Seven local athletes and one coach are among the New Zealand contingent heading to the International Triathlon Union's Long Distance Triathlon World Championship race to be held in Belfort, France on June 1.
Jo Tisch, Debbie Clark and Terri Mann will be joined in the national team by newcomers Brent McKay, John Vickers, Bronwyn Copeland and Andrew Dixon, with local coach Carolynn Margan being brought on board by Triathlon New Zealand to provide coaching support.
The team consists of 58 athletes ranging from 25 to 76 years of age - with four of the 18 women coming from Tauranga.
The disproportionate representation comes as no surprise to Triathlon Tauranga president Adam Hazlett. "It just confirms the quality and depth of triathletes in this area.
"With our local environment, a strong and supportive triathlon club and the range of excellent local events on offer, we are very well placed to succeed in the sport."
Squad members earned their places in the team over the summer triathlon season featuring the Port of Tauranga Half - which doubled as the New Zealand Long Distance Championship race - and the Taupo Half Ironman.
Clark and Tisch won gold in their age groups in Tauranga, while Copeland finished second in the 35 to 39-year-old age group.
Mann booked her ticket by finishing third in the Taupo event and then winning the Eves Realty Triathlon series.
Dixon also qualified in the Taupo Half Ironman and went on to complete the full Taupo Ironman in March.
McKay and Vickers did enough in the Tauranga event to earn their spots.
The weather in Belfort, in northeast rural France near the German and Swiss borders, has been patchy at best, meaning an ability to deal with the elements may prove crucial for our athletes who have grown accustomed to fine weather during a prolonged summer.
The course is a tough one consisting of a 4km lake swim, a 120km cycle - including a 13km climb to approximately 700m that has featured on the Tour de France - and a 30km undulating run.
Debbie Clark
Clark is a retired secondary school PE teacher and part-time orchardist who has been competing in triathlons - spanning sprints to ironman - for just four years.
In that short time she has been crowned the national age group champion a number of times in both the short and longer distances, and in 2012 won her age group in Ironman Melbourne, which qualified her for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, which she completed in October.
She is also a competitive runner and has excelled in skiing, tennis and gymnastics.
The race will form the first part of a trip that will see her and her partner enjoy a three-month stay in a cottage in the Loire Valley, including taking in a part of the Tour de France.
She believes older athletes tend to excel in triathlon and ironman due to the prohibitive cost of the sport and time it requires from its participants.
Terri Mann
Mann is the youngest member of the team going from Tauranga. She has previously had equestrian success at the national level and only took up her new sport four years ago after completing her tertiary qualifications, although she has plenty of time to train in her role as an exercise professional working out of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Aquatic Centre.
A dodgy ankle from her equestrian days - complete with screws from a reconstruction - has been giving her some trouble in recent weeks but she believes she will be fighting fit come race time. She wished to thank her coach, Carolynn Margan, sponsors Telecom Business Hub Tauranga and Share, as well as Sheryl McLay from Team Shorebreak.
Andy Dixon
Dixon is a former BOP cricketer and semi-professional soccer player with Stockport County in England, who plays off a +2 golf handicap.
He has been part of the triathlon scene for just four years. In that time the asset accountant for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council has completed three ironman events and numerous half ironman events.
Dixon typically takes two training rides a weekend - one of between 120-150km and another of about 100km. "I love being on the bike and going out riding so it makes all the long hours of training not so bad.
"I'm pretty excited about the race, it's interesting to have a big hill in the middle of the bike leg. So you're going over there thinking the bike's your strong point and it's like - come on."
He is relishing being part of a large contingent from Tauranga.
"It's fantastic being part of a team in an individual sport. Growing up I've always been part of a team and in triathlon you tend to go away by yourself or you meet people down there. So it's a really nice environment going with a bunch of friends."
Jo Tisch
Tisch is on the Triathlon Tauranga committee, though like many of her fellow representatives does not have an extensive history in the sport. "I think I did my first triathlon nine years ago, which was just a women-only beginners triathlon. I had to learn to swim because I couldn't swim 25 metres. I found a bike to ride and started running."
A lawyer on a career break, Tisch has been using her skills on the boards of Sport Bay of Plenty and the Tauranga Hockey Association. She took up triathlon as a means to get fit when the youngest of her children went to school.
Bronwyn Copeland
Copeland somehow finds time to train in all three disciplines despite having two children in preschool and being a psychiatrist at the hospital. She puts much of her success down to having a supportive family and a babysitter on call to allow her to get in the training required to perform at a high level.
Her mornings are typically spent swimming before work, with cycling in front of a wind trainer at night her reward after getting the kids off to bed.
John Vickers
Vickers is a psychiatrist originally from Scotland, but has lived in New Zealand for 24 years and is proud to be representing his adopted country in the 55-59 year old age group.
From a cycling background, Vickers took up triathlon in 2005 and since then has competed in all distances up to Ironman New Zealand.
He counts the swim as his strongest leg but noted that is not a huge advantage as it is the first and shortest leg.
Brent McKay
McKay is one of the resident professionals at the Omanu Golf Club and another member of the team who happened upon the sport of triathlon.
He started taking swimming seriously three years ago in an effort to increase his fitness after a golfing buddy asked him to swim for his team, and has since developed his running and cycling.
McKay competes in one of the most competitive male age groups of 40 to 45-year-olds and has quickly risen through the ranks.
Training in his new discipline has given him a new perspective on his golf. "It's helped in some ways in terms of patience and knowing that I've got enough energy to keep going at any point in the game.
"It's shown how if you keep fuelling in the game of golf that you can keep up that steady level of play. It's something that the good golfers and average members should do but they don't, and they wonder why their games start falling apart after nine holes."
Carolynn Margan
Margan is a local triathlon coach who owns Persona-Performance Endurance Coaching.
She counts Vickers, Tisch and Mann among her charges and has previously worked with Clark. She will travel with the team in an expanded coaching capacity and is tipping Clark and Mann in particular to perform well in their age groups.
She puts Tauranga's over-representation in the national squad down to a combination of nature and nurture.
"I think a lot of it is where we live - it's amazing," said Margan. "You've got everything on your door step, it's great.
"We have a really good group at Triathlon Tauranga. They're always very supportive of all their athletes regardless of if they are just starting out or getting further up the ladder like these guys."