Two multi-sport athletes who grew up in Papamoa are looking ahead to 2016 with high hopes.
Andrew Lloyd, 24, and Aiden Dunster, 22, compete in different forms of triathlon but their desire to make it to the top is exactly the same.
Lloyd decided not to defend his Tinman Triathlon title at Pilot Bay last month as he wants to compete at next year's Rio Olympics.
"I wish I had been able to do Tinman but I am pretty much putting all my eggs in one basket and targeting the Oceania and New Zealand champs in Gisborne in March," Lloyd said. "It is the Olympic distance race. It is not impossible. There is a chance I can make Rio. I have to be first Kiwi home pretty much.
"Last year I won Tinman but in hindsight I was too fast too early in the season.
"Towards the end of the season with the more important races, I didn't go as well as I was hoping," he said. "It's with the financial backing of Ricoh Tauranga, Crest Clean and Marra Construction, and product support from Asics and Avanti Plus Mount Maunganui, that the road to Rio is even possible."
The Tauranga Youth Academy coach has been competing in Germany and Europe for the last three New Zealand winters. This year he came under the mentoring of Daniel Unger, the 2007 ITU world champion.
"I was living and training with him, and I learned a lot from him. That was really cool to have that exposure to that level of experience."
While Dunster is a relative newcomer to triathlon after starring at world junior duathlon level, he has changed his focus after following Lloyd to Germany.
"I went over with him for five months and trained and raced, pretty much just lived the dream. It was the best experience I have had," Dunster said.
But the traditional form of triathlon is not where he sees his future. His focus is on the off-road version.
In April this year he competed in his first off-road triathlon in the XTERRA New Zealand Championship in Rotorua and surprised everyone by finishing fourth in the professional male category. Then in September he came fifth in the elite section of the World ITU Cross Triathlon held in Sardinia, Italy.
"Cross tri is more off-road so you are a doing a mountain bike instead of a road ride and the run is off-road as well. To me it is more enjoyable," he said.
Dunster is off to South Africa in January to compete in several events.
"The plan is to go over there and make a better name for myself and get more racing under my belt internationally. After South Africa I have XTERRA Rotorua in April and I am aiming to get top five in that again and then will head to Australia to race in the Asia Pacific champs a week later."
