Eckstein wins seventh ironman title Shannon Eckstein reinforced his status as one of surf lifesaving's greatest athletes when he delivered an expected seventh national ironman title at Noosa on Sunday. The Northcliffe veteran went into the sixth and final round of the series with a near-unbeatable lead over Mooloolaba's Kendrick Louis, and duly extinguished the challenge by finishing third in the last of the five-race eliminator format. Louis, 22, finished second as his Mooloolaba teammate Ali Day captured his long-awaited maiden race win in the series. Competing in benign conditions, Louis and Day finished second and third in the series respectively. Eckstein, 29, who kept the series crown in the family after his younger brother Caine won last season's title, spoke of how tough it was to prepare for this series after enduring four off-season operations. Surgery included a leg procedure in which part of the calf was cut to the bone. It resulted in internal bleeding that left him in acute pain and unable to walk properly for months. He feared his days of competing at the elite level were over. To bounce back from that in the manner he did - winning three races and not finishing off the podium this season - means a lot to man who has nothing else to prove in the sport. It's all come good. I've worked hard, and it just makes it all the more sweeter," he said. It's pretty special to come back from last year (when he finished third overall). I'll probably not ever be 100 per cent again ... but I'm still racing well enough to stay in front of these guys and I'm enjoying it and, as you saw today, they're pushing us all the way. In the women's series, Northcliffe star Courtney Hancock fought off flu and the challenge from London Olympian Naomi Flood to win her second series title at Noosa. Teenage series rookie Alyssa Bull, of Alexandra Headland, captured her first series victory with a commanding performance in the final. Hancock capitalised on Flood's shock elimination in the second of three races to add this season's crown to her 2010/11 title. The 24-year-old went into the final round eight points behind Olympic kayaker and Manly member Flood. But with Flood's race-two failure in the elimination format. Hancock came fourth; with Moir finishing on her heels in fifth, a Hancock victory was a virtual lock. Former series champion Flood, who has now left the sport to concentrate on earning selection for the 2016 Rio Olympics, came second overall and North Burleigh's Brodie Moir was third.