with all the local sports you love for only $3 a week. Terms and conditions apply.