The 28-year-old will contest the Port Macquarie Half Ironman on Sunday.

It will be his longest multi-discipline event since taking up the sport less than a year ago.

For more than a decade Kidd made his mark in karate under the tutelage of Maitland martial arts

identity Peter Kirkwood, but in more recent times he has turned his focus to triathlons.

Kidd started training on a casual basis with workmate and Maitland Triathlon Club vice-president Matthew Hubbard about three years ago.

This year the sessions have heated up, including a crack at the Sparke Helmore Triathlon in Newcastle in March and the Maitland Triathlon at Morpeth earlier this month.

The tempo increases again this weekend when Kidd and Hubbard complete the 1.9 kilometre swim, 90km ride and 21.1km run on the NSW Mid North Coast.

Kidd said Hubbard had been helpful in the lead up to his biggest challenge to date, but for six-and-a-half-hours on Sunday he will be on his own.

And it will be when the race starts getting tough that Kidd will combine his cardio-vascular sessions with his years of martial arts training and experience.

“It [the martial arts] will help me to remain focused, especially doing something physical for such a long period of time,” he said.

“And setting goals and gradually building towards them, it has all helped in triathlons.

“As long as I can control myself and complete the course at a controlled pace, I should be right.”

Kidd’s last outing was the Maitland Triathlon, which consisted of a 1.5km swim, 55km ride and a 12km run.

He said the main challenge this weekend will be going the distance.

“The thing will be staying up for it,” Kidd said.

“The triathlon at Maitland was a bit shorter ... so it will be important not to go too hard too early, to stay focused and let the training do its job.”

Kidd, who did competed in his first race at the Maitland Triathlon Club earlier this year, said he enjoyed the excitement of race day and the sense of accomplisment.

“There is a good buzz on race day,” Kidd said.

“And I’m looking forward to the feeling of crossing the finishing line and everything I have worked hard for over the past 12 months paying off ... achieving what I set out to achieve.”

Kidd and Hubbard will be among a group of Maitland competitors participating in the half ironman.