Australia’s David Dellow posted a personal best performance to claim his first Ironman victory in the inaugural Cairns Airport Ironman Cairns yesterday, while fellow Sunshine Coast triathlete Carrie Lester secured her first win since 2010.

In a race second place getter Cameron Brown described as a "tough day", Dellow raced off with his first ever ironman victory on home soil.

The win thrilled the crowd which lined the course with the 33-year-old crossing the finish line in 8hrs 15min 04sec.

New Zealander Cameron Brown, who led for most of the bike/run race with Victoria’s Luke Bell ran into a hole at the 21km mark and was unable to keep pace with Dellow eventually finishing in second place (8:22:21) with Denmark’s Jimmy Johnsen third.

“Ironman is just such a tough day, you can lose minutes in the last couple of kilometers. I definitely wasn’t celebrating until I well and truly almost had the race done with,” said Dellow.

Australian Luke Bell led the elite men's field out of the swim, covering the 3.8km course in 47min 52sec from Dellow with New Zealand’s Bryan Rhodes next out but his day finished abruptly after that.

Chris McCormack was next to emerge and things looked promising early for the 39-year-old but another check of his splits on the first lap clearly indicated his only intention today was ‘validation’.

Looking to secure his right to race at the Ironman World Championship in October and face Lance Armstrong. Even a "cruisy" day by McCormack standards secured him a ninth place overall.

“It was a relatively long day, I just took my time, I knew I had to validate. Don’t do one of these Ironman races if you’re not prepared because they are hard. I don’t think my legs have been that sore for a very long time.”

“I just got the job done and stamped that ticket to Kona in October. They make these rules that you’ve got to validate.”

“It’s been a busy day in triathlon. Mr Armstrong in Hawaii and I guess today I just stamped my ticket to see him in six months time.”

“You forget the buzz of these events and it really is the heart and soul of the sport, this type of racing, and there is just so much support out there. The atmosphere is incredible. You compare it to ITU racing and it’s just pro-racing so it doesn’t really have that buzz and it’s just good to be back. It was a tough day today.”

At the 74km mark on the bike a group formed that saw Dellow, Brown, Leon Griffin, Matt White and Bell lead the charge. They remained this way for the rest of the 180km swapping leads occasionally.

Brown made a small break 2km from transition but Bell closed that as they both stormed onto the run together, quickly establishing a minute gap on the others.

By the 8km mark Bell had faded and Brown was taking on fuel and not looking the goods.

Dellow continued to move his way through the field, finally taking the lead at the 22km mark and looking comfortable.

“I was thinking coming to the end of the bike that I was starting to suffer, it was a bit of a hot day and around me was a Kiwi and Mexicans, and I was thinking, "this is what suits us", the hot sort of weather.

“I love racing in heat. I have heard it gets pretty hot in Kona so I am looking forward to it,” said Dellow.

As he approached the final few kilometres he had a comfortable buffer and cruised to his first Ironman win.

“It was March last year that I sort of just had it with short course racing. It was to either go work in an office or give the non-drafting long course format and I am really glad I made the decision to do this.

“Every race is different but today’s win is good prize money and good racing so it’s definitely up there with the top couple,” said Dellow.
Brown did enough to hold on for second but struggled.

“It was good for the day. I was pretty tired out there. The first 21km I felt alright but when David came past it sort of blew after that and it was a real struggle to come home.

“I just wanted to get to the finish line, everyone was hurting, it was pretty tough. Ironman is just such a ridiculously long day, I’ve definitely got to work on my concentration,” said Brown.

The biggest mover on the run was Johnsen who bridged an 11 minute deficit after the bike to run through the field and claim third.

In the women’s event Australia’s Rebekah Keat lead for the entire race until the 6km mark on the run when she had to withdraw suffering from a torn soleus.

“It’s one of those things you can’t push through.

“Some paramedics tried to strap it and the doctor said "Love, you’ve torn your calf, you’re going to do more damage, it will make the tear even bigger."

“I actually don’t even know what happened. I was running and I felt like it was a cramp and it got worse and I’d try to walk and it didn’t feel too bad walking and then I’d run again and it just felt like a tear.

“I couldn’t really walk 40km with a torn calf. No points out of today – No points, no money.

“It’s just frustrating because I was having such a great day.

“I really could honestly just have jogged and won, it’s so frustrating,” said Keat

With Keat out of the race Harper found herself in the lead. The 2010 Ironman World Champion overall age group winner put up a great battle to maintain her composure on the run but Australia’s Carrie Lester passed her in the late stages of the run and the two battled for supremacy.

Lester finally broke the band and at the 39km mark had over a minute lead but didn’t dare lose form or focus until she crossed the line.

“I prayed that today was going to be my day, I haven’t won an Ironman since 2010 and I’m just so happy.  It was a real fight for it but well worth it.

“It’s an indescribable feeling winning, all the work and training I do every day, it’s incredible to be rewarded with this.  I’ve had a few goes over the last few years so it is really special to win here today,” said Lester.

“It’s a really tough course that one.  I did it last year and I don’t remember those roads being that rough – you really have to push the whole way on that bike and it’s a really tough course,” added Lester.

The result for Harper one of the best in her career.

“I felt good on the swim and I held it on the bike leg.  I thought I had her (Lester) I knew she was gaining on me and then she just took off on the run and just couldn’t stick with her.  

“It was really tough out there today, very hot.  I really gave it everything I had, and I am happy with my result.

Candice Hammond recorded the fastest run split (3:10:26) of the day to secure one of her best ever results to round out the podium.