Posted: January 12, 2004

Triathlon: Brown makes it seven but focus is on Ironman NZ

Triathlon star Cameron Brown is on track for his goal of a record fourth straight victory at Ironman New Zealand in March.

Brown chalked up a seventh straight victory in the Tauranga half ironman at Mt Maunganui on Saturday that doubled as the national long distance championships.

He will start in the new Auckland half Ironman in two weeks but will not let a head-to-head duel with Australian champion Chris McCormack divert his focus from the main goal of defending his Ironman New Zealand crown in Taupo.

McCormack, the 1997 world champion and two time Ironman Australia winner, withdrew from the Mt Maunganui event but has indicated he will race the Auckland event on January 25.

Initially Brown was going to bypass Mt Maunganui but changed his mind when training went well in December.

"For me it's the big picture and that is definitely Ironman New Zealand in March. After I have November off, it's often hard to be in shape for the half ironman in Tauranga,'' Brown said.

"Sure it's great to win there, especially for a seventh straight time and with it being a national championship. But I am not going to short-circuit my training to peak for these races.

"It will be the same for Auckland. It's great to race in y home city and on the roads that I train on so often. But my plan will be to do it at 80 per cent as a hard training day.

"I'm not going to smash myself in a battle with McCormack. He's got a lot more recovery time than me before his next Ironman.''

Brown caught the lead swimmers on the first lap of the bike, forming a bunch with Auckland's Kieran Doe and Nathan Richmond and Gisborne's Stephen Sheldrake.

The world No 3 ranked Ironman used his strength on the undulating path around Mauao, passing Doe and Sheldrake on the first lap and hunting down Richmond on the second on the way to an eventual four-minute winning margin.

"I'm quite pleased with my training. I will sit down with my coach Scott Molina now because I have some very bike mileage coming up in the next few weeks.''