Well another Half Ironman (70.3) under my belt and I have to say what a cracker of a race!

The Cairns Ironman 70.3 is held in conjunction with the full Cairns Ironman event, turning the city into a bustling, energetic, festival with over 2000 people competing in the 2 events.

The race was held in the Sailfish Quay in Cairns (1.9Km swim), the bike leg on the closed Captain Cook Hwy that runs from Cairns to Pt Douglas and the run from Yorkys Knob to the city finishing on the busy esplanade.

The highlight of this course is the heritage listed Captain Cook Hwy. The half Ironman course extends approx. 57Kms from Central Cairns to 5kms past a place called Rex's lookout. Predominantly flat with some climbs at the turn around. Then the course winds back to the transition area near Yorkys Knob totalling 90Kms

The run is a hot an somewhat lonely affair through the cane fields, 21Kms back to town and along the esplanade where the atmosphere was electric.

I had a pretty big build up for this event based on lessons learnt from my first Ironman (Canberra) and with the asistance of a great coach.

The aim was to capitalise on a strong bike build. The leg splits below are as acurate as the positioning of the timing mats. I think that there placement was a little off, but the end result is acurate.

I do know that the first 60Km of the bike leg was done at 40Km/hr with the last 20Km less as this incorporated the climbs and any accumulated fatigue. Still managed a descent run off the bike considering the heat. T1 was long due to a long run from water to T1.

4 gels, 2 bottles of water and 2 of electrolyte on the bike. Would have been less gels and more fluids but I kicked my bottle cage located behind my seat off when I mounted the bike....so I only had one cage. I stuffed a second bottle in my tri suit rear pocket but still made life a little tricky.

Darren BOSANKO