Baldwin, who has the distinction of being the first professional athlete to hail from the Seychelles  – an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean off East Africa – knows Ballarat well.

He finished third to Matthew Pellow and Germany’s Per Bittner in the 113km event last year.

Baldwin is returning to Ballarat with impressive ironman form in a year which he launched with a top 10 finish in Dubai.

His latest outings included a third in Wales in September and seventh in testing conditions in Malaysia on November 12. He spaced these two events with a training regime in Seychelles.

Baldwin is among six overseas athletes who will be competing in the professional ranks in Ballarat.

He is joined by Simon Billeau (France), Denis Chevrot (France), Guy Crawford (New Zealand), Michael Louys (Belgium) and Bonnie Van Wilgenburg (United Kingdom).

Like Baldwin, Perth-based Crawford is looking to build on some strong results this year, which include top 10 finishes in Taiwan (twice), Malaysia, Korea (twice) and Japan. He was also an impressive 18^th in the world championships in September. 

Crawford’s latest performance was an eighth in the Taiwan Ironman in October.

Van Wilgenburg is from Scotland and has a background in extreme triathlons, having represented Great Britain in last year’s Trail World Championships.

Ironman 70.3 Ballarat starts on Friday, December 9 with an expo at the event’s base at Lake Wendouree and athlete check-in.

The Saturday features an Ironkids race from 8am, while the main event starts at 7.30am on Sunday.