Multisport: Brown takes 10th ironman title

New Zealand's bowling coach Allan Donald. Photo / AP

Cameron Brown notched up his 10th Ironman New Zealand win in 11 years today, but said he'd trade them all for a win at the prestigious world championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Brown once again blitzed the field in the final 42.2km run of the multi-discipline event to record an emphatic eight hours 31 minutes 07 seconds victory, nearly 10 minutes ahead of arch-rival Terenzzo Bozzone's second-placed 8hr 41min 54sec. Swiss ironman Mathias Hecht interrupted the warmth of training in Australia for a hard-earned third in 8hr 45min 36sec in the chilly Taupo rain.

Afterwards, an exhausted Brown said the world title on offer at Kona in the Hawaiian ironman still remained his ultimate goal.

"It's pretty special what I did today, but I still want to win Hawaii - that's probably the ultimate goal. I'd probably trade all those wins for a win in Hawaii," he said.

Brown, 38, said winning 10 titles at Taupo was a huge motivation for him, but as today's race progressed, through persistent and heavy rain, all he could do was hold on for the finish line.

"I tried to enjoy the last couple of kilometres, but I just couldn't - there was a lot of pain going on."

The lure of a win in Hawaii was one motivation in continuing his long-running career, Brown said, but more important was the enjoyment he still derived from both the competition and the training.

"As long as the love and passion for the sport is still there... It's just too hard a sport, if you don't enjoy it, it's not worth getting out there and training.

"I've still got a love and passion for the sport, and still thrive every day getting out there and going to train. I just love training."

Brown has made the Taupo ironman race his own since first winning it in 2001, with a second place in the 2006 event - shortened to a 90km cycle and 21km run in appalling conditions - his only hiccup.

Since then, Ironman New Zealand has been Brown's fiefdom, and today was no exception.

As he did last year, Brown exited the water slightly down on the leaders, heading into the first transition in sixth place after clocking 50min 21sec for the 3.8km swim. Experienced veteran Brent Foster, 44, led the field through the calm waters and early morning murk of Lake Taupo, his 46min 02sec more than a minute quicker than Bozzone, who was looking comfortable heading into the 180km cycle leg.

The race quickly turned into a battle of attrition on the bike: although there was little wind, the rain just got heavier and heavier. Hecht, fifth out of the water and just a handful of seconds behind Bozzone, took the early lead, closely followed by Bozzone and Foster, with Brown a further minute astray at the 35km mark.

But by the 90km mark, Canadian Scott Curry had splashed his way into the lead after finishing the swim placed ninth on 50min 31sec. He built up nearly four minutes on a chasing bunch of Hecht, Brown, Bozzone, and the Auckland pairing of Keegan Williams and James Bowstead, who finished fourth and fifth respectively last year.

Curry maintained momentum as the second 90km lap unfurled, but by the 130km mark, Brown had made significant inroads into his lead and the Canadian had a 2min 50sec lead on Brown, who had eased away from Hecht, Williams, Bozzone and Bowstead.

Brown continued to track Curry, as the rest of the field dropped off, but the Canadian still held a 2min 45sec lead over the New Zealander going into the final 42.2km run. Hecht was next through, trailing Brown by 2min 30sec, while Bozzone looked to be struggling nearly three minutes down on the Swiss athlete.

Curry's strengths lie in the swim and cycle, as evidenced by his 4hr 39min 59sec split over the 180km leg today, although Brown's 4hr 43min 04sec compared more than favourably to many of his times over the last 10 years. There was no doubt, however, that the ironman maestro was always going to dominate on the run, and so it proved.

With a best 2hr 43min 10sec running split from Taupo, Brown just powered through Curry, hitting the front just 8km into the race and stretching out over the next 6km to build up a three-minute lead.

By 21km, Brown had an 8min 20sec lead over Bozzone, which extended to nearly 11 minutes at 32km, as the defending champion knocked out a 2hr 52min 09sec marathon to secure an outstanding win. Bozzone battled hard through the chill for a 2hr 57min 52sec final run, while Hecht had to grind out a 3hr 04min 19sec to round out his ironman.

- NZPA