New Zealand’s Braden Currie chases record fourth Ironman win in Cairns

He has already written his name into the record books for the Cairns Ironman, now Braden Currie is chasing legend status in the marquee event.

He has already written his name into the record books for the Cairns Ironman, now Braden Currie is chasing legend status in the marquee event.

Currie will look to become the only person to claim four Cairns Ironman championships when he tackles the triathlon on Sunday.

The 38-year-old won it in 2018, 2019 and 2023, putting an end to Australian Max Neumann’s streak who was looking to make it a four-peat in 2023.

Currie finished second to Neumann in 2022.

The man from Methven, New Zealand said he loves competing in Cairns.

“Cairns is always a really good race. It’s a challenging swim, and the bike ride is relatively challenging too with the amount of rolling hills in it,” Currie said.

Braden Currie crosses the finish line on the Cairns Esplanade to win the Ironman Cairns Asia Pacific Championship. Picture: Brendan Radke

“But I think for me, it would take really just a good run day. It’s a great fast course and with a good run I feel like I could pull back another victory.

“I’ve had some great battles in this race, and I believe there’ll be plenty more this year.

“It actually keeps blowing me away how many young guys are coming through and I think that they’re going to be the challenge, and in the years to come, and they’re racing incredibly well and the joys of also having nothing to lose.

“Then your likes of Mike [Phillips] and Joe Skipper and Matt Burton that will obviously know how to race and we’ll race hard.”

Currie, who has had some bad luck and frustrating moments in his past few races, comes into Cairns needing a big performance to not only take out another IRONMAN Asia-Pacific title, but also to secure maximum IRONMAN Pro Series points and claim a slot at the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship, this year in Kona, Hawaii for male athletes.

“It would be a big relief to put together a big performance, it’s definitely been a pretty frustrating 12 months race-wise,” Currie said.

“I know that I’m fit and I’m healthy and I’m injury-free, so there should be no reason not to have a good race.

“I think I’ll just approach it the way that I always approach a race.

“I think I’ll go for the best performance that I’ve got on the day and that’ll hopefully be enough to get me the result that I want.”

One of the young challengers Currie will face this weekend in Australia’s Nick Thompson, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Tuesday.

Thompson will be making his IRONMAN Cairns professional debut.

“There were a few reasons for deciding to race at Cairns,” Thompson said.

“The main reason would have to be that as the Asia-Pacific Championship, I thought it would be a good opportunity to race at a high level and against a quality field, relatively close to home.

“It is going to be a bonus that this race is an amazing opportunity to swim, bike and run in a really beautiful part of the world.

“A successful race for me personally would be to execute a really well-rounded race, be patient and embrace the conditions.

“Hopefully if I can achieve all those, I can cross the line at the pointy end of the field.”

Fellow New Zealand athlete Mike Phillips is looking to challenge his Kiwi rival.

“It is always challenging for us coming from New Zealand, different climate here,” Phillips said.

“Definitely not complaining about the weather after a few frosty starts back home.

“It is pretty cool along the bike course, along the side of the water, little bit of wind coming but it is a challenging part of the race but also very cool.

“It is more about dealing with the heat for us, can get a bit (tough) when you have been out there sweating.

“But plenty of support on the run track right around as well so definitely makes it easier.

“Always have to aim for the top but I guess you can’t control what the other guys are doing either.

“It is always good racing Braden, he has had some better results over in Cairns here, so would be nice to have a little battle with him again.”

Originally published as New Zealand’s Braden Currie chases record fourth Ironman win in Cairns