COURTZ’ CORNER – Issue Three
2024/25 Shaw and Partners Iron Series Final Rounds Review
Welcome to Champion Ironwoman Courtney Hancock’s very own corner of the Shaw and Partners Iron Series. Here you’ll find the thoughts and predictions of the 3x Iron Series Champion and 4x Coolangatta Gold Champion, the one-and-only Courtz!
This week, Courtz wraps up the 2024/25 Shaw and Partners Iron Series with a look back at the incredible weekend at North Burleigh.
What was your top moment from the 2024/25 Shaw and Partners Iron Series?
From first time winners to champions up to their same tricks, the rise of debut athletes to the return of old favourite beaches … and the rumblings of a generational war – this season’s Shaw and Partners Iron Series was a brand-new series that literally had it all!
For me however, there was one moment that stands above the rest. The final race of the Shaw and Partners Ironman – The Grand Eliminator.
The Eliminator is a dramatic race for starters, but to have the Series go to the line in the final race, it was going to be next level. Two former Series champions in the final race alongside a host of worthy challengers, and the likes of series favourites Joe Collins and Ben Carberry not making it to the final dance, showcased just how hot this field was. You felt like someone would have to put down the race of their career to wrench that crown from Ali Day, and Conner Maggs did just that … in style!
Maggs channelled his inner Ky Hurst, laying down the gauntlet to the rest of the field with an impressive “catch me if you can” first swim leg, that his handler, Hurst, would have been proud of.
A near flawless performance, Maggs had earnt the right to have his time of celebration in front of the North Burleigh crowd, but in a moment that needs to be seen to be believed, a moment of nightmare proportions – Maggs, riding his ski leg wave to victory sent the claim to the beach, but he quickly vanished beneath his ski and became part of arguably one of the greatest sprint finishes of all time with Joel Piper.
An almost perfect race, and on the biggest stage, a young nipper’s big dream fulfilled and the Ironman crown finally returning to the shores of New South Wales. Maggs has such a love for the sport and its history (even an uncanny knack of remembering every Iron Series winner), and he certainly won’t be forgetting who the 2025 champion was anytime soon.
Who was the most impressive athlete for you?
This year we saw a shift across both fields. In the Ironwoman field, we saw the coming of age of Electra Outram and Lucy Derbyshire, Tiarnee Massie and Lizzie Welborn pieced together racing a series worthy of a title, and Georgia Fitzsimmons and Naomi Scott found their groove becoming late threats.
The Ironman field saw the beginnings of a generational fight on display, the old guard of Ben Carberry and Matt Bevilacqua showing glimpses, the emergence of the Next Gen crew of Connor Maggs, Ethan Callaghan, Ryley Harland and Joel Piper, while Joe Collins, Zach Morris, and Finn Askew also flexed their authority – and you felt any of these three could take the crown.
Nevertheless, with eight Iron Series titles between Lana Rogers and Ali Day, they took on this year’s Series as favourites and well and truly lived up to their reputations. It was heartbreak though for these champions, as they each manufactured a Series that would have been worthy of standing on the top of podium from Series gone by.
Rogers was the shock story of the final round, being hit not only once, but multiple times during race two giving her the position of 10th overall, a number that we are very unfamiliar seeing next to the Rogers name. She took to social media, and although shattered, she was proud of her Series and her results across the entirety of the campaign speak that truth. Rogers had a phenomenal Series and reminded all of us she is one rare Ironwoman that doesn’t come around often. She will be back for vengeance next year!
Was this the last time we see Day in the Iron Series vest? Time will tell, but we sure hope not. If his results across this year’s Series are anything to go by, he is still well and truly entrenched at the top of our sport. The disappointment of sixth place position spells danger to his closest rivals for the remainder of the season – this legend of our sport is capable of anything.
Biggest surprise package from this season?
Lucy Derbyshire the moment she finished said “I always wanted to win an Iron Series, I just didn’t think it would so soon.”
We all felt it was just a matter of time before Derbyshire stamped her name on the Iron Series and had her breakout performance. And WOW! Didn’t she do it in style! Not only was it Derbyshire’s first race win but an Ironwoman Series crown to match it too. A superstar achievement by the 21-year-old, taking down the heavy weight champions of Rogers and Fitzsimmons, with Wellborn and Massie left to fight for the remaining podium positions.
An amazing raw and emotional claim we won’t forget, the absolute passion was on show, and you could feel how much this meant to the South Australian.
And just like Maggs, get used to hearing the name Derbyshire, as she too is only just getting started.
What did you think about the new-look format? With everything culminating with the Grand Eliminator?
The name of the format said it all …
The Grand Eliminator!
And grand it was. The crowd at North Burleigh was electrifying and the athletes had one of their greatest tests yet. In previous years coming into this final round, we may have had a race between two or three for the Overall Title or it may have been a victory lap for the winner – not this year. This year, we had 12 Ironmen and Ironwoman all vying to become the Iron Series champion.
The last time that there was a similar format of a final day decider, two greats of our sport, Shannon Eckstein and Kristy Cameron were victorious.
The format is brutal. You need to be at your best for each race throughout the Series, with tough cuts along the way, to then leave these performances and start from scratch on the final day. It may not be a Series that awards consistency, but like the Australian Title it all comes down to perfecting that last race.
You certainly couldn’t turn a blind eye to the sheer entertainment and excitement that you felt watching the Grand Eliminator final race.
Watch this space! The next Series is looking even steamier.
How do our Champions keep focused on their next goal/Aussies?
Looking at socials, it was so nice to see the athletes out and about being social or taking a full week off for some TLC. And rightly so, for every athlete racing in the last weekend it was an emotional one whichever way you looked it.
The stakes were high, and every athlete knew exactly what was on the line. Hearts were going to be broken, and a dream was going to be made for just two of the athletes.
There is still so much on offer this season, and the Australian Ironman and Ironwoman Titles rank as one of the pinnacles of the sport. The second to last event on the program after a full week’s racing and the last race of gruelling season. It is a title that is such a tough one to achieve, but one coveted by all.
Motivation is a key word leading into these next two months. The mornings begin to get darker and colder, and it is just that little bit harder to pull yourself out of bed to head to swim training. It is the athlete who seizes the opportunity of this next last push to the finish line that is the danger come April.
The years fly by quickly, and you don’t get to race at too many Aussies – embrace the challenge of the next eight weeks and you may just etch your name into the history books!