On Tuesday Braden Currie will finally depart New Zealand to compete in the race he's spent almost three years preparing for.
The COVID-19 pandemic means the Ironman World Championship hasn't taken place since 2019, but the light at the end of the tunnel will arrive on May 7 when Currie finally gets his chance to become the first Kiwi male to ever win the famous event.
Currie has spent plenty of time training for his biggest event, but the cancellation of the 2020 Ironman World Champs and postponements of the 2021 event have kept him stuck at home in Wanaka.
"It's hard when your career kinda gets put on hold, in a lot of ways," Currie told Newshub.
"It's exciting to think this is the year things will fire back up again."
In just a few weeks Currie gets his crack at the pinnacle event in the US state of Utah - moved away from its traditional home of Hawaii in November.
It won't be as hot, but altitude will be a challenge.
"[It] definitely will make the lungs tickle when you're getting up towards the top," Currie added.
Although he hasn't been able to compete overseas, the pandemic did come with one positive as Currie returned to the event where it all started earlier this year to win the Coast to Coast.
"Returning to the Coast to Coast was really special. It's been a long time.
"It's the race that got me into endurance sport."
The dream now is to better his seventh place finish at World Champs in 2019 and go one step further than Cameron Brown in 2005 when he finished second.
"For me, it's the dream I've sort of been working towards for the last five or six years now."
If he can be the first Kiwi man to conquer it, it'll certainly be worth the wait.
