G'day from Australia
I've been in Cairns for nearly 10 days now and the weather has been pretty good but for some reason every year on race day the weather brings out the worst racing conditions. The swim at Palm Cove was rough as guts and very choppy, I've been searching for my swim arms for a long time now in races and today they arrived as I exited with the front group! It was great coming out with all the main players and we were only 2mins down on super fish Josh Amberger and Clayton Fettell. I had a rather slow transition and that left me 100m off the first 7 riders and they quickly made there move up the road. I chased hard but the lead kept growing and I found my self 1min down on them at Port Douglas and 3mins to Josh. That lead then blew out in the later parts of the ride and I came off the bike with Canadian Jeff Symonds and fellow Kiwi Callum Millward.
We tried to make inroads to the 12 guys in front but the lead was too large in the end, never one to give up I pushed as well as I could but after my 3rd Ironman race of the year I think my body did it's best with what it had left in the tank, I still ran pretty well but not at my normal standard and it's time for a well earned break before I start building for my next race. Thanks again for your continued support. I'll be touch soon with my schedule.
Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship
Cairns, Australia
June 11, 2017
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Josh Amberger (AUS) 8:02:17 47:15, 4:17:29, 2:53:26
2. Joe Gambles (AUS) 8:04:03 50:02, 4:25:19, 2:44:30
3. Braden Currie (NZL) 8:07:46 49:46, 4:26:12, 2:47:56
4. Tim Van Berkel (AUS) 8:09:22 49:50, 4:25:46, 2:49:54
5. David Dellow (AUS) 8:11:33 49:49, 4:25:51, 2:51:32
6. Michael Fox (AUS) 8:11:42 49:45, 4:25:56, 2:51:53
7. Cameron Wurf (AUS) 8:11:55 49:49, 4:15:13, 3:02:35
8. Mark Bowstead (NZL) 8:16:37 49:48, 4:25:44, 2:56:42
9. Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:19:08 50:13, 4:35:17, 2:49:15
10. Daniil Sapunov (UKR) 8:21:14 49:57, 4:35:14, 2:51:27
Ironman New Zealand this Saturday!
Hi there
Well this coming Saturday marks my 20th Ironman New Zealand, hard to believe I have raced for that long and especially at one event but I couldn't imagine not training through a kiwi summer and getting ready for this amazing event.
My first race in Auckland back in 1997 was a bit of a shocker. It was my first ever Ironman as a 26yr old and although I had a great swim things quickly changed on the bike with a bad back that kept going into spasm, I was lying on the road at one point with my back out of place only to get told to get off my arse and keep going by my wife. I finished 23rd and it was a big shock to Ironman racing. When the race moved to Taupo in 1999 I wanted to be on the start line again and give this Ironman racing another go, I finished 2nd by only 13seconds behind Tim Deboom a 2x Ironman world Champion!
In 2001 I finally won my first Ironman New Zealand and it was a dream come true, I had watched the race as a teenager hoping to one day race in this incredible event and also dreamed of maybe winning it! To win it now 12 times is also quite amazing and again I'm lining up on Saturday to give it another crack as a 44yr old. As always you can watch the event unfold on http://www.ironman.com from 6:45am NZT. I'll be in touch after the race to let you know how I did. Thanks again for your support.
Cameron Brown
Here is a list of my Ironman New Zealand finishes throughout the years
1997 23rd
1999 2nd
2000 2nd
2001 1st
2002 1st
2003 1st
2004 1st
2005 1st
2006 2nd(shortened to 90km, 21km run due to weather)
2007 1st
2008 1st
2009 1st
2010 1st
2011 1st
2012 3rd(shortened to 2km,90, 21km due to weather)
2013 3rd
2014 2nd
2015 1st
2016 1st
2017 2nd
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11801756
Defending champions top seeds for IRONMAN - Times
2nd at NZ Half Ironman Championships
My 19th Port of Tauranga Half Ironman turned out to be a solid day at the office. With the race starting at 6:15am I was hopeful of a calm swim but it was quite the opposite with very strong winds churning up the Tauranga harbour. I even had to swap out my front wheel due to the winds being that strong. The swim start was the only bad part of my race as I struggled to get my arms turning over, once I got going I was fine but the front group was gone and I exited the water 1:50min down on the leader Eddie Rawles.
Onto the bike and I went about trying to catch the guys in front, the 90km course is dead flat but still a hard ride with half of the course on a very rough chip surface. I reeled in the main group to be in 3rd at the 45km mark with Braden Currie the defending champion and Eddie Rawles 2mins up the road, in the final 5km I caught Eddie but still had the pack just behind me. I was off the bike 2:10 down on Braden but still had company, Hayden Wilde took off like it was a 5km race so I just settled into a pace I could control for the entire 21km's as I knew the 4km trail section around the Mount Maunganui base track is a killer in the final part of the race. I eventually caught Hayden with 6km to go and was able to drop him around the base track to finish in 2nd place. It's only 8 weeks until Ironman New Zealand where I'll be racing in my 20th IMNZ! My form is right on track so I'll be getting stuck into the big mileage until March 4th.
I'll be in touch soon, Cameron Brown
TV news coverage
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2017/01/braden-currie-and-amelia-wilkinson-blitz-fields-at-port-of-tauranga-half.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503345&objectid=11778400
Port Of Tauranga Half Ironman, New Zealand Championships, 2km swim, 90km bike, 21km run
Elite men
1 Braden Currie 3:45:38
2 Cameron Brown 3:47:55
3 Hayden Wilde 3:48:33
Elite women
1 Amelia Rose Watkinson 4:16:30
2 Julia Grant 4:19:04
3 Teresa Adam 4:20:08
New Zealand Half Ironman Championships this weekend
Happy New Year
Well I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years and have fully recovered from your celebrations. It was the usual quiet night for me but a very special day on the 1st of January with being awarded a New Years honours for services to Triathlon with a New Zealand Order of Merit, a very prestigious award. I will be receiving the award sometime in February at a special presentation so I'll have to dust off the best suit for this. December started off racing the Taupo 70.3 Ironman event, I was in good form leading into the race but I had blocked sinuses before the race and 100m into the swim I could not breath and had to stop to regather myself and regroup, It was not a nice experience and I was one second away from pulling out. I lost too much time in the swim and ended up finishing in 8th place and tried to turn it into a solid training day.
TV Coverage from January 1st
Links below:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11775128
Last week I raced at the Mount Maunganui sprint Triathlon which is an old favourite of mine having competed in this race since 1990, I think I have won the event some 10 times. It's a tough ask stepping down to this distance when you are against the best under 23 athletes in the country who specialize in this short distance. I had the lead off the bike but a slow transition and the speed these guys run over 5km made it to hard to win. I was pretty happy to finish 3rd only 40secs down especially when you know your old enough to be there father and have 25yrs on them! It showed I have some good form for this weekend which was the main reason to race and gain some confidence.
Mount Maunganui Sprint Triathlon
Swim 750m, Bike 15km, Run 5km
1st Tayler Reid 46:10
2nd Hayden Wilde 46:35
3rd Cameron Brown 46:51
I'm now in taper mode for the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman this Saturday 7th of January, this race also doubles as the New Zealand Half Ironman Championships and again one of my favourite events on the New Zealand calender, it's a perfect lead up race for Ironman New Zealand which is only 9 weeks away. Having won the race 10 times helps but another stellar field is lined up for what should be a fast race over a completely flat course. I'll be touch after the event.
Kind Regards Cameron Brown
