Ironman exponents Cameron Brown and Jo Lawn showed a tidy turn of speed to win the Erin Baker standard distance triathlon at Kinloch on Sunday.
Both are in the final stages of preparation for Ironman New Zealand in Taupo early next month, and were happy to test themselves over the shorter distance.
The standard triathlon comprises a 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run while the ironman distance is a more substantial 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run.
Brown shaded second-placed Tom Francis by just over a minute, clocking 2hr 04min 21sec, and said the result was pleasing as he targets an 11th win at the gruelling Taupo ironman event.
"This is a nice little blow out four weeks out from Ironman," Brown said afterwards.
"It can be hard as you usually come in here tired after a big week, but I felt not too bad out there.
"I was hoping no one was going to catch me though, I didn't want to go to maximum effort today."
Lawn finished over six minutes clear of Amelia Watkinson in taking women's event, clocking 2hr 19min 55sec, happy to break her heavy training load with a win.
"I've just come off some big miles and I start again on Wednesday," she said.
"It's hard, as this is a speed I don't often do. You have to recover from your training somehow, and often it's good to include a race to help with that."
NZN