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Iron Series Trials 2026: Two Days, 200 Athletes and 17 New Faces
Two days. Almost 200 athletes. A handful of spots.
The Shaw and Partners Iron Series Trial, went down at Tugun Beach on 19 and 20 September, and it was as brutal as ever. By Sunday arvo, 17 debutants had earned their first crack at the pro Series and the full 2026/27 field of 68 Ironmen and Ironwomen was locked in.
Day One: Rogers and Casamento Go Three From Three
Saturday had one automatic spot on offer per gender. To grab it, you basically had to win everything. Two athletes did.
Three-time Series champ Lana Rogers (Northcliffe) was trialling for the first time in her career, and she came out firing. Rogers and Electra Outram were locked together on the ladder heading into the final enduro, and Outram led into the last ski leg. Rogers ran her down, picked a better line to shore and was on her feet first. Three from three, and straight back into the Series.
In the Ironman, Brayden Casamento (Alexandra Headland) needed the enduro win to book his spot, and he led for most of it, holding off his own Alex clubmates Henry Simpson and Cooper Woods. He said afterwards he'd only come in hoping to make it through to Sunday. Instead, he got to skip it, which he was pretty happy about, calling Sunday "the hardest day in the calendar."
Day Two: No Room for a Bad Race
The top 30 Ironmen and 30 Ironwomen came back for Sunday, and it opened with an enduro where the top five in each went straight through. Everyone else had to race twice more.
- Jessica Conrad (Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park) qualified for her first Series just 16, coming back after suffering a back injury last year and a shoulder injury leading into the weekend.
- Ryley Harland (Northcliffe) missed the top 12 by a whisker last season. He made sure of it this time, winning the Sunday enduro.
- Pipi te Pania (Newport) finished Sunday as the top-ranked Ironwoman, booking her third Series while juggling HSC study.
- Noah Steiner (Wanda) got it done at his seventh Trial. With 106 men chasing 20 spots, he summed up the weekend simply: you can't afford a single bad race across six races in two days.
That's what makes the Trial so special. Every summer, really good athletes miss out, and every summer someone new breaks through.
Engine Team at the Trials
Thirteen of the 42 Trial qualifiers are Engine athletes: six Ironwomen and seven Ironmen. Big weekend for the crew.
Ironwomen
- Lana Rogers (1st): trialling for the first time in her career, the three-time Series champ went three from three on day one to grab the automatic spot.
- Kaitlin 'Katy' Rees (4th)
- Sienna Bush (9th)
- Lily Finati (11th)
- Holly Holmesby (12th)
- Zoe Woods (18th)
Ironmen
- Ryley Harland (2nd): missed the top 12 by a whisker last season, so he did it the hard way and won the enduro. Back where he belongs.
- Henry Simpson (4th): pushed clubmate Brayden Casamento all the way in Saturday's enduro, then sealed it on Sunday.
- Auden Parish (5th)
- Noah Steiner (7th): got the job done at his seventh Trial. Monkey off the back.
- Joel Piper (8th)
- Kobi Daniel (15th)
- Byron Dieckmann (16th)
- Tex Dixon (18th)
- Jett Green (20th)
Congrats to every Engine athlete who put it all on the line at Tugun. See you in Thirroul
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Looking Ahead
The Series is already up and running. Round 1 will be the Coolangatta Gold 25.6 on the 17th Oct.
Here's what's next:
- Rounds 2 & 3, Thirroul NSW: 14–15 November
- Rounds 4 & 5, Newcastle NSW: 9–10 January
- Rounds 6 & 7, Surfers Paradise QLD: 6–7 February
New this season: the top 24 after the Gold go straight to Thirroul, while the bottom ten fight it out in a Repechage Round for four spots. No pressure.
To every athlete who threw themselves at the Trial, qualified or not, well done. We'll see you on the beach.
Iron Series Trials 2026 FAQs
How many athletes are in the 2026/27 Iron Series? 68 in total, up from 56 last summer: 21 Ironmen and 21 Ironwomen from the Trial, 12 pre-qualified per gender, plus two Next Gen Series winners.
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