Young gun duo claim maiden Short Course titles, defending Ironwoman champion forced to the shore with illness

A young gun duo have claimed their first Coolangatta Gold Short Course titles, while a defending Ironwoman champion finds herself watching on from the shore after being forced to withdraw in the first leg of the main Long Course event. All the latest from the 2024 Shaw and Partners Coolangatta Gold inside.

Coolangatta Gold men's (Mitchell Stitt) and women's (Piper Harrison) Short Course champions 2024

Defending Ironwoman champion Lana Rogers was forced to withdraw from the 2024 Shaw and Partners Coolangatta Gold due to illness, just 40 minutes into the opening ski leg of 41.8km.

Rogers, a favourite to win back-to-back women’s titles, was sitting around fourth place in the race when she made the decision.

Rogers’ coach and former Ironwoman Naomi Flood provided an update on her condition.

“Obviously Lana is very disappointed, frustrated, but her body sort of shut down on her today.

“She couldn’t really feel her hand, the circulation wasn’t really happening there.

“She wasn’t cold or anything, just wasn’t connecting,” said Flood.

Open ironwoman winner Lana Rogers. Picture: SLSA

Flood said Rogers was happy with where she was sitting in the race and would receive medical attention to find out what went wrong.

“It’s disappointing, but at the end of the day, she’s okay.

“We’ll figure out what’s going on, maybe there’s an underlying virus or something, we don’t know.

“But we’ll get on top of that now and see how she pulls up … she’s very resilient Lana and she will come back.”

Rogers suffered a neck injury in the week leading into the World Championships held in September, which then impacted her lower back, and has since been dealing with the injury.

“It definitely came good, but it was just disruptive and changed a couple of weeks of training and missed the first day of World (Championships) racing,” Flood said.

Lana Rogers and Ali Day at Miami, Gold Coast. Picture: Luke Marsden/Surf Life Saving Australia

Short Course, Saturday October 12

Piper Harrison (Newport) and Mitchell Stitt (Surfers Paradise) kick started their summer of surf seasons with wins in Saturday’s Short Course event.

The pair were amongst over 170 athletes and 80 teams who challenged themselves up and down the iconic Gold Coast coastline.

Sunshine Coast born Stitt was the first athlete across the line, in just his second season training at Surfers Paradise SLSC alongside the youngster’s ironman heroes Ali Day, TJ Hendy and Finn Askew.

“Those three boys have been so good to me,” Stitt said.

Mitchell Stitt claims Coolangatta Gold men's Short Course title

“I’ve been able to pace myself off them, learn from them as much as I can.

“This is my second season at Surfers Paradise now, I moved down from the Sunny Coast last year, and I’m just loving it,” he said.

Stitt said he hoped this win would act as a launchpad for the coming summer which includes an intense trial for the Shaw and Partners Iron Series in just under a month’s time.

“This was one of my main goals to start the year, and now I’m looking forward to the trial.

“I’m hoping this base will help me towards the Trial and the rest of the year,” he said.

Newport’s Piper Harrison said she was pleased with how her race came together, having grown up admiring Coolangatta Gold icon Courtney Hancock.

Piper Harrison wins Coolangatta Gold women's Short Course 2024

“It was a really exciting race, I knew I had to get out there hard on the ski,” Harrison said.

“It’s a tricky race knowing how much to conserve for the back end but I knew I wanted to get a bit of a lead to help me in the back half.”

With hopes to one day race in the iconic Long Course event, Harrison said she’s enjoyed the Short Course challenge ahead of what’s expected to be an action-packed summer.

“I actually think it’s a great way to set up the season.

“It’s an endurance event so it just makes sure you’re really fit and ready to go.

“It (the Coolangatta Gold) is a great test of fitness and kicks off the season in a really great way,” she said.

Originally published as Young gun duo claim maiden Short Course titles, defending Ironwoman champion forced to the shore with illness