Situated at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns IRONMAN is set in one of the world’s most iconic tropical locations. With arguably the most spectacular bike course in the world, competitors race up the Captain Cook Highway hugging the coastline from Cairns to Port Douglas. From reef to World Heritage listed rainforest, and a run along the stunning Cairns boardwalk, the race finishes in the heart of the city. A short video of the event can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdovDUT120w

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race, where the Ironman race starts at 7:00 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all finishers must complete their marathon by midnight.

A triple hernia sadly delayed my participation in the event in 2013 so I am hoping for a better start this year. I will be racing on behalf of Pancreatic Cancer (http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/) which is the form of cancer my Father-in-Law, Lorin Boswell lost his battle to in 2008. Pancreatic Cancer has the lowest survival rate of any cancer and is one of the most aggressive forms of Cancer with a five year survival rate of less than 5%. Whilst some awareness has been raised over the years namely with the loss of Steve Jobs, Patrick Swayze and Pavarotti, Doctors are still in the early stages of understanding the disease and even further from finding a cure. Lack of funding continues to be a major hurdle for research groups and PanCan works to eliminate this barrier.

Any donation large or small will go directly to this tremendous cause and each dollar will help carry me "mentally" around the course.