Daniel Collins aces test for ironman series spot

The 24-year-old former NSW champion was third on Saturday across three rounds to book his position in the Sunday finals featuring the top 20 ironmen and ironwomen.

Collins, who won the trials last season, was then second in the opening two races and third in the final hit-out to take second place overall behind two-time series champion Ali Day.

The top eight men and women on Sunday joined the top 10 in the series from last season in this summer's six-round, three-stop circuit.

Collins, who was seventh on debut in 2017, was 13^th in the 2019-20 series to miss out on re-qualification and he was thrilled with the trial results after not having an ideal preparation.

"I'm stoked with a second overall," Collins said on Sunday. "I went in not really knowing where I was at and what to expect. There were a lot of young guys up there who I haven't had a whole lot of experience racing against so I was really happy to come away with second.

"I was probably feeling underdone but I came good over the weekend and I put together three really solid races today that got the job done."

Redhead clubmate Isak Costello, a previous wildcard in the series, was 11^th on Saturday to make the final field but he was short of the top eight of Day, Collins, Zach Morris, Cooper Williams, Ky Kinsela, Hayden White, Joe Collins and Finn Askew on Sunday.

Close to 100 athletes contested the trials at the Far North Coast venue.

"The results probably don't show how hard it was," Collins said of his trial effort.

"The racing was really close, especially with the sprint format on the Saturday. The pace was there and there was plenty of depth in the field. It was a tough weekend of racing.

"I was just happy to be out in front in a couple of races today and it felt pretty good.

"I didn't come up here with any real expectations so to come away with some good results was really good, and I know I've probably got a little bit more in me to give with the upcoming series, so that's exciting as well.

"There's room for improvement and hard work for the next three weeks."

The ironwoman qualifiers were Naomi Scott, Tayla Halliday, Emily Doyle, Carla Papac, Hannah Sculley, Madison Spencer, Emma Woods and Olivia Corrin.

Manly's Scott topped the ironwoman trials to return to the series after withdrawing last season with illness. Day was back in the ironman series after missing last summer with injury.

"I am just so excited, it means so much to me," Scott said. "I was definitely a bit nervous going into it, I didn't know if what I had done was enough, but I'm so excited with how it went."

Three wildcards also join each series, which take in rounds at Kingscliff on December 19-20, North Cronulla on January 16-17 and Kurrawa on February 13-14.