Jo Lawn was the best-placed elite New Zealand triathlete at Ironman Hawaii, finishing eighth in the women's race while the world half ironman champion Terrenzo Bozzone was best of the men, finishing 11th in his his debut at Kona.
Bozzone, 24, had worked his way into seventh until he hit the wall halfway through the run and finished in 8:34.45 with the New Zealand champion Cameron Brown having a forgettable day and finishing 22nd
Australia's Craig Alexander defended his world title, overtaking Chris Lieto of the USa with less than 10km to go on the run,
England's Chrissie Wellington who won her third straight world title and broke the race record, winning in 8:54.03.
Lawn received two four-minute stand-down penalties on the bike and Christchurch's Gina Crawford did not finish after a recurrence of her recent calf injury which seriously limited her build-up.
