Cairns Ironman and Cairns 70.3

A great weekend of racing!

Starting at the top with some standout performances.

In the 70.3 Coach Franken schooled most of the field in a well thought out hard man effort. Darren stopped the clock in a 4:24 and some change, coming 2nd in AG and 21st overall. Darren showed a lot of younger athletes a clean set of heels in the run. In fact Darren attacked straight out of T2 and the weaker less experienced athletes just couldn’t respond. If you ask Darren about it, he would just say “I used to run that way all the time.” Not a bad effort for a father, business person and coach!

Likewise, Miah Franzmann again took the race on in full attack mode. Miah and Mat have worked hard together in the last six months making small adjustments to her program and trying to get a bit more out of her engine. It’s no surprise she is now beating people she has never beaten before and still mixing it across all age groups! Miah was 1st in AG and 20th female overall.

A quick reminder of how hard these two work and their respective talents! Their cumulative age is 98 years! Miah would of placed in the top 10 in every age group, and been on the podium in all but three age groups! Darren would have also placed in the top ten in all age groups and would of only missed out on a podium in three age groups….mind you, only by 20secs in one of them!

Crazy Dr Tonelli had a solid day out. Suffering mechanical issues on the bike doc gathered herself and ran back into 4th in AG! Awesome effort Carolyn, well deserved top 5 finish…we forget its only Carolyn’s 3rd 70.3!

Special mention to Bethany Lloyd who smashed out a 5.19 on debut and placed in the top 10 in her age group. Watch this space!

In the Ironman we had four more first timers. They all performed admirably and crossed the line with their heads held high. Well done to Andrew Jordan, Robert Kostadinovic, Sam Friedman and Peter Graham. You are now Ironmen! Not wanting to be left out, Bassam Hallack, posted a 50min IM PB – well done mate!