International Marathon Swimming hall of famer Chloe McCardel will race in the teams event at Saturday's triathlon, which will see athletes tackle a 1.9km swim, 90km ride and 21km run. 

The swim along Muirs Beach should be every bit as relaxing as a night at the adjacent Saffire hotel for the 33-year-old, who completed a world record 124.4km swim in the Bahamas in 2014. 

Commonweath Games gold medallist and Athens team pursuit bronze medallist Tim O'Shannessy will also compete in the teams event, tackling the 90km Coles Bay Road bike leg.

Race director Clive Poulton said McCardel and O'Shannessy would provide a great challenge for Tasmanian competitors. 

"[McCardel] will be there swimming for the day so that’s exciting," Poulton said. 

"It’s a very even draw across the field so there's plenty of opportunity for anyone really to take the bacon in both the men and the ladies - it just depends who’s in form on the day.

"The field's pretty open but Ali Foot will be at the pointy end, Nathan Jackson is also in the mix and the ex-race director Mark Padgett is going to be competing for the first time for quite a few years so he’ll be in the mix for a podium as well.

"The female field’s pretty open at the moment - there’s some big names that haven’t entered so it's up for grabs."

This year's event will see $750 go to the first female and $500 to the first male.

"Forever the prize money has been more for the males, so it’s just to tilt the ledger back the other way and try to encourage women to compete and get them involved," Poulton said.

Race brief is at 9am, with the first swimmers to hit the water at 10am.

The event also features a sprint race and a junior race.