Ironman: Lawn, Brown in blistering form at Taupo

Records for Jo Lawn and an emphatic comeback for Cameron Brown from his 2007 annus horribilus marked a business-as-usual double for the Auckland duo as they shrugged off sometimes testing conditions to win Ironman New Zealand.

Lawn, forced into a real dogfight on the run leg by Australian Kate Bevilaqua, dug deep, called on new-found mental and physical toughness - a byproduct of the Lydiard-inspired training regime in the Waitakeres - and cleared out to win by more than four minutes in a race record 9h 16m 00s.

Her win, a sixth straight win in the lakeside town, is a world first. En route, she clipped 8s from her record on the cycle leg after swimming a personal best 49m 56s opening leg.

Brown, too, further staked his claim as one of the sport's best with his seventh triumph - his run broken only in 2006 when organisers were forced to abandon the full ironman and stage a truncated version, won by Estonian Ain-Alar Juhanson.

Last year he struggled home, was forced to give up any chance of defending at Ironman Germany and then did not finish in Hawaii.

For Brown, his come-from-behind triumph over surprise runner-up Freddie Van Liende (Belgium) and pace-setting Kieran Doe (Auckland) exorcised the memories of a year to forget. Unlike his win a year ago, when he battled illness before getting home by overcoming Australian Luke Bell in the last kilometres of a gut-wrenching run, Brown always gave the appearance of being in control.

His cause was helped, no doubt, by being able to ride away from Bell, who was slapped with a three-minute penalty, served standing on the side of the road, for drafting on the cycle leg.

Bell chased hard to the end of the 180km leg, made the transition to the run but cried off less than 100m into the marathon run.

Once Brown breezed by Doe halfway through the run, the rest were mere pretenders. Back to his best, Brown savoured the moment, clearing out to win by almost seven minutes from debutante Van Lierde with the plucky Doe two minutes further back.

As Brown walked on stage for the post-race media conference, Doe quipped: "That's the slowest you have been all day." Indeed, Brown had given his impression of a man in a hurry with solid swim and cycle legs before the day's best run - 2h 49m 36s - a time, no doubt, he could have easily bettered if pushed.

"I felt really in control. It was a great day. It went really smoothly," said Brown. No one doubted that.

Doe, who had whipped the field on the swim leg and turned in the third-best cycle leg to lead on to the run, later admitted: "I really struggled to find rhythm. I had a seven-minute lead into the run. Obviously I wanted more than that". There were no excuses. Brown saw to that.

Lawn had her own battle but, in the end, showed out as the queen of the road. Now thoughts for Brown and Lawn turn to Hawaii and October's World Championship.

Both have unfinished business in the world's greatest ironman test. On what they showed in Taupo on Saturday, only the brave would dismiss their chances.