Three Kiwis are lining up for this year's Ironman World Championship race in Hawaii but for one of them, Braden Currie, it's a chance to send a message.
Currie returns to competition after earlier this year finishing third at the World Championships in Utah and he feels his best is yet to come.
"It would be the pinnacle," Currie told 1News.
"I couldn't think of anything that would top it. This race is probably the highest you can go in endurance sport."
It's not just the gruelling 200-plus kilometre course to contend with; temperatures are reaching close to 40 degrees ahead of the race, meaning the 36-year-old headed to Hawaii to acclimatise a month ago.
"I'm a bit of a smaller athlete," he said.
"I tend to tolerate the heat - in fact, I normally quite enjoy racing in the heat."
Fifth is his best finish at Kona but a title this year would make him the first New Zealand male to be world champion.
He's not looking too far ahead for how many more chances he'll give himself to reach the accolade either.
"This one and definitely one more and then we'll see how we go from there," he said.
"If you're thinking I have another 10 years of this, it may be quite challenging but the thought you can give it all for the next one or two, hopefully, pull out a good performance you want."
SHARE ME