KEY POINTS:
There was irony, as the sun beat down on yesterday's Port of Tauranga Half Ironman competitors, that daylight was filling second spot in the male and female fields.
New Zealand's top ironman athletes, Cameron Brown and Joanna Lawn, gave a long-distance masterclass in the 2km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run around Mt Maunganui, winning by large margins.
Brown claimed his eighth Tauranga Half Ironman, although this was his first since 2004, as he eased away to win in 4h 00m 05s, 6m 20s ahead of Taupo's Duncan Milne, with New Plymouth's Hamish Johnson a further 2m back in third.
Lawn was even more dominant, opening up a big lead on the bike and heading home talented North Harbour teenager Anna Hamilton by 11m.
Christchurch's Gina Ferguson was third, 17m behind the winner in the race doubling as Triathlon New Zealand's long distance championships.
The performances were made more remarkable considering a shocking build-up for the leading pair.
On Wednesday, Brown narrowly escaped serious injury when a young female driver ploughed into three friends he was riding with near Whangamata. Hours later, also on the Coromandel Peninsula, Lawn was getting X-rays for a possible broken rib, after tripping on stairs while holding her 18-month-old nephew Jamieson at Opito Bay.
After sacrificing herself for his welfare, she discovered the ribs were heavily bruised - not that it made yesterday's race any easier.
"No way did I want to drop him so I took all my weight on my left side," said defending champion Lawn. "I ran yesterday for 10 minutes and it hurt every step so I took a Voltaren on the bike just in case. But it didn't really help - every step and every breath on the run just felt like someone had a knife in my lung."
Brown admitted his bike training during the week had been decidedly nervous following the crash, which saw his manager Mark Watson taken to Thames Hospital, needing 25 stitches to his calf and buttocks.
Leading triathletes Graham O'Grady and Martin van Barnveld suffered bruising and other injuries when the quartet were 7km into an intended three-hour training ride to Pauanui.
"It was a bit scary for my mates, with three of them having write-offs with their bikes," Brown said.
"I was inches away from being in the same position and it's not a nice thing to happen.
"Luckily everything went well today and it was nice to come back after a year off and get [title] number eight. It's always a good race for my build-up and everything's going well for Taupo in nine weeks."
The five-time Ironman New Zealand champion and three-time winner Lawn loom as favourites for March's longer race.
Yesterday's event was the ideal way to kick-start eight weeks of solid work, although both winners would have welcomed stronger fields.
The men's race suffered through the absence of Kieran Doe, himself hurt in a crash in Tauranga a month ago, and perennial contender Stephen Sheldrake. Defending champion Nathan Richmond and former Ironman winner Bryan Rhodes both raced but their preparations were ruined by illness and injury respectively.
Brown exited the water fifth but a strong bike leg shot him into the lead with Milne. He was never going to be caught on his favoured run leg and erased memories of his only loss in the event two years ago.
His win was 12m outside last year's course record set by Richmond, who placed sixth, after a course change to include a long 55km first bike lap into the more exposed Western Bay of Plenty coastline.
Former soccer player Milne, 28, scored his best finish in a major race, hanging on to second. The fulltime sawmill supervisor entered the elite category to get a better start position in the swim but was soon challenging some of his heroes for the lead.
"When I found myself catching Nathan and Cameron on the bike, it was like a dream," Milne said. "I knew I wasn't going to hold Brownie on the run - there was no way - but I just had to hold my own rhythm and time-trial it in and try to hold the other guys off. I managed to do it and it was just great.
