Write Cameron Brown off at your peril but even the seven-time Port of Tauranga Half Ironman champion knows he's got a race on his hands this year.
Brown will have his eyes firmly focussed on one man tomorrow as he seeks to sustain his remarkable record here, with Australian Craig Alexander having beaten Brown in their last meeting.
That clash was in May at the gruelling St Croix Half Ironman in the US Virgin Islands. Brown finished fourth, more than four minutes astray of the second-placed Alexander, and got enough of a look at him to know he's the real deal.
"Craig's going to be the one to beat," Brown said. "He's a very good athlete. I raced him earlier in the year and I know what he's capable of. He's a very, very good runner which will make for a very interesting race tomorrow."
Brown has enjoyed his share of success against Alexander, with the pair both involved on the ITU circuit through the mid 1990s, but the 31-year-old Aussie finished 2004 in brilliant fashion with victories in Olympic distance events in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Organisers of tomorrow's event have assembled one of the strongest fields in years for the 16th annual race that doubles as the official New Zealand long distance championships.
The two headline acts are keenly supported by the likes of Gisborne-based international Ironman competitor Stephen Sheldrake, who was third last year.
Athens Olympian Nathan Richmond (Auckland), runnerup last year, returns along withrising stars Graham O'Grady, Terenzo Bozzone and Kieran Doe.
Brown does not dismiss the young challengers but you get the sense he would rather belly-crawl along the Pilot Bay footpath than hand over his crown to the likes of Richmond, Doe or Bozzone.
"There's a whole heap of them that have never done the race but they think they're going to waltz on in and do a half ironman, no problem at all. It's the same as every year - all the guys saying that they're going to kick my arse. I quite like hearing it - it's great motivation for me."
Brown has used the half ironman as his litmus test towards March's Ironman New Zealand and has plotted his year based on this annual summer foundation.
This formula has proved successful for the Aucklander, who has only once been out of the top three in an Ironman in the past four years.
That has included three podium finishes at the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii, two runnerup spotsat the lucrative Ironman Germany and four wins in Taupo.
But he's fiercely determined to get his 2005 season off to a strong start after fading to a disappointing 27th at the Ironman world championships in Hawaii in November, breaking his run of three successive podium finishes. ``The build up has been going pretty well and I've just been trying to put in as much work as I can before the race. ``I'm probably a bit better prepared than last year although it's always pretty hard for me because Hawaii is so late in the season and I always have my four-week break after that. ``It's not like the other guys who have prepared a lot better than that but it's the same every year so hopefully I get by.'' Brown still rates his first win in Tauranga as his favourite. It was his first attempt at the race and his close family and friends were all on hand to witness it. Last year's race was fraught with problems and Brown only decided to compete a few days before.
With a full field and a renewed buzz this week, Brown is confident the half ironman has regained the lustre it once had.
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