Hometown hero Tim Berkel won't race, and has instead taken up the offer to compete the day before Port Macquarie's big event at Busselton in a 70.3.

Berkel said there were a number of reasons he had decided not to race in his home event but said mostly it had to do with timing.

"I raced the Ironman in New Zealand in March," he said.

"And I'm booked in for the Ironman in Cairns in June so it would have been a bit much to race the full distance at Port as well.

"That's why I opted for the Busselton 70.3 instead."

He said he was also interested in attempting a second win at the Western Australia town, having won there previously.

Berkel hasn't given up though on making a cameo appearance in Port for the big race.

"Hopefully, depending on how it all goes at Busselton, I might see if I can catch a plane and get over to Port to watch," he said.

"I think it will be a good race. There's a good little field in it."

Berkel believes Luke Bell will be hard to beat after taking the race out last year and said he's a top chance at going two in a row.

But he said Bell will have to look out for Berkel's training partner Luke Robinson.

"It will be Luke's second Ironman," he said.

"I've been doing a lot of training with him and I really hope he does well."