Almost ideal weather conditions provided the icing on the cake for the 21st birthday today of the iconic Port of Tauranga half ironman.
The spectacular coming of age of New Zealand's longest-running triathlon was proof again that age was no limit to the hundreds of Kiwi athletes who arrived from all corners of New Zealand to compete.
A brisk morning saw an unusually small crowd of less than 1500 turn out to support the athletes who found it much warmer in the water than out.
Mount Maunganui athlete Sid Salek, only two months from blowing out 80 candles on his birthday cake, took the Pilot Bay swim leg for his aptly named team, Old Farts Again.
Old Farts were one of 1300 team and individual entries who swamped event organisers when entries opened in July.
Individual entries sold out in a record 66 minutes and team entries in three hours - leaving 400 athletes on the waiting list.
Salek said he enjoyed rubbing shoulders with elite athletes, and there were plenty of those today, with a sprinkling of talented internationals throwing down the gauntlet to the Kiwi brigade.
Eight-times winner Cameron Brown withdrew on Wednesday with a calf injury.
As Salek shook off pre-race nerves and waded into the waters (he swam the 2km swim leg in 52 minutes), the rest of his team - 75-year-old cyclist Don Robinson and 72-year-old jogger Graham Stewart - were priming their septuagenarian frames for the big challenge.
Salek, New Zealand's oldest surf patrol lifeguard, said Old Farts had never finished last, with their best result 8th or 9th from last spot.
"We like to sit about there," he said.
The team has raced largely unchanged for six years in the men's teams event, with Salek usually completing the swim leg in about 50 minutes, or double the time of elite competitors.
He has already shown himself a strong competitor at both national and international level in Masters age-group swimming.
Robinson used to be a top-line cyclist while Stewart was a well-known Mount Joggers coach.
Salek said they competed to show people that age was no barrier.
"It is your brain that is the barrier - it all starts and finishes with your brain. I will keep going for as long as God lets me"
His doctor told him there was little precedent for a 79-year-old leading such an active lifestyle. He works out five or six days a week and swims up to an hour and a half in the pool every day.
Generally, there was a big degradation in athletic performance once people reached 75, and Salek is no exception.
However, he kept up his motivation by targeting age-group pool records.
He reckons he will give up competing once he reaches the point when race officials have to stand around patiently waiting for him to finish last.
"It has to happen at some stage," he said.
Brown, who watched the race from the sidelines, predicted a blanket finish in the men's race.
The Port of Tauranga half ironman continues to showcase the region, injecting millions of dollars into the community.
Happy 21st as half ironman hits the harbour
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