Port Macquarie Ironman

With the girls still fast asleep I drove down to the swim start of the Port Macquarie Ironman around half an hour before the start. Bumped into CR’s Rooster, queen_bee, Green Machine and his wife, all of whom I had previously met at the Half IM last October apart from queen_bee.

After watching the start and some of the swim leg I headed along to the bike transition for a look around and ran into the CR cheersquad comprising The Owl, Go Girl, Jen_Runs, Lulu and Wine Trail Runner. Hung around there for a chat and eventually the athletes started coming through. Notable IDs were Highway man who came through in less that an hour, and Minersrun in around an hour.

Some photos of the morning….

Swimmers waiting to go


Underway



Not hard enough with flying arms and legs everywhere? Well here’s some water chop for you to contend with


Arms tired? Have a walk through the shallows


This is what several hundred thousand dollars worth of bikes look like... edit...wow - more like several million dollars!


CR cheersquad complete with pom poms…faces have been obscured to protect the innocent

Unfortunately that’s it for the photos. When I ventured out later on I was carrying Isabel so didn’t have the camera handy. We all came back into the transition area around the time the leaders were finishing the bike leg and starting the run. The leaders waste almost no time in transition and despite having already been at it for several hours they absolutely fly out at the start of the run. Spent some time around there cheering on the cyclists and runners before getting Isabel back home for food and a sleep.

I ventured out again in the evening when Isabel was asleep. Drove along Pacific Drive where the run leg was going. All the runners had flouro sticks as it was dark now and were running along the southbound lane while the cars could use the northbound lane.

The finish area at Westport Park had a real carnival atmosphere now that it was dark. The finish chute was well lit and the stands running either side of it were packed. The announcer was calling the athletes as they came to the finish, often with some additional information as time allowed. Some people got special attention. I assumed he'd already finished and wasn't at the finish at the time, but Minersrun finished with his son by his side. Another guy had his 100 year old grandmother beside him. After 12 hours of strenuous activity some people still had the energy for a dance before crossing the finish line! After a 7am start, the cut off for the finish was Midnight. I had a long early run planned so couldn't stay till then though.