The ultimate kiwi showdown is looming large on the streets of Taupo next month in the 26th Bonita Ironman New Zealand.

Last year’s runners-up, 2008 world champion Terenzo Bozzone and six-time winner Jo Lawn today confirmed they will take on defending champions Cameron Brown and Gina Crawford on Saturday 6 March.

While there’s a more than useful support cast, the race between the world class quartet is shaping up as a battle of epic proportions.

Bozzone, 25, impressed in his runner-up effort in his Ironman debut behind Brown in Taupo last year, and since then went on to finish in the top-10 in the high profile Ironman Germany and then a highly commendable 11th in the furnace of Hawaii at the Ironman World championships.

Rather than shying from the fray, he is back to take on the peerless Brown who is chasing his ninth victory in Taupo.

“Well I was second in my first Ironman, then ninth and 11th so I am unsure it’s going in the right direction,” the 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Champion joked.

“After a year in Ironman I have really enjoyed it. And I can see myself doing OK in it too. I am probably looking at another three years to gain experience and get stronger,” Bozzone said.

“I don’t think I have enough experience to be able to beat Cam this time but I will be giving it everything. You know every time I get on the start line I want to win. And I would love to win.

“I think it is going to be really tough and very interesting.”

Brown is under no illusions that he will need to be at his best next month.

“Terenzo is a great talent. You don’t win a world championship without talent and he has stacks of it,” Brown said. “I’ve said before that I think with Terenzo it is a matter of when not if he will win Ironman New Zealand.

“That said I’d prefer it if it was a couple more years down the road. I know Taupo well. It is a really important race for me. With my family, friends and sponsors there, it is probably my most important race of the year.

“So I am going to be in the best possible shape if he wants to come and get me.”

Last year Crawford, nee Ferguson, ended the six-straight Ironman New Zealand titles by Lawn with an emphatic victory which she labelled the best of her career.

Crawford, recovered from injury that put the reins on her 2009 season, zoomed back to top form with the successful defence of her Ironman Western Australia title in December and Wanaka last month.

But Lawn herself has undergone a metamorphosis after years of eating almost entirely from the sugar-free shopping aisles which saw her running on empty. A major change to her diet and a special mouthguard to correct a posture position has seen lawn back to her bouncy best.

After two contentious four-minute stand-down penalties in Hawaii, she zoomed through the field to finish seventh and believes she is back to her best.

“I feel great, for the first time in years. I have energy and I am loving the training. And the numbers don’t lie. The data from my bike shows I am stronger and more efficient – and I am feeling much better off the bike.

“It is going to be a huge battle for sure. Gina is a great ironman athlete and a great competitor. The thing for me will not to be caught up in the one-on-one battle.

“Ironman has to be about me. The day is too long to get caught thinking it is a match race. Of course when it comes down to the wire and your opponent is right there, then it becomes a duel. But my focus is about doing my race to the best of my ability.

“If you worry about all the other things going on in the war, you are going to get shot.”

The men’s field also includes the 2007 Ironman Canada champion Kieran Doe, who is battling back from a loss of form last year, and super-talented Counties competitor James Bowstead, runner-up in last month’s Port of Tauranga Half Ironman, and talented young Swiss triathlete  Stefan Luscher.

The women’s field has plenty of athletes capable of upsetting including 2008 runner-up Kate Bevilaqua (Australia), Kim Loeffler (USA), a three-time US Ironman champion who had two podium finishes last year.

There will be interest in New Zealand time trial cycling champion Melissa Holt (Cambridge) and some more than handy Australians including Christie Sym and Sarah Pollett, second and third respectively at Ironman Western Australia, Ali Fitch and Great Britain’s Joanna Carritt.

The full fields are available at www.ironman.co.nz.