Last year's runner-up, Gavin Mason, of Wanaka, said that with Allan in Canada he might have a better chance of winning this year.
He admitted Allan had "given me some excellent ski tips and I will certainly use them, seeing they helped him to win the Peak to Peak a couple of times.
"But there are always other people who come out of the woodwork, and certainly Mike Kelly, of Queenstown, who came fifth in the Coast to Coast one-day event this year, will be a strong contender on his home turf.
"Matty Graham [Dunedin] has a troupe of solo athletes coming up from Dunedin and he and Jim Cotter will be hard to beat," Mason said.
This year's Peak to Peak, the country's oldest winter multisport event, has attracted a diverse mix of elite and recreational athletes. Race director Geoff Hunt said as well as catering for top athletes, it was also designed for friends and business colleagues to compete together in a spirit of "friendly rivalry".
"The whole idea of the race is to make it accessible to a range of people and age groups."
The race starts with a 2km ski or snowboard on the Remarkables, finishing at the access road, followed by a 17km mountain bike ride down the skifield road to Lake Wakatipu.
A 7km lake kayak to Queenstown Bay leads to the start of a 9km run from Queenstown via Arthurs Point to a changeover point near the foot of Coronet Peak, where athletes start the final 9km cycle ride, which climbs to the ski area base buildings.
The competition is open to men and women competing in open and veteran individual classes. The teams section includes sections for males, females, mixed, business houses, veterans and schools.
The Queenstown-based Thompson family of Colleen and Phil, their sons Fynn (14) and Zen (12), along with neighbour Taryn Perry, will be the first family team to compete.
"We all love sport and thought it would be good to give it a try and have fun doing the race as a family," Fynn said.
Last year's winner of the open teams section, the Outside Sports Dream Team, led by Queenstown multisporter Jim Hawkridge, will be back trying to beat the time of 2hrs 10sec it set last year.
The Whippets R& R Sport team is expected to put up a solid performance in the women's team section but will face strong challenges from Queenstown's Element, comprising Anna Williams, Annika Hesse, Josie Cederman and Zoe Albon, and a Dunedin team which includes sisters Steph and Carla Laughton, both national surf life-saving title-holders.
