Over 200 athletes (120 males and 81 females) including current and rising stars put their toe on the line at Tugun, Queensland in an attempt to qualify for the 2024/25 Shaw and Partner Iron Series on Saturday.
There were 24 iron races throughout the day in tricky conditions across three different formats – short-iron (10-12 min), traditional iron (15 min) and enduro (30 min).
The top 40 male and female athletes from the opening two races competed in the final Enduro format with the Top 25 via cumulative points across each race, earning the right to compete again tomorrow, Sunday where 15 males and females will earn a place in the 2024/25 Shaw and Partners Iron Series.
Of the 25 females progressing to Sunday, there are 13 with previous experience in the Iron Series including Newport SLSC’s current Coolangatta Gold champions Jemma Smith (long-course) and Piper Harrison (short-course).
“I will be honest, I am hurting a bit right now but that is all part of it,” said Harrison after the final race of the day. “You can’t leave anything to chance here, you have to give it your all in every race and now I will get a good night’s sleep and do it all again tomorrow”.
In the male event, there are also 13 athletes with past Iron Series experience including former Series Champion Matt Poole (Tallebudgera) who captured the last available qualifying place after two seasons in retirement.
“When you have been out of the sport for two years it is tough,” said Poole. “Stupidly I got over excited and decided to commit to this and get back into it,” he joked. “But I love it, I love training and I have loved watching everyone else race”.
The second and final day of qualifying for the 2024/25 Shaw and Partners Iron Series will be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.
The full list of results and qualifiers from today can be found on Liveheats at the following links: