The biggest news in surf sports and iron racing: The Shore Thing
Ironwoman Lana Rogers has dropped a bombshell revelation, Lucy Derbyshire has opened up about her health scare and Joe Collins is a dangerous man. This is the latest Shore Thing.
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The biggest period of racing is here for surf sports as titles go up for grabs across multiple competitions.
The Summer of Surf has two of its biggest 10,000 point events coming up in the North Bondi Classic (Feb 9-10) and Shannon Eckstein Classic (Feb 23-25) while the final two rounds of the Nutri-Grain Series will be held this weekend at Kurrawa on the Gold Coast.
Discover the biggest news of the sport below.
ROGERS DROPS RETIREMENT BOMBSHELL
Lana Rogers has dropped a bombshell on surf sports, revealing she nearly walked away from iron racing less than a year before completing a resurgence that has her on track to claim every major title on offer this summer.
In April last year Rogers was done. She was a shadow of the athlete who won back-to-back Nutri-Grain Series titles in 2019/20 and 2020/21 and who already had a Coolangatta Gold and Australian ironwoman title on her resume.
Rogers, now 27, had come off two incredibly difficult seasons straight after hitting the highest point of her career. She failed to finish the 2021 Coolangatta Gold, had Covid end her 2021/22 Nutri-Grain Iron Series and fell out of love for the sport on route through the 2022/23 series.
She was largely training by herself during stints at Noosa and Alexandra Headland, had a relationship breakdown and was ready to leave the sport.
“I was doing everything but getting nothing out of it,” Rogers said.
“There were a couple of months where I was by myself thinking why am I doing this? It was such an effort and a struggle to do simple, everyday things in life. I just wasn’t happy and I knew something needed to change.
“It was either retire or see if it was worth giving one more crack.”
The former was where she pictured herself going but a chance meeting with Northcliffe Naomi Flood while staying on the Gold Coast between events last year that changed everything.
“I was just going to keep doing my own thing while I was on the Gold Coast and I went for a walk and bumped into Floody,” Rogers said.
“She asked me if I wanted to come do board training with them. I was thinking I don’t need this, I don’t need the Gold Coast. But 4pm came around and I went down the club and saw the team environment there.
“The next day was the same. Everyone wanted to be there and training was tough but it was enjoyable. I was looking around and all these girls were focused but having a great time.
“Floody made me realise I had done so many years by myself and it was important to make friendships and memories. The girls at Northcliffe just want the best for each other as well as themselves and I’ve formed some great friendships there. I put on my big girl pants and I have learnt a lot in and out of the sport.”
The move has made Rogers a force of the surf again. She won her second Coolangatta Gold title at the end of 2023, is ranked first going into the final two rounds of the Nutri-Grain Series, to be held at Kurrawa this weekend, can still win the Summer of Surf iron crown and will be one of the favourites for this year’s iron event at the Aussie titles back on the Sunshine Coast.
“Winning this week has crossed my mind but even if it doesn’t go my way I feel like I have already won,” Rogers said.
“I have won a great coach and I have won some great friendships with the girls. I’m looking at it differently to previous years and I’m feeling good.”
COLLINS IS A DANGEROUS MAN
Northcliffe’s Joe Collins says he is feeling like a dangerous man as one of the sport’s most electrifying athletes ramps up his bid to claim multiple surf titles.
The 21-year-old New Zealander is ranked third going into the final two rounds of the Nutri-Grain Series this weekend while he is second in the Summer of Surf with two of the biggest events to come this month.
Collins is coming off the back of a victory in the Summer of Surf Maroochydore Classic, held at the end of January, and got second in the Manly Surf Open a week earlier.
“I’m feeling really good. I have had two good competitions in a row so I’m coming in with momentum, I’m moving well and I just want to race.”
Regarded as one of the most in-form athletes this summer, Collins could have been forgiven for thinking he had walked under a ladder because bad luck is one of the biggest reasons he isn’t ranked at the top of both the Nutri-Grain Series and Summer of Surf.
Collins has continuously put himself in positions to win but a horror run of bad luck has cruelled some of his best chances at winning.
“I did get a message from someone asking if I shattered a mirror,” Collins said.
“I have made mistakes in those races too and I have learnt from them.
“I have seen where I could have made a difference. My body surfing wasn’t top notch in the first four rounds of the Nutri-Grain and I’m working on that.
“Using my skills under fatigue has been a massive thing for me and I think it comes a lot easier to the older guys because they have been around the sport for so much longer.
“I know in this sport you can only do your best and sometimes it isn’t good enough.
“I’m feeling like a dangerous man coming in with momentum now though and anything is possible.”
But Collins knows exactly what he needs to do to become the first Kiwi to win the Nutri-Grain Series.
Ali Day leads the Series on 97, with Matt Bevilacqua on 96 and Collins on 86.
“I have done the numbers and I need Ali to get second and third if I win both rounds,” Collins said.
“Then I can win on a countback. It’s a big ask but I’m up for the challenge and excited go up against Ali and Bevy who have been a staple of the sport for the past few years.”
Collins provided one of the highlights of the season in Marouba when he won a race on the back of starting the race with the ski under his arm before launching into it and flying into the lead instead of dragging it into the water, stopping and straddling the craft.
It’s a growing trend among athletes, with the likes of Bevilacqua, Corey Fletcher, Ben Carberry and Zach Morris all doing it.
“I did it in my first series four years ago,” Collins said.
“My coach Kev (Morrison) and I were talking and messing around with it at training. It is high risk but high reward and it worked that first time when I had nothing to lose so I have done it ever since.
“I remember Pooley (Matt Poole) got angry at me once at training because I botched it and nailed him so it wasn’t always smooth sailing.”
Asked if he would provide any advice to rivals if they called him looking for tips Collins said: “I think they know I probably wouldn’t tell them much.”
MEDICAL MYSTERY SOLVED
Lucy Derbyshire has opened up about the scary moment doctors told her she risked permanent lung and heart damage if she continued to push through illness at the start of the new year.
The Surfers Paradise athlete was sitting in second on the Nutri-Grain Series rankings after a successful opening two rounds but contracted Covid and got an infection in her lung shortly after.
“I was told if I was to race then I could get permanent damage to my lungs and heart,” Derbyshire said.
“It was really scary. It was more than just racing, it was something that would affect my whole life.
“It wasn’t worth it in the end.”
Derbyshire was initially told she needed six weeks off exercise, meaning she wouldn’t have featured in the final four Nutri-Grain Series rounds and most of the Summer of Surf.
But after linking up with a leading respiratory doctor Derbyshire was able to get back into training after three weeks and was given the all clear to race this weekend at Kurrawa after getting scans.
Derbyshire, now sitting 11th on the rankings, may not be racing for the title but can a gain automatic qualification to the 2024/25 series if she can move into the top 10 this weekend.
“It’s super exciting because I feel like im going into this weekend without any weight on my shoulder and I won’t put any pressure on myself.
“I haven’t been training but I also back myself enough to think I can beat at least half the field. I can definitely squeeze back into the top 10.”
CAN’T TOUCH THIS
Officials may have been hard pressed to find the Nutri-Grain Ironman Series trophy this week as they prepare to crown this summer’s champion.
The trophy was sitting in Matt Bevilacqua’s bedroom days out from the final two rounds at Kurrawa but he was unsure how he was going to return it.
Bevilacqua said he was reluctant to touch it due to superstition.
It means Bevilacqua’s partner and ironwoman Brielle Cooper may have had to save the day by turning into a courier.
But the silverware may end up back at the same house on Sunday afternoon, with Bevilacqua sitting second on the rankings and just one point behind Ali Day.
It’s been a huge period of racing for the athletes who are preparing for a fourth-straight weekend of action.
But Bevilacqua revealed maintaining fitness was actually the greatest challenge recently.
“The load is actually a lot let than what we would normally do because over the weekend it is just a couple of races and we taper into it,” he said.
“It means early each week we are trying to get that fitness up before preparing for each race while also recovering as best we can.”
RUNNING TOWARDS TITLE
It was a stress fracture that took Olivia Corrin away from running and put her on the path to an ironwoman career but it’s her leg speed that could make her become the first Kiwi to win a Nutri-Grain Series crown this weekend.
Corrin is second in the Nutri-Grain Series going into the final two rounds at Kurrawa and while Lana Rogers is in the box seat to win it on the back of a 27-point lead, it is still possible her Northcliffe teammate can catch her.
Corrin, 23, was the New Zealand Secondary Schools national cross country champion in Years 9 and 10 and also competed at a high level on the track across the 800m and 1500m distances.
A stress fracture in her hip meant she stopped competitive running and she put all her energy into surf sports.
But Corrin, who became the first Kiwi to win a series round in Marouba, will try to draw on her running experience to bridge the gap with Rogers in Round 5 on Saturday.
The ‘specialist’ format entails four races of individual disciplines, starting with the run, before a final iron race where athletes have staggered starts depending on how they performed in the previous ones.
It means Corrin could get some crucial points in the run leg that set her up for a round win.
A series win would be incredible for Corrin, an athlete from Gisbon, New Zealand, who still vividly recalls some of the toughest training she has done to get to the top of the sport.
“Back home in the winter the water would be like 11 degrees,” Corrin said.
“I’d be in full wet suit, booties and even gloves to do a paddle on my board.
“I remember one afternoon it was probably four degrees, raining and felt like it was almost snowing. I had to do a solo river session and it was low tide, freezing and muddy.”
But it didn’t turn her off and now she has the chance to make history.
“It would be so amazing. It is my next goal. Now that I know I am mixing it with the best and if I back my abilities then I can do it. It would be a dream come true.”
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