2018 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns recap
Who is Braden Currie? Mirinda Crafrae's return to full distance racing and Javier Gomez’s sub-8 hr debut.
Meet Braden Currie, your 2018 Ironman Asia-Pacific Champion. The Kiwi was considered by some as one of the best endurance runners in the world, before making the transition to triathlon a few years ago. In 2017, Currie won his first Ironman and made his Ironman World Championship debut that year.
This year Currie has had podium results at Challenge Wanaka and Ironman New Zealand. Fast-forward to this past weekend; Currie went sub eight hours on the challenging Cairns course to win his second Ironman. The win puts him in the conversation as one of the favourites for this year’s World Championship. Currie stayed with the leaders for much of the race, before running away from the likes of Gomez and the rest of the pro field. His marathon was a blistering 2:39 and was the nail in the coffin for Gomez, who couldn’t keep pace.
Gomez in his first full distance triathlon went sub eight hours (7:56:38). This is a remarkable achievement considering how challenging the Cairns course is – drawing the comparison to Kona. He also was in it right to the end. He and Currie were locked in a battle for much of the race, falling just off the pace in the closing kilometres of the marathon.
The men’s pro field podium was, Braden Currie (7:54:58), Javier Gomez (7:56:38) and Terenzo Bozzone (8:00:06). Bozzone just edged out Tim O’Donnell by 48 seconds to make the podium.
The race also marked the return to full distance racing for Mirinda Carfrae. In all of the 70.3 races she has competed in this year, she has finished second in each one. This past weekend was no different, finishing six minutes back of winner Teresa Adam. Beth Mckenzie, Luke McKenzie’s wife, also made her return to racing after an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) in one of her urine samples back in early 2017.
The women’s pro field was won by, Teresa Adam (8:53:16), Mirinda Carfrae (8:59:17) and Beth Mckenzie (9:03:10).
