Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship: Strongest Field Ever in Cairns

The virtual who’s who of the triathlon world is heading to the Cairns Airport IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns on Sunday 10 June to celebrate the 40th anniversary of IRONMAN and race in paradise.

Over the past seven years Cairns Airport IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns has become a ‘must-do’ on the IRONMAN circuit, with athletes taking in the most spectacular bike course in the world that hugs the coastline from Port Douglas to Cairns and feeling the amazing community support on multi-loop run along the stunning Cairns boardwalk, that finishes in the heart of the city.

The Cairns Airport IRONMAN Cairns Asia-Pacific Championship is shaping up to be one of the highlights of the 2018 IRONMAN calendar with some of the sport’s biggest names making their IRONMAN and Cairns debuts.

The eyes of the sporting world will be on five-time ITU World Triathlon, X-Terra and IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, Javier Gomez who after a decades racing short course triathlon is using the Cairns event as a vital part of his preparation for the IRONMAN World Championships in October.

“I do not have IRONMAN experience and I could have chosen some other IRONMAN race from Europe, it would be easier in travel, but Cairns has more heat, more humidity. I want to try to simulate the conditions and equate them with what I will find in Hawaii as much as possible. I hope to learn from Cairns and use the experience,” Gomez said.

Three-time IRONMAN World Champion and Aussie superstar Mirinda Carfrae is also making her Cairns debut in her quest to regain the mantle as the world’s number one female IRONMAN athlete.

“I’m hungry for it. I haven’t been on that top step in Kona since 2014, and every year the women’s field gets stronger and faster. But that doesn’t scare me; instead, it inspires me to rise to the challenge. I’m not afraid to say that I want to be back on top, and I believe I have what it takes to make that happen,” she said.

Gomez and Carfrae are joined by more than 40 fellow pros including:

• current IRONMAN New Zealand Champion Terenzo Bozzone,
• Kiwi multisport superstar Braden Currie,
• winner of the 2018 IRONMAN African Championship South Africa Kyle Buckingham,
• former IRONMAN Australia champion David Dellow and Tim Reed
• multiple IRONMAN winner and former world fastest IRONMAN Luke McKenzie

The 2016 IRONMAN Cairns champion Tim van Berkel knows a thing or two about racing and he is delighted to return to battle for the coveted IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship.

“This will be my sixth time racing in Cairns so I know the course very well. I have great memories so I’m looking forward to returning to beautiful Tropical North Queensland. My preparation has been good and I am looking forward to another crack at IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Champs and racing in such a star-studded field.”

“After winning the title in 2016 this is a race I have been targeting, I would love to get it back. It is probably the best IRONMAN Asia-Pacific field ever, so it is going to be a tough one to crack but I am up for the challenge,” he said.

With more than 3,000 age group athletes also acing in the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3, the Cairns Airport IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns promises a fantastic day of racing for athletes of all standards and ambitions who believe that “Anything is Possible’.