Cairns Airport Ironman Father and Daughter Time

At the Cairns Airport IRONMAN Cairns on June 14, Eltham’s Peter Inge will be in the unique position of not only watching his daughter Pip finish her first IRONMAN event, he will be finishing it with her.

A few years ago Pip watched her Dad morph from a 5km social runner into an IRONMAN.

To be honest, I thought the whole thing was absolutely crazy; the hours of training, the lifestyle commitment, and just how ridiculously far it is! But  then I saw the drive, motivation and passion that got him to that finish line  I decided it was something I wanted to have a crack at too

Having never ridden a road bike or swum more than a few hundred metres she decided to dip her toe in the IRONMAN world by completing a 70.3, which she did in 2012.

Peter’s first ever triathlon was at IRONMAN 70.3 Canberra in 2009 and since then he has completed another five 70.3 events and made his IRONMAN debut in 2011 at SunSmart IRONMAN Western Australia.

It’s going to be just an unbelievable experience racing with him! We have been  preparing together for the last eight months, I’m excited about race day, and I’m counting down the days.

Pip is hoping for a repeat of the last time they raced together at IRONMAN 70.3 Yeppoon, when despite a five minute gap in their start times Pip turned around as she exited the water to see her Dad right next her.

He tells me I had the biggest smile he had ever seen! We hugged and laughed and ran up the beach into transition together. Just like swimming, he is a much faster rider than I am so I watched him head off and thought  our next meeting would be at the finish line for a post-race beer, Pip said. However, although he hates to admit it, I am the better runner in the family and with about 3km to go I managed to catch him and we finished the race together hand in hand. There were a few tears as we crossed the finish line. Words can’t describe that feeling.

Their different work schedules make it difficult to train together, but they make a point of riding together on a Tuesday and trying to complete their longer sessions on the weekend as father and daughter.

I think Dad is really excited, it’s been such an epic journey over the past few years for us to get to this point and somewhere I never imagined we would be. It’s a pretty special thing to do as a Dad and daughter duo and we both can’t wait.

And while mum Penny thinks the pair are a little crazy, she’s incredibly proud. Mum will be up there in Cairns as our number one support crew, she said.