They are using this coming week to relax and train at home before turning out in front of what they hope will be a parochial crowd on Friday for their first important race of the year, Triathlon New Zealand's Contact Cup series race around Pembroke Park.
Dodds (22) rates last year as a "shocker", despite finishing fourth at the World Championships under-23 race in Australia.
He nods in agreement when Samuels (26) says she would rather wipe last year, when she finished 22nd at the World Championships and lost her ranking among the top 16 women in the world, along with a $20,000 grant from Sport and Recreation New Zealand. (Sparc).
Samuels is not down in the dumps, because she was returning after a pelvic stress fracture injury, her Wanaka coach Mark Elliott had told her he was happy with her performances and she is still earning some money.
But things had just got harder for her northern hemisphere campaign this year, she says.
"I just maintained my running [last year] and am just starting to get on top of that again, now. It was the year to be injury free. That was my main goal. Mark is happy with last year. But I have sort of wiped out that year and will see how this one will go," Samuels said.
Dodds, who is coached by Tim Brazier, of New Zealand, met his Triathlon New Zealand goal at the world championships and still has Sparc funding.
He says he learned a valuable lesson during the northern hemisphere summer.
"I did too much. I was racing for a European team and still trying to do all the Triathlon New Zealand training camps over there. So it was basically too much, really. That sort of really stuffed me and I didn't have any good races until the world champs on the Gold Coast," Dodds said.
If the hometown support next Friday is anything like that of last year, Dodds expects he will have fun trying to beat his rivals, who include Martin Van Barneveld and Dylan McNeice.
Last year, he was runner-up to Ryan Sissons but Dodds believes Sissons is not competing this year.
"I think next Friday will be a good test. It will be the first big race of the season . . . There's a good half-dozen guys who can win it. It will be fast. Some people will want to have a psychological edge for the next one," he said.
Samuels will be defending her Wanaka Contact Cup title against top New Zealand triathlete Samantha Warriner, who races in Wanaka for the first time next Friday.
Warriner, who married Stephen Bradley on December 28, has a good endurance base from her training for today's Port of Tauranga Half Ironman, so Samuels is expecting a tough race.
Dodds and Samuels acknowledged the pressure of being home-town favourites but wouldn't have it any other way.
"We don't want to lose in front of our home town," Dodds said.
After completing the Contact Cup series, the athletes will turn their attention to qualifying for and building up to the 2010 world championships, in Budapest, in September.
Dodds has one more year in the elite under-23 category and must qualify at the New Zealand Triathlon Championships in Wellington in March and again later in March at the World Cup race at Mooloolaba, Australia.
Samuels, now ranked 27th in the world, will concentrate on world series races from mid-March.
The Wanaka Contact Cup series for age group and elite athletes comprises a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.
There is a shorter race for all-comers.
Races start from 2.30pm next Friday.
The elite athletes should complete their races in just under an hour.
