The 23-year-old is getting excited ahead of Saturday's race, after six months of training and living, breathing and eating for Ironman. "I'm quite excited about it, but I'm feeling a bit weird because everyone else is nervous," he laughed.
That's maybe because the Barrach's know what pain to expect during the 4km swim, 180km bike ride and 42km run.
They also know that after one Ironman, it's very hard to quash the desire to do another one.
"I'm not sure why it's so addictive ... I guess it's the challenge. Maybe it's the 30 seconds of glory when you run down the finish chute - there's nothing quite like finishing at Taupo," Brian Barrach said.
Each competitor has different goals - Oringa, competing in 65-69 age group, just wants to finish the race before the cut off time, at midnight.
"In 2010 the last time I raced, it had been a long day out there starting at 7am and I only made the cut off time by 45 seconds," she said.
Edwardson, racing in the 18-24 years age group, doesn't know what to expect, and said he also just wanted to finish in one piece.
Brian's (60-64 years age group) mission is to run the entire 42km - he has only ran that once in his previous Ironman attempts.
Polly is out to better last year's time of 15 hours 40 minutes in the 25-29 years age group.
"I want to get under 15 hours - I think I'm on track to do that ... it all depends on how the run goes," she said.
Despite their individual goals, they all agreed completing the course and crossing the finish line will be the ultimate feeling, come Saturday.
The Barrachs and Edwardson belong to Whangarei Tri Club, from which 12 members are competing in Ironman.
In total, 20 Northlanders will help make up the Ironman field of 1650 competitors, who come from 44 countries - a record 818 are from New Zealand.
Kaitaia doctor Lance O'Sullivan, 40, will be competing again alongside his son, first-timer Conor O'Sullivan who at 19-years-old is the youngest in the field. Hinerangi Waikai has been training with Conor, and will also debut at Ironman.
Four times Kona competitor, Waipu PE teacher Ian Bunting will line up again with Northland's Chris Walls, doing his eighth Ironman, and Whangarei's Graeme McDonald completing his 12th attempt.
The elite professionals start at 6.45am on Saturday, racing for prizemoney of US$50,000 as well as qualifying points, and the 40 qualifying spots available for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, while the age group competitors start at 7am.
