Caine Eckstein won round four of the Australian Ironman Series at Perth on Sunday as local lifesaver Elizabeth Pluimers won the women’s race to take the overall lead in her series.

Endurance specialist Eckstein finished 2 minutes 58 seconds ahead of Mooloolaba’s Ali Day, who extended his overall lead in the six-round men’s series.

Defending champion Shannon Eckstein finished third, 3 minutes 27 seconds adrift of his brother, in the gruelling 22.8km race from Scarborough to Cottesloe Beach and back again.

Caine, the five-time Coolangatta Gold champion, made the most of two 3.8km run legs to exert his dominance.

“I’m just happy to win the long ones. Everyone put a lot of pressure on me going into this race and it’s pretty hard to deal with that (favouritism),” he said.

“Going into the short races, guys like Shannon, Zane (Holmes) and Ky (Hurst) are the best but they don’t really get the pressure on them because everyone knows a bit of luck comes into the short races but, in the long ones, no luck comes into it so I have all the pressure on me.”

Caine, who also won round one in Surfers Paradise, is in second place in the standings, 10 points behind Day.

“You’re only human if you do think about it but I’m trying not to think about it,” Day said of his lead.

“I keep pretending each round is the first round.”

Shannon is in third place, 14 points behind Day.

Kendrick Louis entered the race second in the standings but withdrew following a knee injury in the opening 5km ski leg of the six-leg race.

The Mooloolaba ironman battled on through the 1km swim but stumbled out of the water in pain before retiring.

Earlier, Northcliffe’s Liz Pluimers claimed top spot in the Ironwoman Series after winning the 11.2km race from Cottesloe Beach to Scarborough.

She edged teenage talent Jordan Mercer by four seconds with series defending champion Courtney Hancock finishing third.

Pluimers boasts a four-point buffer over Kristyl Smith, who disappointed with an 11th-place finish.

Hancock is three points back.

Pluimers was forced to chase Mercer for most of the race after the daughter of ironman legend Darren Mercer broke away on the 1.8km board leg.

Mercer then extended her lead to almost a minute during the 3.6km run, before Pluimers reduced the deficit to 15 seconds in the 1km swim and passed the Queenslander on the 5km ski leg.

“I’m glad there was a bit of wind out there,” Pluimers said of the SE wind at their backs.”