Triathlon Australia’s National Manager Paratriathlon, Kathryn Perriac is delighted to see the number of people with disabilities challenging themselves with participating in an Ironman competition, and appreciative of the great support Ironman Asia-Pacific are providing. 

There are eight people with different physical and sensory impairments known to be entered to race this iconic race, the largest number in the history of the event.

Amongst the 8 are seasoned Ironmen like:

• John Domandl, who was the first visually impaired athlete in the world to compete in an Ultraman when he completed the 2015 Noosa event in 28hrs 23min, 21st overall and 2nd in his age group. John is from the Newcastle Triathlon Club and will be racing with his guide Paul McGlynn.
• From Johannesburg, South Africa quadriplegic wheelchair athlete Pieter Du Preez, the first, and still only quadriplegic to complete an Ironman race, and this will be his 4th.
• American Caroline Gaynor will be guiding a vision impaired athlete through an Ironman for the 7^th time.  This year in Busselton it will be with Kristina Lamont an attorney from Virginia, USA.

At the other end of Ironman experience are first timers:

• Dale Grant – a 2004 Paralympic swimming medallist.
• Andrew Gibson – who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 7 years ago.
• Perth resident Casey Hyde, a vision impaired athlete and her Tasmanian guide Kelly Honness.
• 25-year-old vision and hearing impaired athlete from Bunbury Darren Stevens, who has the same condition (Usher’s Syndrome) as Katie Kelly, and would like to go on and represent Australia at the Paralympic Games as Katie did.

Shoki Sakano from Japan who has Down Syndrome, will be racing with his father.