Australian athletes have won the men's and women's titles at the Ironman 70.3 race in Auckland on Sunday.
Christian Kemp took the elite men's title at the inaugural triathlon in a time of 3 hours 56 minutes and 3 seconds, while Annabel Luxford easily won the women's race.
New Zealand's Bevan Docherty came out of the water in 10th place in the men's event and finished strongly in cycling and the run, ending the race just 34 behind Kemp, in second place.
Taranaki's Clark Ellice was third, also in under four hours.
Australia's Annabel Luxford won the women's race from Caroline Steffen of Switzerland and California's Meredith Kessler.
She completed the course in 4 hours 19 minutes and 19 seconds, more than five minutes ahead of Steffen.
The competition began with a 1.9km swim at 6.30am on Sunday.
The 1200 competitors then took part in a 90km bike ride over the Auckland Harbour Bridge and a 21km run along the waterfront.
