It's been less than two days since the last competitor crossed the IronMaori finish line at Pandora Pond in Napier on Saturday evening, but organiser Heather Skipworth already has some changes in mind for 2012 prompted by the 1550 people who entered the half-ironman event.
People of all abilities took to the starting line in five race categories from 6.30am to complete the 2km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run in the third annual multisport event which aims to encourage people to make healthier lifestyle choices.
Hawke's Bay-born Kevin Nicholson repeated his 2010 effort to be the first across the finish line in the men's section, while local star Ali Hollington was the first woman to complete the race less than 10 minutes behind.
"What I've learned this year is that trying to organise 1550 competitors is difficult," Mrs Skipworth said. "In the first year of IronMaori [2009] we had just under 300, last year we had about 600 people and, so by last Friday, I just decided that trying to organise any more than 1500 was too much and we'd cap it for next year."
By this morning, she had already received many email messages from people asking to register for the 2012 event, and she is determined to make registration an easier ride next time.
"We opened registrations at 3pm and finished about 7.45pm and there was a solid line for four hours," she said. "It was just chock-a-block."