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New Zealand's top ironman athletes will get a taste of home when they cross the finish line at the world's largest iron distance triathlon, Quelle Challenge Roth in Germany on July 13.

Professional athletes Gina Ferguson, Kieran Doe and rookie Merryn Greenwood will be greeted in the finish line stadium with a haka by Manaia, who also performed at the Rugby World Cup. Also competing at Quelle Challenge Roth is Garth Barfoot (Auckland) who at 72 is the third eldest in the 4,500 strong field. Twelve other Kiwi age group athletes join them on the start line.

The initiative by Challenge Wanaka is designed to profile New Zealand as well as increase awareness of Quelle Challenge Roth's sister event, Challenge Wanaka which takes place every January. Tourism New Zealand provided Challenge with the material to use at Roth in order to help profile New Zealand as a destination. With Quelle Challenge Roth's TV audience of over five million and newspaper audience in excess of 31 million, Manaia's cultural performances will gain New Zealand, its athletes and Challenge Wanaka valuable exposure within the European marketplace.

Australia's Belinda Granger and home-country favourite Francois Chabaud took out wins in the inaugural Challenge France on 25 May in Niederbronn-les-Bains. The race, a 1.9km/90km/21.1km contest in the growing Challenge family of events, had filled with a capacity field of 1200 athletes from 18 countries competing on the scenic course through the Vosges region near Strasbourg.

The women's race came down to a spirited contest between Granger, a veteran long-course star and past Quelle Challenge Roth champion, and rising Czech athlete Lucie Zelenkova. The pair battled head to head on the run, with Granger surging in the last stages to win by just 5 seconds. Germany's Nina Eggert took third another 2min in arrears.

The men's race, which was stacked with some of Europe's top long course athletes, saw Chabaud put on a display of dominance on the bike backed by a strong run to cross the tape the clear winner in 3:51:57. In second was Belgium's Rutger Beke with France's Patrick Bringer third.

"We're thrilled with this debut race," said TEAMChallenge Roth's Felix Walchshofer. "It was a great day out for the athletes and the spectators." Thousands turned out to watch the day's events, which included age group races and a teams competition.

The French race was the first race in Europe outside Roth to bear the Challenge label. Its course covered a one-lap swim in Moutherouse Lake, a two-lap bike through the nature park of the northern Vosges and a run over two challenging loops on forest roads and trails.

Auckland iron distance triathletes turned out last weekend to attend a free Challenge Wanaka Training Workshop in Cornwall Park.

Pro-athletes Celia Kuch and Jeremy Smart addressed the group with their top motivational training tips, Ally Boggs, 'The Swim Clinic', provided invaluable swim pointers and Martin Bolton, 'Balance' enlightened the group with nutritional advice for competeting in long-distance races.

The group of participants comprised of some seasoned iron man competitors a few of whom competed at Challenge Wanaka last year, and others who are interested in competing in an iron distance race for the first time as both individuals and team members.

A summary of the workshop is available upon request from enter(at)challenge-wanaka.com