World Xterra champion Olly Shaw is on top of the world but the athlete says he still hasn't reached his pinnacle.
For five years Shaw has been trying to grab top honours at the Xterra World champs in Hawaii.
The 20-year-old reached his goal this week, finishing first in the 20 to 24 age group, and is now eyeing going professional for the 2013 season.
Talking to The Daily Post yesterday, Shaw said he was rapt to win.
"It is pretty surreal, because I've been trying for so long I guess and to finally get it, it's really sweet.
"To have five years of trying and then to finally achieve your goal. It doesn't feel like I'm at the pinnacle yet. There are still a lot of goals out there that I want to achieve. This is just the starting of that, I guess."
On two previous occasions, the Rotorua local has finished second, and succumbed to heat exhaustion another time. So during the race he didn't take anything for granted.
"I was pretty confident, I'd run into the lead but in those races you kind of never know. I was 90 per cent confident I had it but until you cross the line, you never really know. I was over the moon when I crossed the finish line."
Shaw said his preparation for the event hadn't been ideal, hampered by illness and the threat the event might have been cancelled on the morning of the race because of a tsunami warning.
"It was pretty crazy because we had the tsunami warning the night before. Everything got thrown out the window with preparation that night and the next morning.
"So I didn't really get much sleep that night because we got evacuated and then we were allowed to go back into our resort.
"We didn't know what was happening with the race, whether we'd be allowed to swim or not, so that was a bit distracting. In the morning it was so busy, everything took so long, like registration."
Despite the drama, Shaw said he felt relaxed before the race.
"You realise there is a bigger picture than just the race with [the treat of] the tsunami. I guess in a way maybe it did help me relax a little bit."
On his return to New Zealand, there wasn't much time for Shaw to celebrate his win because the Waikato University student was straight into exams for his sport and leisure degree. However, Shaw said he would have a couple of weeks off to relax before restarting his training to compete at the Port of Tauranga half ironman and the Rotorua half ironman just before Christmas.
Now Shaw has a world title to his name, he doesn't feel any extra pressure to perform the next time he competes.
"I guess I don't know what it's like to race [as a world champ] yet but I think maybe it will help me be a bit more confident in my abilities and know that I have achieved what I have achieved, and that I can back myself in other forms of racing as well."