More Kiwi places for Hawaii Ironman

BENCHMARK: Cameron Brown on his way to winning his 11th Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand title in Taupo in 2015. PHOTO/DELLY CARR

PARTICIPANTS in the 2016 Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand will have more opportunities to realise their dream of competing in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.

Ironman have announced plans to distribute an additional 15 age-group qualifying slots at the New Zealand event on Saturday March 5 for the 2016 World Championship.

The additional qualifying slots are being made available as a result of the cancellation of the Ironman Melbourne triathlon, with those slots spread among existing events in Australia and New Zealand.

"We believe this will add considerable interest in New Zealand," Ironman Asia-Pacific CEO Geoff Meyer said.

"For so many, the opportunity to compete at the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona is the Holy Grail in our sport, and the additional qualifying slots have now made that dream closer to coming true."

The additional 15 age-group qualifying slots for New Zealand bring the total to 55 slots.

The winner of each age-group will earn a qualifying spot with the remainder of the slots decided on a pro-rata formula that is based on the number of entries in each age-group.

The race is the original international Ironman event, second oldest only to the World Ironman Championship in Hawaii, and the biggest and richest annual one-day international sporting event in New Zealand with approximately $75,000 prize purse for professionals.

It marks the 18th year for the event based in Taupo after the initial 14 years in Auckland from 1985 - making it the oldest and biggest triathlon in New Zealand.

The professional field will be finalised by February 20. We have received confirmation that 11-time New Zealand champion Cameron Brown will compete along with defending women's champion Meredith Kessler (USA) who won the 70.3 Taupo title in December.