It’s a cracking mid-June winter dawn in Clifton Beach, 22 degrees at 6.30am with the chance of coastal showers. It’s Ironman Cairns today – a bracing dawn 3.8-kilometre swim to kick off the day at Palm Cove, just up the beach from us. And it’s crowded…I mean, I’ve never seen so many people here. There has to be a couple of thousand onlookers and event organisers, so no surprises then that the queues for takeaway coffee conga-line down the street! 

There are over 3000 competitors here from over 54 countries, with the oldest participant at 93 years old! This global series event is not for the feint-hearted. Three continuous legs. A 3.8-kilometre swim, 180-kilometre cycle and a 42.2-kilometre marathon. It’s part of the global Ironman phenomenon, taking in the US, South Africa, Vietnam, Spain, Brazil, Germany, Australia, France, Switzerland, Canada, UK, Japan, Italy, Portugal, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman and probably many more countries. Over 250,000 people compete each year. It’s a super tough endurance test with less than 0.01% of the world’s population having ever completed a full-distance Ironman triathlon. Needless to say, I won’t be competing this or any other year…

As a footnote, the Men’s Champion completed the 226-kilometre course in 7 hours and 49 minutes whilst the Women’s Champion completed in 8 hours and 59 minutes. Legends! 

We’re heading into the dry season, but it seems June hasn’t quite got the message – showers are persisting, so perhaps the dry is some weeks off. Still, it’s a warm 27 degrees most days with 21 overnight, so can’t complain! The garden is loving it and my Bananas are going, well, bananas.