Triathlon: Kiwi duo scorch home in cauldron

Cameron Brown and Jo Lawn combined in New Zealand's most successful double act at the Ironman triathlon world championship in Hawaii yesterday.

Brown finished second in the men's event and Lawn was the fourth woman home, the first time New Zealanders have finished in the top four in both senior races at gruelling Kona-Kailua race.

The Auckland pair produced strong performances on a day when the legendary trade winds did not blow but where scorching heat was a problem on the marathon run.

It was the fourth time in five years that Brown has finished on the podium in Hawaii, coming home in 8h 19m 36s, 5 minutes behind the winner, Faris Al Sultan, of Germany.

Brown was 2 minutes down on the leaders after the 3.8km swim and was ninth after a super-slick 180km bike ride. He was 11 minutes down on Denmark's Torbjorn Sindballe, who set a bike record of 4h 21m.

Brown moved up to fifth at the 30km mark on the run and passed two-times world champion Peter Reid 2km from the finish for his runner-up spot.

"It was brutal out there today. I am so happy with this performance but I never felt great all day," Brown said.

"It was just so tough. I just had to dig deep and hang on.

"I never thought I would have a chance for the podium when I went out on the run. I felt quite good early on in the run and just kept going and passing people.

"It was a real struggle at the end but I guess others were struggling more.

"This definitely makes up for last year's bad race.

"I feel like I have stepped up again in the quality of my performance although there's no doubting that Faris was the strongest athlete out there today."

Lawn was seventh out of the water and moved up to fourth off the bike, 1m behind runaway leader Michellie Jones, of Australia, the two-times Olympic-distance world champion.

Lawn chipped away at the deficit, moving into third place after 15km on the run before being pipped for the podium place by Australian Kate Major 8km from the finish.

"I guess it is a bit disappointing that I just missed out on third place. But I made a big step up today and had a strong race," Lawn said.

Swiss star Natascha Badmann, who has won five Ironman world titles with powerful displays on the bike, ran down a 9 minute deficit from Australian Michellie Jones to claim her sixth women's crown.

Aucklander Brent Foster was the second New Zealand man home, 35th overall, with Christchurch's John Newsom 55th.

Karyn Ballance, of Canterbury, had her best Kona performance, finishing 15th in 9h 46m 36s.

The leading age-group performer was New Plymouth's Jeff McGrath, who was 120th overall and 18th in the 30-34 division, while Tauranga's Blair Jordan was fourth in the 18-24 years age-group in 9h 41m 47s.

- NZPA