Multisport: Brown maintains hold on Taupo title

Cameron Brown won his eighth New Zealand Ironman title at Taupo in record time on Saturday but the women's title has a new holder, with Gina Ferguson ending Jo Lawn's record six-year reign.

Brown, from Auckland, turned back a challenge from former triathlete Terenzo Bozzone to win in 8hr 18min 5sec, a course record.

Ferguson, who pushed clear on the run leg, clocked 9hr 18min 26sec to finish four minutes in front of Lawn and Australian Charlotte Paul.

Bozzone, the world 70.3 (half ironman) champion, was making his debut at Taupo and expected to challenge strongly for the Taupo title.

The swim did little to separate the contenders and for much of the bike a tight group of riders - Brown, Luxembourg's Dirk Bockel, Bozzone and Germany's Jan Raphael - was at the front.

Bockel opened up a 3min lead over the final 40km but paid the price for his efforts in the latter stages.

Brown (36) dominated the run, clocking 2hr 44min 8sec as he wore down Bockel and left Bozzone running for second.

"That was a whole lot of hurt out there today, in particular the second half of the run, as I was just trying to concentrate," Brown said.

"Once I passed Dirk [Bockel], I worked on putting as much distance on him as quickly as I could. I was running scared over the final few kilometres. You never know when you might cramp or how others might be finishing."

Bockel held on for third in his debut at this distance.

In the women's race, Ferguson, Denmark's former world champion Lisbeth Kristensen and Lawn led out on the cycle leg before Kristensen pulled away to open up a 3.5min advantage on to the run.

Ferguson (29) proved strongest in the run, moving past Lawn and then a tiring Kristensen before the halfway mark.

Glen McSkimming and Chris Bisley were successful in qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman following their results in the event.

The two are members of a group of Dunedin-based athletes who train for Taupo each year.

The most successful, Kerry Rowley, has gained qualification and contested the Hawaiian event on two occasions, but struggled with an injury on Saturday.

Bisley clocked 9hr 22min to finish second in a highly competitive men's 25-29 section, which bodes well for a top result in age-group competition in Hawaii later this year.

McSkimming completed the course in 9hr 46min, finishing seventh of 226 competitors in his men's 40-44 age group.

Only the top 10 could qualify for Hawaii.

Although results were unavailable, other members of the Dunedin group competing were Dave Cormack, Mark Howard, Chris Rathbone and Nick Taylor.