By the time thousands of Challenge Wanaka competitors begin their exercise in extreme endurance this morning, Wanaka GP Andrew McLeod (53, pictured above) will have already swum the equivalent of 152 lengths of Moana Pool and biked the equivalent distance in kilometres from Dunedin to Christchurch.
That's if all is going to plan, anyway.
Mr McLeod is tackling a double Challenge Wanaka long-distance triathlon, and following a pit stop for apple crumble and ice cream for breakfast this morning after cycling through the night, he will spend most of today running two marathons.
Dr McLeod described his nerves as being ''on high alert'' yesterday, as he limbered up and donned his wetsuit at a camper van on the lakefront. The camper is doubling as his own personal transition area so as to not disrupt the other athletes in last night's Contact Tri Series races and today's main Challenge event.
''I'm locked in now,'' he joked to a throng of supporters who gathered outside the camper to wish him well shortly before his departure at 2.30pm under clear, calm skies. He completed the swim leg within three hours.
He was relieved the weather had stayed favourable for the swim leg of the race and took an optimistic view of the rain forecast for this morning, which he hoped would ''keep me awake at least''.
After an attempted sleep-in that ''didn't really work'', Dr McLeod spent yesterday morning going through the race logistics one last time and fuelling up on his final pre-race meal - rice and a tin of tuna.
He told the Otago Daily Times he was particularly looking forward to a scheduled break after the first 180km loop of the bike course, when he would dine on his wife Karen's specialty dish, a chicken casserole.
''I'll manage to sneak that in for the middle of the night for a bit of different food. You come up with some very unpleasant terms for the [nutrition] gels. They're full of energy, but they're not that pleasant to eat, so having some real food will be good.''
