Sport
30 March, 2024
Podium target of Carling
EXPERIENCED local triathlete Nick Carling is ready to kick off his 2024 season with a new set of goals in mind to make it to the top of the 2024 Ironman Cairns competition coming in June.
With his first competition of the year fast approaching in early April, Mr Carling is looking to make waves this year, improve his best times and start moving up on the podium to shine the spotlight on local triathletes and a sport that remains relatively unexplored in the region.
“For me it’s about going further than I did last year and continuing to develop. I’m particularly working on my swim and keeping strong on my bike,” he said.
“In the last two years I’ve picked silver medal at the world championships in Slovakia – racing for team Australia. I qualified for a pro licence and started racing professionally and debuted that licence with Ironman Cairns and had a decent race but 15km into the race I had a flat tyre and ended up finishing 13th in the pro male division.
“In April I’ll kick off my season in Asia, starting with Ironman 70.3 Cebu, and I’m aiming to get in the top eight and then another 70.3 in Taiwan. I want to build up the strength and confidence and racing experience to go into the lead up to Ironman Cairns, which is now a pro series.
“I definitely feel like I can break into the top 10 in a more stacked field in Ironman Cairns this year. That’s the goal, you don’t race for last.”
Mr Carling said he wanted to use the Ironman platform to promote the great quality of triathletes in Cairns and FNQ and the possibilities within the sport in the region.
“We don’t have that top tier of athletes, they’re usually more south than us, and training in an environment like ours it’s harder to make gains because the effort is much higher than in cooler weathers and so is recovery,” he said.
“It’s a lot more challenging for us here but the Ironman motto is ‘everything is possible’ and that’s what I’ve shown and what I’ve been doing for years.
“I’ve been coaching for over 12 years with my team Ignite and this year, by far, we’ve seen the most influx of people coming into the sport wanting to do their first 70.3.
“The outlook for Cairns is really bright in terms of athletes and Ironman Cairns is by far one of the biggest atmospheres across the world, but we don’t get a lot of support and we’re always looking for sponsors, so if you’d like to support reach out.”
To support Mr Carling via the Ignite Endurance website, visit https://bit.ly/49ejJm4
