Entries are at a record 1495, which exceeds the previous best marks of 1480 in 2006 and 1425 in 2004.
The field includes 860 New Zealanders – a record in itself and shows the outstanding development of this event and the sport in New Zealand over the past 25 years.
In 1985 just 68 Kiwis were on the start line!
Going by previuos form and race dominance Cameron Brown is the man to beat.
I have been building Richard Usher up on this website to place in the top 3 this year at Taupo. He was 7th here last year in his first ever triathlon event and this year he is more focused on triathlon. He is respected as the best adventure-multisport athlete in the world currently and recently won a 1/2 ironman race in a few seconds over the 4 hour mark…
I was looking at the participant list the other day, my money is on Kieran Doe a native kiwi but he is amazing. Pretty sure he is a fish or merman, not too shabby on the bike, and anyone that can run 18 miles of the marathon barefoot (he did it in IMAZ in november) and still kept his running pace for most the run is someone to keep on your radar.
I picked Kieron Doe to win last year and started a thread on ST about it. He gave it his all on the day but Cameron Brown knows this course/event better than anyone else.
Kieron Doe is out:
Doe who was third last year, has been unable to shake a mystery stomach and bowel complaint that has dogged him for several months.
The 27-year-old, who had a breakthrough race-record victory at Ironman Canada in 2007, said he needs to take a break in order to find an answer to the problem.
Doe said he had been able to train at only 80 per cent with each long training session dogged with frequent bouts of stomach upsets.
The above is from sportzhub.co.nz
So my pick is :
1st Cameron Brown
2nd Richard Usher
3rd Terenzo Bozzone
Mind you I am a one eyed kiwi. Maybe it will be different?
damn that sucks… i really like doe… he is a real talent. Maybe he will be back at IMAZ again this year so I can go watch him in person. Hopefully he gets over whatever stomach issues he has. thanks for the update
My money is on James Cotter, Austinite. Admittedly he is a long shot against the Legendary Cam Brown and the young buck Bozzone. Regardless it should be a fantastic race.
I am a huge Cam Brown fan - great guy and phenomenal athlete. His consistency conveys his yeoman’s work ethic and understanding of the distance. However, I think a new day is dawning and Terenzo will enjoy his IM debut. Somebody’s gonna run fast!
I am not associated with the above site but it is the best for endurance sports in NZ in my view. We get alot of insight into the top athletes and there training in NZ through various sources; one advantage of being in a smaller population country that are generally very active.
Entries are at a record 1495, which exceeds the previous best marks of 1480 in 2006 and 1425 in 2004.
The field includes 860 New Zealanders – a record in itself and shows the outstanding development of this event and the sport in New Zealand over the past 25 years.
In 1985 just 68 Kiwis were on the start line!
Going by previuos form and race dominance Cameron Brown is the man to beat.
I have been building Richard Usher up on this website to place in the top 3 this year at Taupo. He was 7th here last year in his first ever triathlon event and this year he is more focused on triathlon. He is respected as the best adventure-multisport athlete in the world currently and recently won a 1/2 ironman race in a few seconds over the 4 hour mark…
FYI - Ussher has raced plenty of triathlons before. I trained and raced with him when we were teenagers. Sure, its s few years ago, but he’s really not that new to the game.
I think Ussher, Bozzone and Brown will all be up the front on the bike. Will be interesting to see who can run.
I should have asked him this when I spoke with him a few weeks back.
All I heard him say(via the local media), was that he did a kiwi kids triathlon way back when he was a kid. So that doesn’t really count. I assumed it was before he was mogul ski-ing in the olympics.
It obviously did some swimming when he was a kid??
I should have asked him this when I spoke with him a few weeks back.
All I heard him say(via the local media), was that he did a kiwi kids triathlon way back when he was a kid. So that doesn’t really count. I assumed it was before he was mogul ski-ing in the olympics.
It obviously did some swimming when he was a kid??
G.
We did a few ‘big’ races together. The biggest he raced was probably nationals on the Worlds course in Wellington in the mid (?) nineties. If you try to look up results I believe he punctured in that race, so his bike time will be slow.
The surprising thing is his swimming. At that time he really wasn’t much of a swimmer. He must have really put some effort into his swimming as he’s really pretty good now.
Thanks for explaining that. It does explain better how he can be so good so fast.
I was in Palmerston North when the world champs were in Wellington. I was kicking myself at the time that i didn’t get along to it myself. From recall that was when Emma Carney won. I also heard Cameron was about 20th in the elites at that event; and that he didn’t have the speed to be in the top few so went ‘long’. Just what I heard. I thought it was about 1994 and Usher is now 32, so he would have been 17?
Anyway that is one regret I have, not doing that… Well 2003 was good but competing in my early 20’s would have been fun also. Triathlon wasn’t so big back then.
Brown at 26km has just taken the lead from Dirk Bockel. Interesting to see another ITU guy(Dirk) taking the step up i distance. It was only in the last year him and Terenzo were racing at the front of an ITU race.
Terenzo Bozonne 3rd then Richard Usher.
Lisbeth Kristensen is getting chased down by Gina Fergusonand Jo Lawn.