Cairns Ironman 70.3

t was with a sense of deja vu that I travelled up to Cairns last weekend for the Ironman 70.3. It was only a few days earelier that I'd been coming home from there after the Coral Coast 5150. Unlike Coral Coast 5150, this race has been on my agenda for a lot longer so I was really excited to see how the race would unfold.

All of my time pre-race was spent trying to get my head around two seperate transition areas (one in Cairns and one in Palm Cove) and what I would need to pack in my blue, red and black bags provided by Ironman. And I had plenty of time to consider this with less than ideal weather conditions meaning most of my time was spent in the hotel room. Throughout the day on Saturday it all started making sense and after I dropped of my running gear at T2 and my bike and cycling gear at T1, all I had to worry about taking to the race on Sunday morning was myself and my swimming gear - leaving very little that could go wrong unless of course I'd forgotten to pack a piece of equipment into any of those bags!

I went through each of those bags so many times that it would have been impossible to leave anything out but one thing I didn't consider was scissors. In an attempt to keep any overnight rain from getting into my cycling gear I had tied that bag tightly to my bike which was great for keeping water out but not so great for getting undone. I spent what felt like an eternity running around transition in the rain trying to find a pair of scissors but eventually got myself sorted and was on my way down to the start line.

It might not have been the biggest pro field but it was filled with talent and on any given day a long list of athletes could've had the goods to walk away with the win. As we ran into the Palm Cove waters it was game on we all got down to business. I found myself at the front of the chase group for the majority of the swim until I made an error in judgement rounding the final can and started heading way too far right. Luckily I rectified this issue and still exited the water with the same group, just a bit further back meaning I had to hurry my transition to ensure I started the bike with them.

I found myself fighting every pedal stroke for the first 5-10km and was doing everything I could just to stay in contact with those around me and even started having thoughts of how I would survive 90km. I don't know if this was because of the wet weather or just an elevated heart rate not allowing me to settle down but thankfully it did subdue and I could settle down and start to do my fare share of work at the front of the group. It wasn't until 30km into the race that we got our glimpse of the leaders and the gaps they had on us but with almost 10 athletes ahead of us I knew we had to keep chasing hard. I made a real push after the turn around and was immediately greeted with a rude headwind and with some exposed coastal sections I was having the occasional arguement with my bike on what direction we should be heading. We gradually picked up a few riders from the front of the race and as we dismounted at T2 were within sight of a lot more of that front group to start the run.

The crowds in Cairns were amazing and starting the run I felt really good but I also knew that 21km is a long way and I didn't want to burn myself too early. There was a fair bit of changing places for the first few km's of the run as everyone found their pace and from my point of view I found myself able to clear away from most of my group and even running time in to some of those ahead of me. The second lap of the run was a completely different story and it was a really tough run to the finish, I was basically in what I thought was survival mode. I saw there was too much of a gap to the athlete ahead of me and luckily had build up a decent gap on those behind me. I'd never felt happier to turn into a finishing line. I crossed the line in 6th place and was completely exhausted knowing there was nothing else I could've given on that day.

After some much needed recovery and unhealthy food to combat all that exercise I still couldn't fathom completing a full Ironman and went down to witness the atmosphere that is an Ironman finish. As inspiring as it is, it's not something that's on my agenda any time soon. For now it's been a week of much needed recovery before beginning to plan out my next few races and like a lot of other athletes will have a distinct focus on Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3 in September.

#triathlon #race #Ironman #703 #Cairns