The start and transition are 20km away from the finish in Cairns, and where most of the athletes are staying. This presents some logistical problems, but it seems it is the only reasonable solution for the race. It will be interesting to see if they stick with the format for next year. This is the inaugural running of the event.
So yesterday I rented a car and went out for a practice swim at the Yorkeys Knob start area and transition. Swimming practices have to be managed to keep the "marine life" at bay, so there are only a couple of times in the buildup week it is safe to be out there. Full wetsuits are allowed, or rather encouraged despite the warmer conditions, as a safety measure against stingers and box jelly fish. It's OK, they say, there hasn't been a fatality in the area for many years.
Then later in the day, with Syko in tow, I drove out to Port Douglas to check out the cycle route. It's a kind of a one and a half lap course, mostly pancake flat on a good surface, except for a nasty little windy climb in the middle, which we go over twice in each direction. I was undecided whether to use the disc wheel or not, and I had brought a back up. But from the comfort of my motel room, I thought "how bad can it be" and set the bike up with the disc. I know I will pay for it on the nasty little climb, but then there is the sweeping downhill on the other side and the very long flats where it should hum along nicely.
Riding past these beaches will be tough!
Port Douglas is a lovely little village, and we turn there twice, riding down either side of the main street, which has been closed for the race. There should be a big crowd there.
Tomorrow morning I will have a 1km amble down to the bus stop, and then the bus ride out to Yorkeys Knob, where I will prepare my bike, then don my wet suit and head for glory, in my own small way. The weather forecast is 27 degrees max, 18 min, which seems to be the same every day.
So here I sit, the evening before the race feeling reasonably good, as pre-race evenings go, and without expectation about anything approaching a PB. Challenge have a policy to do their best to bring everyone home. You have to beat the traditional swim and bike cut-offs primarily for safety. But they have a total limit of 17:30 for the race, and I hope I don't have to use it all. The last 24km are laps along the Esplanade and a big crowd is expected. Mr Pink will be making his aussie debut, and it remains to be seen how the cobbers will deal with it.
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