The town hosts the first round of Triathlon New Zealand's Contact Cup series tonight, with Wanaka competitors Tony Dodds (21) and Nicky Samuels (26) keen to cross the finish line first in a field containing more than 100 competitors.
Dodds is the New Zealand under-23 men's champion and Samuels is the 33rd ranked woman in the world.
The event lost another two top performers yesterday with the Curtayne brothers, William and Andrew (both 22), withdrawing hot on the heels of Olympians Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmell.
Docherty and Gemmell said on Wednesday they were underprepared and did not want to be beaten by "fired-up" juniors.
The Curtaynes were in hot form at Tri NZ's Contact Trophy race in Whangamata earlier this month, with William winning and Andrew third (Ironman Cameron Brown was second).
Gemmell had picked the Curtaynes among his favourites to win in Wanaka but they said they preferred to train this week rather than race and pulled out of the race.
Dodds said he understood the pressure on Docherty and Gemmell to perform and that they would not want to come if they did not feel fit.
"They were fired-up. I am not too disappointed. We will race them in March," Dodds said.
Although he and other elite athletes were training for bigger competitions later in the year, whoever won today would have bragging rights for three weeks, Dodds said.
He was feeling the pressure to perform on home turf but had no idea how he would go because he had not had a solid race since returning from Europe last year.
He was also dealing with niggling injuries in October and November.
"In my last race [at Lake Dunstan] my biking was like [rubbish] and my running was really fast. I was a little surprised," he said.
Dodds considers his main threats today to be North Island competitors Clark Ellice, Martin Van Barneveld and Callum Millward (open men) and Ryan Sissons (under-23).
Dodds is coached by Dunedin's Tim Brazier and is a member of the New Zealand world championships squad.
He intends to race further legs of the Contact Cup in Taupo (the national sprint triathlon championships) and in Wellington.
World number 13 Elizabeth May (25), of Luxembourg, looms large in the women's race, setting up an intriguing race with Samuels, winner of the Contact Trophy race in Whangamata earlier this month.
Samuels won easily in Whangamata but is concentrating on her build-up to another season of international races based in France later this year.
She intends to compete in Timaru later this month, Taupo next month and the Oceania Championships on March 1, before marrying Steve Gould, of Wanaka, in mid-March.
Triathlon New Zealand's criterium-style event begins today at Pembroke Park at 2.30pm, starting with a short beginners' race (300m swim/9km bike/3km run), followed by the longer Contact Trophy open events and then the Contact Cup elite event (750m swim/20km bike/10km run).
