A "strong" group of leading international triathletes confirmed they will be among a record field of Challenge Wanaka participants next year, organisers say.
The fifth edition of the long-distance triathlon has garnered more than 1200 entries from athletes keen to test themselves on the "spectacular" 226km course, event director Victoria Murray-Orr said.
Top New Zealand long-distance triathlete Gina Crawford will line up to defend her title for the third successive year, with male winner Richard Ussher also expected to be present in Wanaka, Murray-Orr said.
Race directors are still waiting to see whether Ussher will enter to defend his title, which he claimed in emphatic style by smashing the previous race record by more than three minutes in January.
Winners from previous Wanaka long-distance triathlons and other Challenge champions from the global race series, will be trying to stop Ussher and Crawford from repeating a Kiwi double victory.
Crawford faces stiff competition from Australia's leading female athlete, Rebekah Keat, who broke the world record at Challenge Roth in 2009.
Former Challenge Wanaka champions, Germany's Marc Pschebizin (2008) and Canada's Luke Dragstra, who won the inaugural event in 2007, will line up again in the men's race.
"This race is true triathlon and a beaut one at that. [You] feel the real challenge of iron distance competition with all the elements, sun, heat, wind, hills and off-road running . . . you also get the treat of an atmosphere almost unmatched in the world of triathlon brought to you by a fantastic sporting community," Dragstra said.
Record-breaking Challenge Barcelona winner Jimmy Johnsen, of Denmark, will be among the field, while evergreen Petr Vabrousek, of the Czech Republic, will return to contest his fifth Wanaka event.
Rising Kiwi athlete Keegan Williams will return after finishing second and third in his previous attempts.
