Braden Currie will hope to turn his season around this weekend at IRONMAN Cairns, following a difficult last 12 months of racing.
The New Zealander, who won the title here last year, hasn’t finished on a podium since, and has failed to finish three of his last seven races.
A stalwart on the long course circuit, the 38-year-old will be eyeing a first victory on the brand new IRONMAN Pro Series when he lines up in Queensland this weekend.
“I feel like I could pull back another victory”
With 15 professional wins to his name, plus a third place finish at the IRONMAN World Championship in 2022, Currie is no stranger to success, but has endured a rough patch of races recently.
“It would be a big relief to put together a big performance. It’s definitely been a pretty frustrating 12 months race-wise. 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.”
“I’ve had some great battles in this race”
A three-time winner in Cairns, Currie also finished on the podium in 2017 and 2022. Last year, he set the run and overall course record, and said that the marathon will be the key to victory this time around.
“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. 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.
“They’re racing incredibly well and the joys of also having nothing to lose. Then you also have your likes of Mike [Phillips] and Joe Skipper and Matt Burton that will obviously know how to race and we’ll race hard.”
Seeking to secure not just a place in the history books but also a spot at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, the Methven native will need to ensure he finishes in the Top 4 to guarantee a place on the Big Island in October.
