After winning Kona two years on the trot, Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) will be the headline act at the 2015 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne this March – though she again faces her Swiss nemesis Caroline Steffen.
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This will be the first time Rinny has raced on Aussie soil since finishing third in the event’s 2012 edition, when she came third behind Steffen. “I’m looking forward to racing again at home. Winning an Australian Ironman title is not something I’ve done yet, so I’d love to add one to my résumé,” Carfrae said.
“It’s a championship race so some of the girls will be really targeting it and be in great shape. I’ll put my nose to the grindstone for the next four weeks, aiming to be as fit as I can be to have a shot at the title.”
It is also the first time in over a year that Carfrae has trained in Australia, as she’s usually based in Boulder, Colorado. “My family is excited to have me back and I enjoyed spending time with them in Brisbane,” she added. “I have six nieces and nephews and the oldest is seven, they change so quickly so I always miss out when I’m away too long.”
Carfrae won last year’s Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii despite a deficit of 14:30mins behind leader Daniela Ryf (SUI) coming out of T2 . She then turned in one of the greatest runs the sport has ever seen with a time of 2:50:27, to claim her third Ironman World Championship title (2010, 2013, 2014).
For more info on this year’s Ironman Melbourne head here. Don’t forget to pick up the March 2015 issue of 220 Triathlon magazine or listen to our podcast for an in-depth interview with Rinny, in which we discuss her upbringing on a farm outside Brisbane, her move from netball to basketball to triathlon and lots more.
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