Cameron Brown starts his 20th Port of Tauranga Half

Cameron Brown starts his 20th Port of Tauranga Half this Saturday

New Zealand’s legend of long-distance triathlon, Cameron Brown will be on the start line this Saturday for his 20th Port of Tauranga Half, presented by Compressport, at Mount Maunganui.

He starts each year with the Port of Tauranga Half, and has made this event his own, with ten victories and several other podium finishes since his first appearance in 1998. He recorded seven straight victories in the event from 1998-2004, and then wins in 2007, 2012 & 2014.

For Brown - “The Port of Tauranga Half has been part of my summer for 20 years. For me, it’s a great race to do pre New Zealand Ironman. It’s one of the oldest and most prestigious events on the New Zealand triathlon calendar, so it’s an important race to win.”

Cameron Brown’s incredible triathlon career stretches back to 1990 when as an 18 year he won the Whangamata Triathlon, beating former world champ (and Brown’s idol) Rick Wells. The twenty eight years that have followed have seen Brown amass an incredible record of success which has included 11 victories in Ironman New Zealand, and four podium finishes in the Ironman World Champs in Kona, Hawaii.

While Brown has dominated the Port of Tauranga Half over the past 20 years, he has a strong field to contend with in 2018. Heading his competition is recent Taupo 70.3 winner – Mike Phillips, two-time champion Graham O’Grady, 2010 winner Michael Poole, Australian Alexander Polizzi, and top NZ triathletes Simon Cochrane and Dylan McNeice.

In assessing the men’s field for this year’s event, Brown said – “Mike Phillips and Dylan McNeice are two guys I will be keeping watch of for sure.”

“Mike Phillips will be the favourite after his win at Ironman 70.3 Taupo. It gets harder and harder racing the young guys over this distance as they have so much more speed but I had a good little blow out winning the Mount Maunganui surf breaker Triathlon a few weeks ago, and there was some speed there.”
Brown is pleased with his preparation heading into his 20th Port of Tauranga Half, describing his recent training as – “very good, It's been a little different, with this year event being two weeks later than normal, but more relaxing through the New Year period as I've been able to put in some big miles.”

“I raced Ironman Western Australia early in December so it was perfect timing to have the Port of Tauranga Half a little later as I was able to recover after that event and then build my fitness back again.

For Cameron Brown, the passion for the sport of triathlon still burns at 45 years of age. When asked if he is looking forward to this Saturday’s Port of Tauranga Half, he answered – “I always love competing in this race as it's the perfect lead in event to the New Zealand Ironman 6 weeks later. I like to have a hard race before Ironman NZ and I get this every time plus I need to see if I have to improve in any of the disciplines in the final few weeks.”

Brown added – “Running around the Mount is also why I keep coming back, it's one of the best run courses on the circuit.”

The 2018 Port of Tauranga Half, presented by Compressport, starts at 7:30am on Saturday, 20 January at Pilot Bay, Mt Maunganui.

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