Today was a special day for Cairns as it hosted the Cairns Airport Adventure Festival. Athletes of all calibre took to the ocean, streets and parklands to test themselves and push past their own expectations. The feature event – the gruelling Ironman Cairns is not for the faint hearted with a 3.8km swim, 180km bike leg up to Port Douglas and a 42.2km run back into Cairns city. As I write this they are still racing and will be well into the afternoon.

I got up early to support many friends who, for most, have trained harder and more intensely than ever before in their life. I felt so excited and proud of every participant. As they exited the water and ran the stretch to the first transition, each face told a different story: determination, pain, joy, and pride. You could see the elite athletes run first and the crowd cheered. As the line trickled past and we started to see the average Joe and Janes the cheering continued. I think it was loudest though, for those that had overcome challenges like age and weight and were out there giving it their all.

Normally I would have taken my iPhone to capture the snaps of the day. It’s easier to put them straight on to Facebook or to instantly send them to people. Today however, I decided to go to the effort to take our SLR camera. I was so glad I did. The photo quality is improved ten fold. With the speed of the camera I was able to capture their achievements and am eagerly looking forward to being able to show them. This may take a day or two to print but I am sure they will appreciate it when I give them quality glossy photos of their day.

Now, I must run (pun intended) to go catch them at the finish.