Multisports: Brown in no hurry for an office job

Cameron Brown reckons he is in as good a shape as he has ever been. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Cameron Brown is in no hurry to settle into a desk job. He loves racing ironman so much he hasn't considered life after wetsuits, pedals and running shoes.

Shrugging off suggestions his 12th start in the race could be closing in on his last, Brown, 36, says he sees himself continuing for some time yet in the sport which has enveloped his life for so long.

"I enjoy it so much," he said on the eve of the 25th anniversary of Bonita Ironman New Zealand.

Come again, what's to enjoy about flogging yourself virtually to a standstill and then, days later, start preparing to do it all over again?

"I don't know anything else," Brown admitted in preparing to chase his eighth title. "I was at it [competing in triathlon] straight from school. I have done 27 or 28 [ironmans] since my first in 1997.

"Only when I get sick of training will I try to find a new passion."

At least this year he can look forward to a break after he crosses the line in Taupo tomorrow afternoon.

In a change from his normal three races a year - New Zealand-Germany-Hawaii - Brown has flagged his European trip this time to give his all to his World Championship bid in a fair dinkum tilt at the title which has eluded him. He has savoured podium finishes in Kona but never the big step.

"There is nothing to hold back this time in Taupo," said Brown. "It will be quite nice to finish and not have to start straight back into it to prepare for Germany."

And, as a further word of warning to his wannabe challengers, Brown reckons he is in "as good a shape as I have ever been and probably close to the lightest".

He is also free of any illness and injury which has dogged a couple of recent races including 2007 when he was very sick as he crossed the line for his sixth win after being cruelly denied a year earlier when organisers were forced to can the swim and reduce the ride and run to half ironman distances.

The talking point, aside from Kieran Doe's enforced late withdrawal through illness, will be Terenzo Bozzone's step up to the ultimate triathlon test.

A former world short course and duathlon champion and the current world half-ironman champion, Bozzone has prepared meticulously. Brown is wary of what Bozzone brings to the race but, like the rest, is unsure whether his hard training kilometres will transpose to success on race day.

"No one really knows what he is going to do," said Brown. "He is very good in the half ironman over all disciplines. Some go on and do very well in ironman. For my first ironman I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. But I think he is prepared. I have heard he has done some hard [training] sessions."

If the pair come off the bike together, Brown backs his running to get him home. If not, Brown says it is an unknown.

"But, I'm definitely looking forward to the challenge."

Others to look out for in the men's race in which four of the top five seeds are New Zealanders include Olympic kayakers Ben Fouhey and Steve Richards, Manchester Commonwealth Games marathon runner Craig Kirkwood and former Tall Black Brendan Pongia.

Turning to the women's lineup, Jo Lawn has won them straight at New Zealand Ironman, the first, male or female, to win the same race six times in succession but a seventh promises to be a real challenge.

Unlike men's top seed Cameron Brown who faces a strong Kiwi challenge, Lawn has plenty of internationals ready to spoil her party.

Japan's Emi Shiono, who set a record for the 180km cycle leg, en route to her third-place finish a year ago, is back and seeded second behind Lawn but ahead of brilliant Scot Bella Bayliss (nee Comerford) who has won six titles internationally and was fourth a year ago.

Lawn's greatest challenge though could still come from within with Christchurch's Gina Ferguson who is seen among the up and comers following her eighth placing on debut in Hawaii last year after an encouraging fifth in Taupo - one of six full-distance races she completed in 2008.

Coached by Greg Fraine, a former New Zealand cyclist and perennial placegetter among the age-groupers both in New Zealand and Hawaii, Ferguson is looking to repeat her December triumph in Ironman Western Australia.

Australian Charlotte Paul, another ironman winner last year, is another likely challenger as is fifth-seeded Dane Lisbeth Kristensen who returns for the first time since her fifth placing in 2003 - the year Lawn won the first of her six titles.

Top cyclist Melissa Holt makes the short trip from her home in Cambridge to chase professional glory after winning her age group a year ago.

Once the gun goes to send the field, including the estimated 275 women, on their way, Lawn will be as focused as ever.

But once she has finished, she will, no doubt, be looking further down the field to monitor the progress of Winnie Cleary.

Cleary, who suffered polio as a child and competes with a withered leg, has defied medical opinion to take her place buoyed by the encouragement and mentoring she receives from Lawn.

Given the depth of the women's elite field and with favourable conditions, the record of 9h 16m 00s Lawn set last year could well be threatened. Lawn would love to be the one to lead that charge again.

TOP FIVE SEEDS 2009

MEN:
1.Cameron Brown (NZ)

2.Stephen Bayliss (GBR)

3.Richard Ussher (NZ)

4.Terenzo Bozzone (NZ)

5.Duncan Milne (NZ)

WOMEN
1.Jo Lawn (NZ)

2.Emi Shiono (Japan)

3.Bella Bayliss (Scotland)

4.Gina Ferguson (NZ)

5.Lisbeth Kristensen

(Denmark)


MOST WINS

7 Cameron Brown (NZ)

6 Jo Lawn (NZ)

4 Erin Baker (NZ)

3 Jan Wanklyn (Australia)

2 Scott Tinley (US),Ray Browning (US), Ken Glah (US), Stefan Holzner (Germany), Lisa Bentley (Canada)