Cameron Brown's 10th in Tauranga

2014.

My 2014 season started off in the best possible way yesterday as I took my 10th title at the Port of Tauranga New Zealand half Ironman Championships at Mount Maunganui. After my shocking season last year I took an early season break having 7 weeks off in August. It was probably the best thing I could have done for my body and mind as I've come back with no niggling injuries, more motivated and ready to train the house down.

Race day dawned overcast with some light rain but that soon dried up to be a hot humid day. I was out of the water 1:40 down on Graham Ogrady, Mark Bowstead and Callum Millward but as soon as I was on the bike I felt strong and started making in roads on the leader's to have the gap at 45 seconds by the half way point. Soon after that Bowstead made his move and started pulling away from everyone. I moved into 2nd at the 65km mark and came into T2 2:20 behind Bowstead with Millward and Ogrady 3rd and 4th in transition.

Onto the 21km run I was hopeful to bring the gap down as quickly as I could and by the first turnaround at 4km mark the lead was down to 1:50. By the time we came back to transition at the 10.5km mark I was exactly 1min down and feeling great. Finally at the 14km mark I reeled in Mark to take the lead and made sure there was a gap straight away so I could try and enjoy the final section of the race around the Mount Maunganui base track.

My first win here was way back in 1998 and was special but to win number 10 in the 25th anniversary of the race at 41 years old was just fantastic. I now have the Asia-Pacific Championships in Auckland in two weeks time(January 19th) and then I have 5 weeks until Ironman New Zealand on March 1st. I'll be in touch soon.

Kind Regards Cameron Brown