Port's own Nick Carling, usually a long distance triathlete, proved he could take on the world's best over short distances, too. Carling took out first place in the Male Enticer category in Sunday's Coral Coast Marathon, with a time of 00:37:22.

"It was much bigger than last year," he said, "it attracted a lot more numbers...yesterday was massive, it was a wicked atmosphere, the weather was perfect, and I had a very supportive crowd cheering me on."

The athlete and owner of Port business Actin Fitness sported a specially modified spandex 'Morphsuit' for the 300m swim,  10km cycle, and 2.5km run, coloured purple in aid of cancer charity Relay for Life.

"Did it help? Who knows!" he said of competing in the suit, "I had a lot of drag in the water, which made the swim difficult. On the bike and run, it wasn't so bad."

Before the event, Far North Queensland business Cape York Motorcycle Adventures, Coconut Grove Port Douglas, Health Managament, Brumbys Port Douglas, Dean & Bolton Solicitors, and AutoTune Cairns agreed to donate $200 to Relay for Life if Carling won. He is thrilled with the $1200 donation.

Despite his possible outfit-related disadvantage, Carling finished the swim leg eight seconds ahead of John Pace, of Lake Eachel, and 19 seconds in front of Andres Real. The three men were front-runners for podium positions from the start, though Carling dominated for the entire event. A comfortable win, Carling crossed the finish line almost 4 minutes before second-placed Real, from Redlynch.

"Massive congratulations to USM people for putting on such great events," Carling said.

He will don the purple Morphsuit again in Friday's 5km Cairns Post Run For Cairns.

Carling won't be lining up in this weekend's IRONMAN Cairns event, instead preparing for the World Championships in September.