Veterans in Defiance mood

OLD MATES: Napier's Phil Dooney {left} and Whanganui's Aaron Cox in winning form 15 years ago team up again this weekend for the gruelling Red Bull Defiance in Wanaka.

Whanganui multisport elder statesman Aaron Cox is heading south for the second time to take in the stunning sights of Wanaka the hard way.

Cox has again entered the Red Bull Defiance, the 160km two-day, two-person multisport race on Saturday and Sunday in Wanaka. Cox will compete in the sports 40+ category with Napier's Phil Dooney. They completed the inaugural race in 2014 and found it challenging to say the least. "It was pretty tough, pretty challenging but with really amazing scenery," Cox said.

The pair have been mates for 20 years and have made a more structured training plan that should see them suffer a little less this year.

"We've both got a similar background with kayaking our strength and mountain biking and running, in that order, our weaknesses," Cox said.

"We started training a little bit earlier this time round. We had a pretty short lead in time two years ago, which made it fairly difficult on the body, but we finished third in our age group and posted the fastest paddle time - we are aiming to improve on that."

Cox is 41 now and Dooney "a couple of years older".

"Phil has been up in Vanuatu teaching with his wife, but we managed a four-day training camp together in Turangi between Christmas and New Year. Apart from that we've been training individually. Hopefully we've done enough so we don't completely bake ourselves."

While most sections of the race were gruelling, Cox said athletes got the chance to soak up the amazing scenery.

"After this we are both planning to compete in the Coast to Cost two-day event as individuals. It will be the first time for both of us, although Phil has raced the Coast one-day event before - it's gotta be done," an eager Cox said.

This weekend's Red Bull Defiance is the second instalment of this epic, 160km, two-day, two-person team race in and has been amped up in intensity from the inaugural event in 2014.

The men's elite team and mixed elite team categories will feature more of the best adventure racers on the planet, with competition for the winner's titles in each of these divisions expected to be extremely fierce. With the addition of an even stronger international field, the most significant change is the inclusion of a women's elite category. It will see the strongest female team take their share of the prize purse, which totals $32,000 cash, with an additional $10,000 worth of product vouchers.