Great Harwood-based Lancashire triathlete Neil Hunter has flown out to Hawaii to compete at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, after weeks of specialist heat training designed to prepare him for one of the toughest race environments in endurance sport.

Neil left for Hawaii on Monday 28 September ahead of the championship on Saturday 10 October. The event returns this year to a single-day format in Kona, with men and women racing on the same day and a field of nearly 3,000 of the world’s best professional and age-group triathletes.

Competitors will face a 3.8km ocean swim, a 180km bike ride and a full 42.2km marathon, much of it along roads that cross Hawaii’s exposed lava fields, where heat radiating from the black volcanic rock pushes temperatures well above the air temperature.

To prepare, Neil has spent the last three weeks completing three training sessions a week in the heat chamber at the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance (MIHP). The chamber was set at 35°C with 80% humidity to match the conditions expected in Kona on race day. For two of the sessions, the temperature was raised to 39°C, still at 80% humidity, to replicate the radiant heat from the lava fields on certain sections of the course.

Neil Hunter said: “My training has gone as well as could be expected, and I’m certainly feeling the volume and the miles I’ve put in. The heat chamber sessions at MIHP have been invaluable. At 35 degrees and 80% humidity, it’s rather toasty, and the sessions at 39 degrees to replicate the heat coming off the lava fields were very toasty. But that’s exactly what we’ll face in Kona, so it’s been important to get used to it.”

The heat preparation builds on Neil’s experience in Spain this summer, where he won silver at the European Middle Distance Triathlon Championships in Banyoles in temperatures of 37°C, a race in which organisers shortened the run because of the heat. That result came just seven days after he took silver at the European Standard Distance Duathlon Championships at the same venue.

Neil’s race programme is supported by Blackpool-based Questa Chartered Financial Planners, which provides sponsorship towards training and travel for national and international events, including the trip to Kona.

Neil added: “Kona is the race every long-distance triathlete dreams of, and the support from Questa has made it possible for me to be on the start line. I’m very grateful to everyone who has helped me get here.”

The Ironman World Championship takes place on Saturday 10 October 2026.