Ironman Cairns 2018
 
We had 100% finish rate once again which is great credit to the athletes who toed the start line.
 
Nathan Sandford
 
Sandy was the first TEAM athlete across the line in 9hr 24min. Sandy finished 7th in his age group and also qualified for the Hawaiian Ironman World Champs. The cherry on the top for this performance is that Sandy also went 8min faster than he previously had before! Great job Nath!
 
Nadine Edwards
 
Nadine backed up her 4th placed in NZ here in Cairns chasing her first Golden ticket to Kona. After a phenomenal performance, Nadine broke 11hr for the first time, ran sub 4hrs for the first time and took 30min off her previous best Ironman Time.. This unfortunately is the near miss of the day, getting within 20sec of 3rd and a Kona spot. Her 10hr 49min was a fantastic time in a race where Nadine simply didn’t give up. Her racing is going from strength to strength and now we plan the next race to punch that ticket!
 
Miguel Olarte
 
Our resident Columbian is a seasoned racer that gets things done.
 
Mig was super consistent all day and was the second athlete for TEAM to cross the finish line in 9:31:29 – This was good enough for 11th in his age group and was another near miss for a Kona ticket.
 
Some time off now to spend with the family and we will plan for Kona 2019 working on a few tweaks to better that performance.
 
Jack Wheatley & Jevaat Ali (Joey) both hit up Ironman Cairns looking for big gains on previous Ironman performances. Both these guys put in faultless preparations and the results simply speak for themselves.
 
Jack took 2hr 20min off his previous Ironman time crossing the tape in 9:45:55 and 15th in his age group. The learning experience from this preparation is invaluable for Jack and we now start looking at races that will make him a podium contender.
 
Joey had previously battled with piecing together a full Ironman, however this time Joey did just that. He never gave in although the day didn’t go perfectly and crossed the line under 11hrs for the first time in 10:26:19 and a 45min Ironman PB – Super Effort mate.. next stop sub 10!
 
The following 5 had tough days, however true to their character, they never gave in. As High Achievers with big goals, sometimes you roll the dice and your number come up, other times they don’t. The below athletes put everything on the line and unfortunately were not successful at having their best day.
 
Ryann Mills – on a tough day, Ryann still crossed the line in 10:06:17 which for many is a great day and for Ryann it was solid from start to finish, however just didn’t have enough punch to challenge the top 10. 24th for Ryann is a cracking effort!
 
Steve Natoli – Nugget came to me to go super fast. A seasoned athlete with a sub 9hr IM to his name. We pushed him hard in training and on race day the trend was no different. Running himself into 5th at the 21k mark of the marathon was super impressive however the back end of the marathon took it’s toll and finishing in 9hr 53min still got Nugget into 17th position and 1 spot outside a Kona spot.
 
Jo Logan – This was Jo’s first Rodeo in TEAM colours and although Jo had a tough day, we learnt so much about her for future races. These experiences are super valuable for development and improvement for both coach and athlete.
Crossing in 13:14:06, Jo was 11th in her age group. Her smile was infectious late in the run and is simply a testament to Jo’s enjoyment of racing.
 
Jason Daye – Although not Jason’s best day, it was a huge improvement from IM WA in December. Jas has gone from completer to competer and is learning all the time on how to fuel, pace and race at the same time. It won’t be far away until Jas shows the field a fresh set of heels, however in Cairns Jas had a solid swim bike and battled on the run to finish in 10:24:50. This was a huge improvement from IMWA by a over 2hrs even though IMWA didn’t have a swim.
 
Ben Larsson (Club Member) – Ben Battled hard all day for a 10:23:17. We have no doubt that Ben will regroup with his coach and choose his next race that will push his time back into the 9’s where he is normally finishing.
 
 
Cairns 70.3
 
Rob Robson – Rob is going from strength to strength and Cairns 70.3 was another showing of that. Finishing in 5:14:37, Rob was just outside the top 10 in his age group which featured many top age groupers. We look forward to seeing more gains for Rob in future races.
 
Scott Francis – Scott went to Cairns to do the swim/bike in the 70.3 and simply to push his bike limits. Unfortunately for Scott he suffered a puncture which put a stop to this goal.