🦘 Braden Currie has never felt fitter as he sets out in pursuit of a record fourth win. Hannah Berry has a title defence, and Kona, on her mind. Reigning NZ champ Mike Phillips wants more than road rash as a souvenir from his third Ironman start inside four months. Ben Hamilton? He’ll happily go in under the radar. Again.
Matt Kerr, Scott Harpham, Jason Christie, Tom Somerville, Liam Bird and Rebecca Clarke are other New Zealand pros on the start lists for Ironman Cairns, making Sunday’s US$125,000 full the most Kiwi-heavy event on the 2025 IM Pro Series circuit.
Currie, tied on three wins with Aussie Max Neumann at the iconic venue, would love nothing more than to edge ahead. That won’t be easy with the likes of Americans Matthew Marquardt and Matt Hanson and South African Olympian Jamie Riddle making this one of the highest quality fields in Cairns’ now 14th year (following an inaugural event in 2011 that was under The Challenge Family banner).
“I couldn’t imagine a better feeling than taking the win this year in Cairns. I’m fit, fitter than I have ever been to be honest. I am healthy and I’m excited to race again at my favourite race destination,” Currie said.
Despite finishing a commendable 9th in the 2024 Pro Series, Currie hasn’t won since he captured the third of his IM Cairns victories in June 2023.
He’s 36th in the 2025 standings with just two 70.3 scores to count so far – 2222 points for 7th at Geelong and 2012 points for 10th at 70.3 Oceanside. A win on Sunday would be worth 5000 points and catapult the Wanaka veteran to third overall in the men’s standings.
“I had a huge amount of learnings from last year racing the Ironman Pro Series for the first time. I think quite a few of the guys who didn’t pursue the series last year but are this year are getting some of the same learnings as I did. It’s brutal, and a huge step outside of the racing comfort zone trying to perform on opposite hemispheres in a massively condensed season of racing,” said Currie.
“This year we decided to do a few of the races that I did last year – going back a second time seems easier, you know what you are in for. It was also a huge bonus having at least one Ironman 70.3 in Australasia to start the season.
“I’m pretty happy with how it’s gone to be honest. I think in Geelong I was the first non-Olympic athlete to cross the line, which at my age I am going to take as a win. Short course racing is intense, and I would say right now I am much more suited to long course. But the two 70.3s I have done have worked out pretty well, so onwards and upwards now – three Ironmans left to go.”
One of those will be the European Championships at Ironman Frankfurt on June 29 with world No.46 Currie confirmed overnight in a stacked field including Kristian Blummenfelt, Patrick Lange, Magnus Ditlev, Rudy Von Berg and Gustav Iden.
Sunday, meanwhile, will be Phillips’ sixth start in Cairns with his third-place finish last year his best result to date at the Tropical North Queensland classic.
After winning IMNZ in March, a DNF crash at IM South Africa in late March left the Canterbury world No. 43 covered in road rash and broke his Pro Series momentum.
“Crashing in South Africa was a big setback, not only not scoring any Ironman Pro Series points, but also having to adjust the race schedule to allow me to recover from the injuries. It’s been a pretty good run into the race in Cairns, I feel refreshed and ready to race again,” he said.
“It is great to have the World Champs slot already [from IMNZ], it takes off the pressure and allows me to take some risks on race day. With the crash in South Africa, and the resulting missed races, I am a bit out of the Pro Series hunt, so I am more just focusing on one race at a time.”
Hamilton, the Pro Series leader not so long ago, goes into Sunday in 9th overall but received no more than a passing mention in Ironman’s preview. Perhaps that was because of his DNF in Cairns last year but watch for the Aucklander who has rattled off 7th, 10th, 12th and 6th places at IMNZ, 70.3 Geelong, IM Texas and 70.3 St George respectively in a scheduled purposely front loaded in 2025.
Berry: ‘No extra pressure’ as defending champ
Hannah Berry’s victory at Ironman Cairns last year was a highlight in a year marked by consistency. It saw her finish 4th overall in the inaugural IM Pro Series and ultimately led to a full contract on the rival T100 circuit.
The Mt Maunganui 34-year-old started that campaign brilliantly with 4th at T100 Singapore in early April and has earmarked her return for T100 London in early August.
Cairns was always a target in between times with Berry targeting a slot at the October World Championships in Kona.
Berry was 11th on debut at the Big Island in 2023 and improved to 10th at Nice last year.
“Obviously, I’d love to defend my title, and getting a Kona qualification is really important as I would really like to give Kona a good crack this year to see what I can achieve at World Champs,” Berry said.
“I’m really excited to race another Ironman. I love the problem solving and tactics of an Ironman race day, there are always tough moments to overcome and there’s always a lot to learn.”
Aussie’s Lotte Wilms and Kylie Simpson, 2nd and 3rd respectively last year, are back to keep Berry honest while Jackie Hearing (USA), runnerup in the inaugural Pro Series, will up the ante some more. So too Regan Hollioake, who counts IMNZ as one of her three IM titles in the past year, and fellow Aussie Penny Slater who was 7th at the Nice worlds.
“I don’t feel extra pressure at all, but I do feel a little bit of extra motivation wearing the number one bib,” Berry continued. “It’s always great to have the opportunity to try and defend a title.
“At the end of the day, I just want to have a good race for where I’m at, and ideally have better numbers [53:04 swim / 4:42:05 bike / 3:04:53 run] than in the race here last year. Who knows where that’ll get me in the strong field this year, but if I achieve that I have to be happy.”
Clarke, 5th in Cairns last season, will race her first full since finishing 22nd at last September’s world’s in Nice. Sunday is the Aucklander’s second race back from a long injury layoff; she returned with 14th at 70.3 Port Macquarie.
