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48-year-old Kiwi Ironman legend showing no signs of slowing down

January 17, 2021

Cameron Brown has been putting in large training stints and relishing being injury free for the first time in years ahead of the New Zealand Iron Man.

At 48 years old, New Zealand ironman legend Cameron Brown is showing no signs of slowing down in fact it is quite the opposite.

Brown has been putting in huge training stints and relishing being injury free for the first time in years ahead of the New Zealand Ironman in March.

He says that stopping is something he can’t afford to do.

“If I stop then I’m in trouble, I stopped during lockdown, had a 6 week break, and sure enough got injured third run in, so I just cant stop any more,” Brown said.

“The body just gets into a groove and as you age it seizes up very, very quickly so it’s a matter of ticking over nowadays.”

Brown’s definition of “ticking over” however, isn’t what most people would think.

For example, Brown’s summer holiday in Whangamata saw him ride a whopping 253 kilometres to Taupo capped off with a run.

“It was a hard, hard day I looked at the profile on the data afterwards and it just seemed like one massive hill to get to Taupo it just went up and up and up,” he said.

“Then got there and went for a run off the bike when I got to Taupo, so it was a good solid day good Ironman day,” he added.

Brown says the drive to keep going is fuelled by the potential to achieve more in an already astonishing Ironman career.  

“Some of the times I’ve been doing, I’m near my best. So I’m just looking to go as fast as I can and continue that until I’m 50 and I want to try and set some records when I’m 50 years of age,” he said.

Brown will be aiming to do a sub eight hour ironman.. Potentially even at the Taupo event in over a month’s time.

In the meantime however he'll get a gauge on his progress at the Tauranga half Ironman this coming Saturday.

Brown says retirement isn’t just far away, it’s unlikely.

“I think when that love for the sport dies it is time to retire and I don’t think I’ll ever lose it,” he said.

Simply put: there's no stopping one of New Zealand’s most accomplished endurance athletes.

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