Classy field builds for Cairns Ironman

MORE than 40 professional athletes have already made the 2018 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship in Cairns one of the strongest ever.

A classy field of competitors is building for the June 10 battle, including five-time ITU World Triathlon, X-Terra and Ironman 70.3 World Champi- on Javier Gomez. The shortcourse legend is using Cairns to prepare for the extreme conditions he will face at the Ironman World Championship in October.

“I do not have Ironman experience and I could have chosen some other Ironman race from Europe – it would be eas- ier in travel – but Cairns has more heat, more humidity,” Gomez said.

“I want to try to simulate the conditions and equate them with what I will find in Hawaii as much as possible.

“I hope to learn from Cairns and use the experience.”

But 2016 Ironman Cairns champion Tim van Berkel might have something to say if Gomez has any ambitions of winning the event, bringing six years experience into the race against a field he labelled the best ever.

“It is probably the best Ironman Asia-Pacific field ever, so it is going to be a tough one to crack but I am up for the challenge,” he said.

The Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship brings 80 qualifying slots to Cairns for the 2018 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

About 3000 participants will descend on the Far North across all categories.