Macca back for more at Lavaman

Beating Chris McCormack isn’t on Tim Marr’s list of goals.

Marr hopes he can just stay within shouting distance of the elite Australian triathlete at Lavaman Waikoloa Sunday.

The 15th running of the Olympic-distance triathlon will begin at 7:25 a.m. with a 0.9-mile swim in Anaehoomalu Bay. A 24-mile bike ride on Queen Kaahumanu Highway and a 6.2-mile run on the Waikoloa Beach Resort grounds follow.

Approximately 1,500 triathletes are expected to compete.

“I want to give (McCormack) a tiny bit of a concern, that’s it,’’ said Marr, a 33-year-old Honolulu professional.

McCormack, who will turn 39 on Wednesday, won the second of his two Ford Ironman World Championships in 2010. Since then, he has focused on making Australia’s Olympic team for this summer’s Olympic Games in London. Australia has yet to announce its triathlon team members.

Known as Macca in triathlon circles, McCormack will compete on a familiar course on Sunday, having won Lavaman Waikoloa in 2009 and 2010. He broke the course record in both appearances, finishing in 1 hour, 49 minutes, 24 seconds in his second Lavaman.

McCormack, one of five professional males in the field, will likely get his stiffest competition from another two-time Lavaman Waikoloa champion in Marr, who will compete in the event for the 10th time.

Marr came into last year’s race still feeling the effects of a stomach virus he had been battling for two weeks.

The illness took its toll as Marr, who had clocked in under 1:54 in three of his previous four Lavaman Waikoloa races, finished fourth with a time of 1:59:00.

“Last year was a nightmare,’’ Marr said. “I couldn’t race.

“I was hoping I was able to feel better because of the emotion of the race, but it wasn’t going to happen. … It was a miserable race.”

Marr, who won the sprint-distance Waterfront Triathlon Sunday on Oahu, will enter this year’s Lavaman healthier.

At Lavaman, he’d like to improve upon an 11th-place finish at Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore on March 18. Marr was pleased with his performance in the swim (26:46) and bike (2:10:43) but disappointed in his run (1:48:08) at the half-Ironman-distance event.

“I’m going in feeling strong — excited,” said Marr, who won Lavaman Waikoloa in 2006 and 2007. “Of course Chris McCormack is the favorite. I want to give him somewhat of a race.”

While Marr will try to chase down McCormack, two-time defending champion Bree Wee might try to race against history.

Competing in her seventh Lavaman Waikoloa last year, Wee posted her best time at the race, clocking in at 2:04:28.

Recently, the 32-year-old Kailua-Kona triathlete scanned through year-by-year results from the Olympic-distance event, and she came away surprised and humbled.

Her top time at Lavaman Waikoloa was better than that of well-regarded Canadian Olympic triathlete Lisa Mensink, who won the event in 2007 and 2009. It also topped two-time Ironman world champion Lori Bowden’s best time in Waikoloa.

More importantly, Wee’s mark is just over a minute off the course record Canadian Olympian Jill Savege set (2:03:34) in 2005.

Wee enters the race having finished second at Rev 3 Costa Rica on March 18. She also placed eighth at Ironman 70.3 Panama on Feb. 13 before winning Oahu’s Hapalua Half-Marathon on March 11.

“I’m definitely trying to chip away at it,’’ Wee said of the Lavaman Waikoloa record. “I would like to have the record on a backyard race.”

Wee will likely race as the only female professional in the field. She said one of her best friends on the triathlon circuit, Alaska’s Amber Stull, broke her arm last week after falling off her bike during a training session. Stull had registered for the race.

“We’re going to miss her for sure because she’s a positive person to have on the starting line for us,’’ Wee said.

Wee, the top Big Island female finisher at the Ironman world championship in 2009 and 2010, said she’d like to qualify for this year’s Ironman world championship, which takes place Oct. 13.

But for now, she’s focused on enjoying being among familiar faces at one of her “backyard” races.

“The Lavaman races are the bragging rights races with your training partners,’’ she said.

Other notable registered local competitors include Kailua-Kona’s Penn Henderson and Kealakekua’s Rani Tanimoto.

At last year’s event, Henderson, 40, was the second Big Island finisher, crossing the line 15th overall in 2:04:43.

The first Big Islander, Sam Corace (2:01:28) did not register for this year’s Lavaman.

The 36-year-old Tanimoto finished third in last year’s women’s race (2:13:02), just beating out Stull (2:13:23).

c Notes: Britain’s Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula One champion, will make his second straight Lavaman Waikoloa appearance along with his girlfriend, Japanese fashion model Jessica Michibata. The 32-year-old Button will compete just a week after turning in a 14th-place finish at the Malaysia Grand Prix in Selangor, Malaysia. Last year, Button finished his first Lavaman race in 2:39:18, while Michibata clocked in at 2:59:18. … Mayor Billy Kenoi will also enter Lavaman Waikoloa for the second straight year. Last year, he finished in 3:39:35. … Six-time Ironman world champion Dave Scott is expected to compete in his second straight Lavaman Waikoloa. Last year, he crossed the line 20th with a time of 2:07:11. … More than 475 athletes associated with the charity organization Team in Training have registered for Lavaman Waikoloa. The 17 Team in Training chapters represented in the race have raised more than $2.5 million for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.