Jan. 9, 2007 -- Auckland's Cameron Brown claimed his eighth consecutive win at the Port of Tauranga Half-Ironman, which doubled as the Triathlon New Zealand long-distance championships. Brown took the win in 4:00.05 in testing conditions -- more than six minutes clear of Taupo's Duncan Milne, with New Plymouth's Hamish Johnson a further two minutes back in third.
Lawn, despite battling a painful rib injury, was even more emphatic. She opened a six-minute buffer on the 90km bike to win by 11 minutes over talented North Harbour teenager Anna Hamilton, with Christchurch's Gina Ferguson in third, 17 minutes behind Lawn.
Both winners were buoyed by their success with eight weeks remaining before Ironman New Zealand in Taupo, where Brown is chasing his sixth victory and Lawn her fifth.
A course change to include a long 55km first lap of the bike out into the more exposed Western Bay of Plenty coastline and a stiff southwesterly wind made for a tough test. Brown's win was 12 minutes outside last year's course record set by Auckland's Nathan Richmond, who managed sixth place today after battling with recent illness.
"The win was special. It's nice to come back after two years off and get win number eight," Brown said. "It's always good for my build-up and it shows that all my preparations are going well for Ironman New Zealand in Taupo.
"I was a bit worried about the time because I can usually do 3hrs 50min or less. It shows the course is a lot tougher and out that back end it made things more difficult for everyone. It was a fair race, and the packs didn't form out there on the bike."
Brown rated himself lucky to be at the race after narrowly avoiding a serious injury when he was training with a group of cyclists who were hit by a vehicle at high speed last week.
"I'm pretty lucky just to be here. My training partners were not so well off, but none of us was seriously hurt, which could have easily happened."
Brown was fifth out of the 2km swim in Pilot Bay, trailing leader Richmond by 1min 20sec, but he and Milne joined the leader and opened a handy buffer on the chasers after 30kms.
They had a 1min 30sec lead after the bike from talented Waiuku teenager James Bowstead with Richmond in fourth place.
Brown cleared out with the fastest run time of 1:20:00 for the 21km run with Milne second, following on from his win in the Tinman Triathlon on the same course last month. Johnson pushed through from sixth off the bike to third overall at the finish.
Lawn still recovering
Lawn bruised her ribs after falling down steps last week while carrying her young nephew.
"I wasn't going to drop him, so I took the full weight of the fall on my left side. I was unsure about racing," Lawn said. "I went for a 10-minute jog yesterday, and it was really sore. The worst part was the run. It hurt with every step.
"It was like someone was stabbing you with a knife. But you know in this sport everyone has something they have to contend with and I just had to knuckle down and carry on.
"Today's win gives me confidence. I have got to learn to battle through when things don't go right. In Hawaii I had some problems and I made sure every person knew what they were. But I've learned you just have to ignore it and go on. That's what makes champions."
Lawn said she will take a week off to allow the rib injury to heal before her final build-up for Ironman New Zealand.
After trailing Ferguson by 1min 30sec out of the water, Lawn was quickly in control on the three-lap 90km bike, more than six minutes faster than the next quickest cycle time.
Despite the obvious pain, she clocked 1:30:12 for the run, bettered only by Hamilton, who ran through the field to improve one spot from her third placing last year.
The team from Balance Sports Nutrition consisting of former world surf champion Brent Foster, Callum Millward and Liam Scopes were the leading team.