If they were to recast the role of Gladiator, then Luke Bell might apply for the job.  It seems the 27 year old enjoys entering the lion’s den head-on.

Last year he took on Oscar Galindez in front of a fervent home town crowd in home town conditions at Ironman Brazil. The likeable Melburnian came second. Just.

Last month he ventured to Taupo to take on five-time champion Cameron Brown at Bonita Ironman New Zealand. He pushed hard but came second.

Bell does not see second place as defeat. And that’s probably a fair summation as Brown dug deep to grab his sixth victory at Ironman New Zealand.

That put him into exulted company with Mark Allen, Dave Scott and Paula Newby-Fraser as the only people to win the same Ironman event six times.

“That’s humbling. Mind you I’d swap all of mine for one of their’s because they were all at Kona,” Brown quipped.

What made Brown victory the more impressive was that he was restricted to bed – or more accurately the toilet – for Wednesday and Thursday or race week.

His toils were plain to see as he was stretchered to the media tent for the first time in his career – requiring oxygen and two litres of saline drip to assist recovery. He finally limped into the media conference 90 minutes after his triumph.

It proved a record day for the New Zealanders with Joanna Lawn adding her fifth straight win in the women’s race – and going past the previous record of four wins held by the great Erin Baker, arguably triathlon’s best allround athlete.

“It’s amazing to be even spoken of in the same sentence as Erin Baker. It’s a privilege to surpass her record here but I don’t dare allow myself to be compared with Erin. She won at Hawaii twice for starters.” Lawn said.

Brown spent most of the week recovering and only confirmed he would start on Friday. But he showed no signs of the illness as he stormed home stopping the clock at 8 hours 26 minutes and 33 seconds – just outside his course record.

The effort left him exhausted and requiring medical treatment.

“It’s very nice to win six here today,” he said. “Today was very special for me. I would have loved to have celebrated a bit more but I was absolutely knackered at the finish line.”

He admitted he had not been confident he would make it to the start line.

“The porcelain bowl was my best friend for 12 hours,” he said. “It wasn’t nice. I honestly thought I would not be able to start and I had to cancel out of all my media and promotional work.”

The illness also meant a change of race tactics.

“I felt okay in the swim – in fact it was one of my better swims here. I knew I had to stay handy but I could not afford to stretch myself out on the bike. I just did not know how much I would have in the tank.”

Bell enjoyed the pool-like conditions in Lake Taupo – at 20c C the warmest in the nine years and with mirror-like conditions. He was first professional out in 47:27 behind two American age groupers William Daniell and Jay Calvert.

Ominously placed behind him were ITU World Champion Torbjorn Sindballe (Den) and Brown – it was game-on for the big three. Defending champion Ain-Alar Juhanson (Estonia) would emerge 10 minutes behind.

Bell and Brown were waiting for the expected charge from Sindballe, who dominated the world long distance championships in Canberra on the bike and set the bike record in Hawaii in 2005.

But it was the Australian who made the pace opening a 35 second lead at 30km, reduced to 20 seconds at 60kms with Brown and Sindballe joining Bell at the front of the field at 70kms.

Sindballe did not make a move until the start of the second loop to Reporoa and by 125kms had opened a 1min 18sec buffer from Bell while Brown slipped 2min 49sec off the lead.

The Danish champion extended the margin to 2min 55sec and 5min 10sec respectively at 145kms and by the time they came off the bike back in Taupo Sindballe had built a buffer of 6min 35sec on Bell while Brown had pushed up to be a further 1min 35sec behind the Australia.

Few thought that the lead would be enough as temperatures began to sneak into the mid-20C deg.

Brown rushed up to Bell inside the first 5kms but from there the pair ran side by side for the rest of the way.

“We fed off each other really. I did not want to push ahead too soon because I knew I would be running on empty,” Brown said.

“We didn’t speak a single word to each other the whole time. We were both pretty focussed.”

The lanky Sindballe surprised as he held off the Australasians – still ahead 4min 35sec at 13.5km and 2min 28 at 30kms.

Before the race Sindballe had been questioned on how he would handle the final 10kms as he had not run many full Ironman events.

“That will be the test. I hope I am prepared for it.”

He was to find out as Bell and Brown quickly collected him zooming past at the 35km mark.

“I probably knew that I had not managed to get far enough ahead off the bike. I was hoping for 10 minutes or more. That’s what I needed.”

Bell made an early break but Brown was up to the challenge mentally and physically surging to make the break at the 38.5km mark.

“It was just a bit of a surge,” Brown said. “He immediately dropped off as soon as I got a little gap I turned my head and I think mentally that might have just blown him.”

But he knew he couldn’t afford to coast home.

“Pretty much until the finish I was looking over my shoulder,” Brown said. “I pushed my body to 100 percent and at the end of the day I ended up in the medical tent,” Brown said.

“It was fantastic just to get through it. I think that was the most satisfying and best of all my wins.”

Second placed Bell, finished just over a minute behind for yet another top quality display before paying respects to Brown.

“He’s Mr Consistent,” he said. “It’s like he’s got an auto speed really. He just locks it in and off he goes. You’ve just got to try and go a bit quicker than him. He’s got the all round game. He’s so mentally strong.”

Bell believes his career is on schedule and at 27 years young he has his best years in front of him. And certainly he never turns away from a fight.

Bell and Brown were the only competitors to go under three hours for the marathon to illustrate their class.

Sindballe held on for third place eight minutes behind Brown while Juhanson, who had zoomed up to fourth midway through the bike, withdrew after two punctures.

David Meade made a major breakthrough in his professional career with a brilliant fourth placing.

The Bendigo retailer was nearly six minutes down out of the swim, while his 4:47:23 was the fifth best on the day. Only five athletes managed faster marathon times with his 3:07 enough to see him up to his best Ironman performance as a professional.

He held off an experienced group including Nick Saunders (GBR), Frenchman Rene Rovera and Japan’s Shingo Tani while there were plenty of local support for seventh placed Duncan Milne. The Taupo forestry supervisor enjoyed a brilliant professional debut to earn spot for Kona.

Favourite Lawn left the women’s field at Bonita Ironman New Zealand in her dust on her way to winning a record fifth title.

Lawn, who led from start to finish, was ecstatic at the finish line stopping the clock at 9hours 20 minutes and 2 seconds.

“When I knew that I’d seen on my own watch that it was 4:18 I kind of thought the record’s gone so let’s just really enjoy this,” she said

“You don’t get to win many Ironmans. So you have to saviour every moment that you get. I was cramping quite badly coming down the last three or four kilometres so I had to be super careful.

“I really had to stay in control and not get carried away and think I’d won it with three kilometres to go. There’s still along way to go from there.”

The win sees her takeover from Erin Baker as the queen of Ironman New Zealand.

“All week I had been saying ‘no there’s no pressure at all’,” she said. “But it’s always there because every time you talk to someone they mention it. I had to win first before I got the five. There was a lot of pressure there and I felt it.

“Erin is a legend and I still don’t see myself being like Erin. She’s a legend and I’m just me.”

Lawn showed she was at the top of her game to lead the women’s field out of the water from the 3.8 kilometre swim with a personal best 50:30 to be eighth overall.

But it was her performance in the 180 km cycle section that had her turning heads all over the course. She showed no mercy towards her rivals.

As she dismounted her bike into the second transition she held a massive 12 minute gap after she broke her own bike record, clocking 5:07.56. From that point it was a on-horse race.

“That’s the way that it has to be done,” she said. “That’s the way I believe you have to win Hawaii.

“Some people say ‘gosh that’s mentally tough to be out there all day’ and yeah it is. That’s what makes winning Hawaii.”

By the end second placed Heather Gollick had reeled her in by a few minutes but it was never going to be enough to stop Lawn from joining some of the great names in Ironman history.

America’s Kim Loeffler finished in third place after going past fellow American Hillary Biscay in the dying stages of the run.