It will be an international line up to challenge the best of the Kiwi triathletes in Sunday's ITU Continental Cup Triathlon at New Plymouth's Ngamotu Beach, the highlight of this weekend's World Tri Festival activities.
Leading the way is rising star Kirsten Sweetland (Canada) who arrives in New Zealand fresh from her second World Cup win in Mooloolaba last weekend. The 20 year old was in irrepressible form as she ran away from Beijing bronze medalist Emma Moffatt on the Sunshine Coast and will be hard to beat on Sunday.
Challenging her though will be a bevy of stars, including 2008 world number two Felicity Abram (Australia), Kate Roberts (South Africa) and of course the usual strong Kiwi contingent, led by Beijing 8th place getter Andrea Hewitt (Christchurch) and Nicky Samuels (Wanaka), fourth in Mooloolaba.
Samuels is a renowned bike rider on the ITU circuit and was relishing the chance of tackling the tough New Plymouth course that includes 6 climbs on the bike and 4 on the run.
"I will see how I am feeling in the race before deciding on whether to try and break at any point but the course certainly lends itself to an aggressive approach. The main hill is a goodie and there are other spots on the course where a break can be made or extended, but I will see how I am feeling. Regardless of the course, it is a strong field with some great talent."
For Hewitt it is her first standard distance race of the year after changing her approach slightly under new coach John Newsom.
"I have done things a little differently this year, running a half marathon, doing some surf lifesaving and two weeks ago racing in a 70.3 (half Ironman). That was four and a half hours of hard work which is twice what I am used to. But my recovery has been good so I am looking forward to Sunday's race, I'll soon find out how my legs are feeling."
In the men's race there is again a strong international flavour with Hewitt's partner Frenchman Laurent Vidal the highest ranked and a definite threat to leading Kiwis Kris Gemmell and Bevan Docherty.
The race will be worth watching for that battle of the great Kiwi mates and rivals alone, but Vidal and German brothers Andreas and Michael Raelert will be keen to mix it at the front of the field. Docherty knows though where the biggest danger lies on Sunday.
"Kris is obviously in great shape after his run in Mooloolaba (the Kiwi finished second). It is always good to go head to head, we are great mates but also great rivals and can key off each other. The course will be tough but that is how most of us Kiwis like and it should make for some great spectator viewing. I didn't finish here last year but that was totally down to my Olympic focus and the amount of training I was doing at the time. This year is more about racing, I can tell you know there won't be a repeat of the withdrawal on Sunday."
Local interest is heightened with the participation of New Plymouth triathlete Clark Ellice and the return of former local Shane Reed, the third of the Kiwis at the Beijing Olympic Games.
The World Tri Festival began today with 1400 children taking part in the Weetbix Tryathlon at Ngamotu Reserve under brilliantly sunny skies. Events over the weekend include beginner and age group triathlons on Saturday, the Noel Yarrow Memorial fun run/walk on Saturday afternoon, the elite 3km Road Race on Saturday evening, the Ocean Swim on Sunday morning and the elite ITU Continental Cup races from midday on Sunday.
