Mountain bike event to hit new heights
THE mountain bike element of the Cairns Airport Adventure Festival could be in for a major facelift.
The popular RRR Mountain Bike Challenge is the longest running ‘point to point’ race in Australia and this will be the 27th straight year it will be run on June 4.
Ironman’s head of partner- ships Oceania and Asia Jeff Gillies hinted during a visit to Cairns last week that they had their sights on that element of the festival.
Ironman made a major move into the mountain bike market in August last year after they acquired the renowned Cape Epic mountain bike race in South Africa.
Mr Gillies revealed several sites were inspected during the Far North trip and the opening THE Cairns Ironman means two things to restaurant manager Roberto Guerra – pasta and bananas.
While not necessarily together, those two foods are the hottest commodity at Villa Romana during the event as athletes look to fuel up.
Mr Guerra said the weeklong triathlon festival had been embraced by the business community with everyone getting a cut – from taxi drivers through to hotels and eateries.
“It is huge for business in Cairns,” he said.
Villa Romana is perfectly positioned on the Esplanade to cheer on competitors during the run leg of the Ironman and 70.3 and Mr Guerra said the restaurant was packed from breakfast to dinner.
He said its customers included spectators grabbing prime seating to watch the event, through to competitors who had finished their race and came hunting bowls of fresh pasta and banana smoothies.
The restaurant will be among dozens of Cairns food spots where competitors will be able to use local food vouchers issued by organisers of the event. weekend of the festival, based at Port Douglas, was growing.
“That first weekend, we’re absolutely boosted by how popular the RRR is,” he said.
“We are developing our mountain biking strategy globally and looking at development in the future.”