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Photos: Delly Carr
Both Luke McKenzie (AUS) and Liz Blatchford (AUS) won Ironman Cairns in 2013 and then went on to place on the podium at that year’s Ironman World Championship. Looking to duplicate the success of that season, McKenzie and Blatchford again returned to the tropical location in search of victories, their share of the $100,000 prize purse and important Kona Pro Ranking points. McKenzie dominated the men’s field, securing his first Ironman win since this same race two years ago and showing that he is on track to again compete for the title in Kona. Blatchford overcame an early penalty and turned in the fastest swim, bike and run splits in the women’s field to earn her third-straight victory in Cairns and again put her name on the list of Kona contenders.