Daughter of dual Olympian Greg Rogers, Lana today has etched herself in Australian sporting history in her own right with her first Nutri-Grain Ironwoman series title.
Rogers, 23, continued her phenomenal form to finish second in round four today at Surfers Paradise, and that followed victories in the first three rounds of the series.
She handled the grueling format, heat and prefect racing conditions brilliantly – and wins the $25,000 AUD prize.
Defending champion Georgia Miller of Northcliffe, who was sitting in second spot in the Nutri-Grain IronWoman series before today, took out the gruelling specialist race but it wasn’t enough to stop Rogers claiming the crown for the first time.
“I can’t believe I’ve wrapped up the Series with one round to go,” Rogers said.
“At the start of the season I wanted to win the Coolangatta Gold, that was my goal for the entire season, so to get another two wins and take out the Series today is icing on the cake for me. I can’t believe it!”
“I’ve got such a great support crew and I’m just so thankful for everything.
“I think today was the toughest format of the Series. Nothing can really prepare you for this format. You are in a world of hurt and you just had to keep digging to get through it. And I managed to get through it and I’m really, really happy.”
Miller started the specialist iron race two seconds ahead of Rogers, after being the best performer in the earlier separate four-minute races across the Run, Board, Swim and Ski. There was only three minutes recovery between the four races and five minutes before the iron race.
Miller was very happy with the win and full of praise for the new champion.
“I’m so happy with that win today,” the 23-year-old said.
“I wasn’t sure how the season was going to go, and my goal was to win a round, so I’ve done that. You can’t top last year but I’m really happy. I’m on top today but all credit to Lana, she’s been incredible over these first four rounds.”
Rogers is excited for the final round of the series at North Cronulla next month. This is her home beach and the eliminator format is her favourite.
Harriet Brown was third in today’s racing.
Full results here.