The weather is clearing, and the heat is back. It must be time for the Cairns 50 Community Running Festival! There is so much excitement for the weekend, including the event with the biggest turnout, the Smurf Endurance Sports Cairns 10.

Females

The women’s field is massive with 66% of all 10k participants being female. And this huge turnout also includes some mighty fast runners who are sure to turn on the heat this weekend.

Returning for 2024 is 2023 Cairns 10 champion Izzy Dix who is the likely favourite to grab a second Cairns 10 title. But also returning is 2023 runner up Erika Koelman who was only 40 seconds behind 12 months ago.

With such a large field though, the race really is wide open. However, keep an eye out for Laura McCartney who has been in great form taking out the 10k at Dynamic in a Dress only a few weeks ago, and was also third in last year’s Cairns 30.

It will be an amazing watch to see these women battle it out over 10k in hot and humid conditions!

Males

In 2023, it was a race of the young fellas with Jonah Matthews and Cooper Glass running first and second. In 2024, however, there is no Jonah on the start line and Cooper unlikely backing up from a week of footy.

This leaves race ambassador and 2022 champion Andrew Lamond as the sole 2023 podium getter lining up. Training has looked positive for Andrew, so we can only imagine he will give the podium a good shake once again.

But, there is plenty of depth in this field! Runner up in last year’s 50k, Bryan O’Mahoney, will this year be toeing the line of the 10k and is looking in strong form. And then there us young triathlete Alistair Hickey who will no doubt run hard and challenge for the top spot.

There are plenty of other men who will run fast on Sunday including Ben Richardson, Stuart Tindall and Jeremy Weinart, but it really is a wide open race!