IT may not be an official contest in the Cairns Airport Adventure Festival, but thousands of athletes are preparing to go head-to-head today.

After months of training, entries will this morning open for the festival's final events and the race is on to fill those spots.

Triathlete Meagan Fanning (pictured above with fellow entrant Paul Mashford) says she will be parked on the USM Events website, hitting the refresh button, until entries open at 11am.

"I'm not leaving it to chance," said Ms Fanning, who is registering in the Coral Coast Triathlon.

"I registered for the half Ironman (70.3) and I know a lot of people missed out.

"They are going to be registering for this too."

Contestants can also register for the RRR Mountain Bike Challenge, Quicksilver Reef Swim, The Cairns Post Run for Cairns and the McDonald's Ironkids Cairns.

With both the Cairns Ironman and the Cairns Ironman 70.3 selling out, USM Events senior project manager Tammy Barker is expecting big interest in the remaining events.

"We have a large percentage of participants coming from out of state and internationals and most will be arriving in Cairns early to take part in the festival events as a warm-up," she said.

"The Green Island swim is especially a hit with visitors from out of town. "

She warned locals not to assume they would get in straight away. "Get in early, book and begin planning your training program," she said.

NEW CAIRNS.COM.AU COMMENT POLICY
We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Comments submitted without a full name and suburb/location will not be considered for publication. Please read our full comment policy and publication guidelines.

Share this article