We are about a day away from the 2014 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championships in Melbourne, Australia and the action promises to be hot and exciting.

We all know that the start list is indeed just a list, and who actually shows up or more importantly shows up to race is another topic all together. But be it as it may, the list of athletes at this Melbourne race is very impressive and especially deep in the men's field. There are many Kona points and good money on the line, plus a good result here does wonders for the confidence of an athlete. So it is no surprise that so many good athletes from around the world traveled to this early season racing pearl down under.

The men

Marino Vanhoenacker comes into this race with bib number 1 but it is tough to tell if the fast Belgian will have the goods at this point of his injury comeback. The likeliest candidates for the win are Luke McKenzie and Craig Alexander, but Dirk Bockel will try hard to spoil an Aussie parade on the podium. For Courtney Atkinson this will be the toughest long course field he will facing since coming from the ITU and several other Pros such as David Dellow, Mathias Hecht and Jimmy Johnsen also will want to have a word about this.

The women

The battle for the title will be likely coming from Mary Beth Ellis and Caroline Steffen and for Steffen this will be the first race under the guidance of new coach Macca. Ellis on the other hand has been prepped for this race by Siri Lindley and it will be very exciting to see these 2 fantastic athletes fight for supremacy and the win. While nothing is written in stone, the remainder of the field will likely be fighting for the final podium spot and all the Kona points that are on offer in Melbourne. Rebekah Keat, Asa Lundstrom and Angela Naeth are those to watch the closest and could also could grab a higher podium spot should Steffen or Ellis dig too deep into their suitcase of courage and bonk.

Below are all the Pros listed on the start list and we encourage you to add your opinion below as to who will fill the podium spots.

Men

1. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL)
2. Craig Alexander (AUS)
3. Luke McKenzie (AUS)
4. Cameron Brown (NZL)
5. Dirk Bockel (LUX)
6. David Dellow (AUS)
7. Axel Zeebroek (BEL)
8. Jimmy Johnsen (DEN)
9. Daniel Halksworth (GBR)
10. Christian Kramer (GER)
21. Mike Aigroz (SUI)
22. Paul Ambrose (GBR)
23. Paul Amey (GBR)
24. Courtney Atkinson (AUS)
25. Dan Brown (PHI)
26. Matt Burgess (NZL)
27. Guy Crawford (NZL)
28. Balazs Csoke (HUN)
29. Adam Gordon (NZL)
30. Philip Graves (GBR)
31. Jarmo Hast (FIN)
32. Mathias Hecht (SUI)
33. Todd Israel (AUS)
34. Christian Kemp (AUS)
35. Arland Macasieb (PHI)
36. Paul Matthews (AUS)
37. Casey Munro (AUS)
38. David Nasvik (SWE)
39. Josh Rix (AUS)
40. Peter Robertson (AUS)
41. Tom Rodgers (AUS)
42. Sylvain Rota (FRA)
43. Ben Sanson (FRA)
44. Swen Sundberg (GER)
45. Michael Weiss (AUT)
46. Luke Whitmore (AUS)
47. Harry Wiltshire (GBR)
48. Pawel Wisniewski (POL)

Women

11. Caroline Steffen (SUI)
12. Mary Beth Ellis (USA)
13. Rebekah Keat (AUS)
14. Natascha Badmann (SUI)
15. Asa Lundstrom (SWE)
16. Rebecca Hoschke (AUS)
17. Stephanie Jones (USA)
18. Mareen Hufe (GER)
19. Angela Naeth (CAN)
20. Kim Schwabenbauer (USA)
49. Kate Bevilaqua (AUS)
50. Tracy Douglas (AUS)
51. Michelle Duffield (AUS)
52. Kristy Hallett (AUS)
53. Tine Holst (DEN)
54. Kym Jaenke (AUS)
55. Keiko Tanaka (JAP)