Hamill's wife Rachel is no slouch either. She is geared up for the Road Cycle on day three. The Waikato mother of three recently took out the women's 40-44 years age-group triathlon event at the world championships in Auckland, as well as winning the aquathlon race five days earlier. Remarkably she is doing times as good as she was producing in her 20s which got her to two previous world champs.
She has also won five national age-group titles in Masters swimming events.
She takes on the tough sessions, which include plenty of work on the hills which surround their Te Pahu home. She is an inspiration to anyone who thinks they're too old or too busy to compete at that level.
She trains twice a day for between two to three hours, and gets one day off a month. In between that she home-schools children Declan, 8, and Ivan, 5, while 10-year-old Finn goes to school, and husband Rob is overseas for a fair chunk of time. "Sometimes it's a little bit difficult," she said.
"The kids do after-school activities, like swimming, dancing and touch rugby, and it's just me trying to get them there and get them fed and trying to fit in a training session."
Former national kayak representative Aaron Cox rounds out the team and is taking on both run legs and the epic 90km kayak leg on day two. Cox has numerous titles to his name and recently took the men's individual title in the Wanganui Gutbuster.
He's also a keen supporter of the next generation of gunny paddlers and coaches local athletes at the Wanganui Multisport and Triathlon Club to the high level demanded by the regattas run by Canoe Racing New Zealand.
