Athletics
24 June, 2025
Miller overcomes odds at Ironman Cairns
Horsham triathlete Kelly Miller has qualified for another world championship after winning her age group at the Ironman Cairns on June 15.
Not only did Miller win the Female 45-49 age category, but she was also the fifth woman overall, finishing with a time of 10 hours, 18 minutes, and 40 seconds.
"I'm very proud; I stuck it out," she said.
"I had a few bad injuries last year. I tore my hamstring clean off the bone and broke my ankle, so to overcome those injuries and come back the way I did, I was very happy."
The Ironman Cairns pushes competitors to their limits.
Starting with a 3.8km swim across Palm Cove, the second leg sees racers ride 180km from Cairns to Craiglie and back again before concluding with a 42.2km run.
Miller said a 35km/h wind added a layer of difficulty.
"The conditions were pretty rough; the swim was really choppy, so the times blew out," she said.
"I was probably eight minutes slower in the swim, but across the board, everyone was [slower].
"On the bike, it was windy coming back in towards Palm Cove."
Miller said the race was as much a mental battle as it was a physical one.
"You need to keep calm," she said.
"I just break the race down; in the swim, it's just 'get to the first buoy' or 'get to the turnaround point'.
"On the bike, the first 45km felt good because we had a bit of a tailwind, but when we turned around, it started to get challenging.
"But you just keep telling yourself to get through that.
"Once you get on the run, it's just one foot in front of the other.
"There's certainly lots of times in the race where you just want to stop, but just got to trust that you've done the training and you're going to make it to the finish."
The veteran triathlete said while the last leg is a challenge, the cheers from the sideline spurred her to compete.
"[The marathon is] a four-lap course along the Esplanade, which is lined with volunteers and spectators. It's just fantastic," Miller said.
"I had to pinch myself because they closed the road; it's just such a beautiful highway, and they've closed it for us."
"Kona is 16 weeks away," she said.
"I'll have a bit of a rest for a few weeks and just let the body recover, then it'll start building up again."
While Hawaii in October will be 20-25°C, Miller's lead up will take place in the Wimmera winter.
"Leading up to the Ironman, my training would be 15-25 hours a week," she said.
"That's broken up into running, swimming and biking.
"You don't go out and run a marathon before the marathon, but you might do a 30km run in training.
"You get bulk of the endurance from the bike riding, so I'll do quite a few four or five, sometimes six-hour bike rides before the race to build up my endurance."
