Ironman: Bozzone aims to be among the medals

Terrenzo Bozzone. Photo / Richard Robinson

If Terenzo Bozzone's career follows its typical path, 2015 is shaping as another impressive season.

Bozzone will kickstart his campaign in the Auckland half-ironman on Sunday, where he last year finished third while racing on the downtown course he describes as among the world's best.

The race provided magical memories for Bozzone but it was a highlight in a year featuring few of them, with the Kiwi struggling to find form before a freak accident cut short his season.

Bozzone was hoping to be back among the medals on Sunday but, equally, the 29-year-old was hoping the result would be the only part of last season he would repeat.

"It's funny," he said. "You look back through your career - well, my career, at least - and it seems to be one good year, one not-so-good year, one good year, one not-so-good year.

"Last year, in my books, was a not-so-good year so I'm hoping to have a good year this year. But I'm just thankful to be here."

It could have been a different story had Bozzone's best laid plans not been disrupted in 2014. The former world champion in the 70.3 distance, Bozzone was set to sacrifice his hometown half in favour of an extended campaign after the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

The strategy was simple - have a real crack at Kona, race deep into the year, then rest up over the offseason before beginning 2015 later in the year. But it was a strategy that was cast aside courtesy of a run-in with a coral reef.

A seemingly innocuous stubbed toe, coming while training in the build-up to the world champs, later led to an infection and ultimately brought about his withdrawal midway through the bike leg in Hawaii.

The incident caused a premature end to his campaign - which had earlier been disrupted by a crash during a race in Italy - but Bozzone soon discovered a bright side to the blow.

"I had to cut the season a bit short but I got back in training just before Christmas and have just been gently building up the mileage. It's still early days but I've been doing the sport a long time, if you add the [triathlon and ironman] years together, and I think my fitness comes up pretty quickly."

While the aim is for that process to be complete by the time Ironman New Zealand rolls around in March, Bozzone will relish Sunday's race for much more than mere preparation purposes.

"This is one of the greatest venues in the world for a triathlon," he said. "It's a great course - riding over the Harbour Bridge is not something you get to do every day and that was one of my fondest memories from last year, riding back into the city on a beautiful day and looking over the harbour and into the city. It was just magical so I'm hoping to get another one of those photo moments in my head."

Riding away from the city should be pretty magical, too, with the North Shore local looking forward to sharing the delights of his home patch with the international-calibre field.

"Not a lot of Auckland city people actually go over to the North Shore - they don't know where it is - so it's great that we're taking all the foreigners and showing them around the beautiful parts of our country," he joked.

"I'm just looking forward to being on the start line - it's a great race - and I'm looking forward to suffering for three hours and 40-something minutes."