IRONMAN CAIRNS 2026 PLANNING (Entries Now Open)
Less than 11 months to go until the 2026 edition of Cairns 70.3 & IRONMAN Cairns. We already have many athletes planning to race and quite a few already committed. It is never too early to get organised – below are a few things that have already been discussed with athletes planning to race:
Accommodation Location
Although the race is named IRONMAN Cairns it actually starts in Palm Cove – about 30km up the Coast. T1 is here and T2 is in Cairns ‘city centre’. It is tempting to book accommodation in Palm Cove as it is a bit quieter, generally speaking, and it makes race morning very very easy, however I would recommend booking the majority of your stay in Cairns as it makes pretty much everything else easier for the week/weekend! This is where check in is, group activities, activities for families (including lagoon pool), restaurants, cafes, shops and, importantly, the run course and finish line! if it was/is possible for you the best option is to stay in Cairns for the majority of your stay and just book a room for Saturday night/Sunday morning in Palm Cove. Generally the feedback from those that do stay in Palm Cove is that they wouldn’t recommend stay there – if/when they race again they book Cairns. Lovely place to visit – just makes the overall race logistics harder!
Note: If there was interest – we could look at booking a ‘JET house’ for the Saturday evening if there was enough interest in sharing the cost – reply email or message me if you would be keen!
Travel Dates
Understandably it may not be feasible for everyone but where possible I recommend traveling up Wednesday or Thursday and back on Tuesday or Wednesday. Especially if racing the IRONMAN. This just gives you a bit more time to get settled in and enjoy the overall race week/end experience without feeling like you are rushing around everywhere. It also gives you a day or two buffer if there are any delays or other issues with travel.
Final 4-8 weeks Of Training
The final 4-8 weeks of training, specifically for those in the Southern States, can be quite challenging in terms of temperature drop and shorter days. There is not too much that can be done about this, obviously, but some athletes will look to book a ‘holiday’ or ‘training camp’ sometime in the final 1-4 weeks before the race in this case. The other option is to bank some of the higher volume work earlier in the prep to account for this time period to ‘take the pressure off’ – not ideal but the final 4-6 weeks can be tough enough as it is without battling shortening days and cold temps… especially when preparing for the tropical heat. In any case, food for thought and something to be aware of when choosing this race.
Post Race Holiday?
Palm Cove and Port Douglas are all great places to stay for a few days post race with your partner/family/friends… just sayin’ 🙂