WHEN Bathurst triathlete Keith Tuynman first headed to Cairns in 2011 he was 'pumped and excited', but now when it comes to tackling the endurance challenge he knows boring is better.
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This Sunday Tuynman will line up for his ninth start at Cairns, the Ironman event which will take him from reef to rainforest as he makes his way through a 3.8 kilometre swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run.
He is one of 144 entrants in the men's 50-54 division, his rivals coming from not only across Australia but places such as Sweden, New Zealand, Japan, China and Israel.
While just how long it takes him to reach the finish line remains to be seen, Tuynman knows what he need to do to make sure he does see that finish chute. Be boring.
"The goal, always the goal, is to finish. To finish is to win and be happy," he said.
"But the ultimate goal is to try and do really well, but people don't want to jinx themselves. I've trained good enough to do an 11 hour race in my opinion, now if I do any better, fantastic.
"People might say '11 hours?' but it's Ironman and if you go too hard in the bike, you are going to pay for it in the run, I guarantee you. And if you go easy in the bike and go too hard in the beginning of the run, you pay for it at the end of the run.
"You will pay for it somewhere in Ironman if you go too hard, it's about being consistently boring for the whole race. Being consistent, in the moment and keep it simple."
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Tuynman's ultimate goal is to complete 10 Cairns events, an aim which was certainly not on his mind nine years ago when entering what was his first Ironman distance race.
"I did the very first one up here, the inaugural one, it was called challenge back then, it wasn't an Ironman event," he said.
"I remember sitting around Hussky RSL Club after doing the Hussky long course race in 2011 and Richard Hobson said to me 'What's up next?'. I said I didn't know, but he suggested Cairns.
"I said 'That sounds like a good idea, I'll go home and enter that', but I didn't know what I was doing. When I told him I had entered Cairns he laughed and said 'You're kidding!'
"Now I love it up here, I like the people, the weather, the course is obviously good. It's a little escape for me for two weeks from the Bathurst winter. As soon as I'm on that plane I'm in the Ironman bubble."
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Tuynman will not be the only Bathurst Wallabies triathlete to be in the 'Ironman bubble'. Four members of the club are set to tackle the Ironman 70.3 event on Sunday, a 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run.
Lucy Hobson will look to add to her impressive second placing in the women's 20-24 years half Ironman at February's Huskisson Triathlon Festival. While more familiar with shorter distance triathlons Josh Stapley has entered, and the experienced Terry Roberts and Luke Gillmer will also compete.
"They are predicting 27 degrees, a light shower in the afternoon and a 25 kay and hour head wind as per usual," Tuynman said.
"I've had 34 degrees drop down to 20 degrees and rain when I did my PB in 2014. The very first time I came up here in 2011 it was like 34 degrees and not a breathe of wind, other years when it's rained you can see the steam come off the road due to the humidity. So I've had it all."