FORMER Toyota Ironman Australia Port Macquarie winners Luke Bell and Michelle Gailey have vastly different but still amazingly inspiring reasons to get a win on Sunday.
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Gailey will return to Port Macquarie for the first time since having life-saving melanoma surgery, while Bell and his wife Lucy welcomed daughter Matilda into the world on Christmas Eve.
Gailey triumphed in 2012, then missed 2013's race and was set to compete in 2014 when she learnt of the condition.
She was in hospital when the race was run last year.
Twelve months on, she's in fantastic health and ready to do well again on Sunday.
"They haven't found any more," Gailey said.
Her winning time was around the nine hour, 34 minute mark, and Gailey will be thrilled to come within 10 minutes of that on Sunday.
"I'd be pretty happy," she said.
"I was well raced back then."
The Newcastle athlete will have a "whole bunch of friends" cheering her on, and she can't wait to jump in the water and get going.
"I'm excited to race," Gailey said.
Even a wet race wouldn't dampen her enthusiasm.
"I'd rather it wet than windy," Gailey said.
"We all get the same conditions. We go through equal amounts of pain."
Little Matilda will be on the sidelines with Lucy, and that's extra motivation for Bell to do well.
Bell said family was an important part of the race well before the athlete ran across the finish line.
"You don't get to the start line without your family there supporting you," he said.
Bell, from Melbourne, said there was more to doing well than just getting the physical preparation right.
"Anyone could train up and do it," he said.
"I've always said it's more a mental game than a physical game.
"You're out there for just over eight hours. You've got to keep yourself going."
Noosa athlete Peter Jacobs looks to be in a good place mentally. He's also not concerned about the possible wet weather for the race.
"There's nothing you can do about it," he said.
"You just have to deal with it better than everyone else. It sounds like it's going to get better anyway."
Jacobs hasn't had a chance to get out on the bike since arriving in Port Macquarie.
"I'd rather not risk it," he said.
He's after a strong bike leg on Sunday, before "seeing how things go" in the run, and don't ask Jacobs about his target time.
"I have no expectations at all," he said.
