“It’s always pretty special to win a race in your home country,
I’d really like to walk away with the win here”.
RACE DATE: This Saturday, March 7
RACE START: 7:48am
TRACK THE RACE BY DOWNLOADING THE IRONMAN TRACKER APP
Ironman New Zealand 2019 wasn’t exactly the result I was aiming for. I didn’t really have a bad day, but it was a phenomenal day from Starky and Phillips. Starky had a great day and Phillips had an absolute blinder. We never expected him to run the way he ran and it was pretty amazing. Full credit to him.
Hopefully this year I can have one of those runs.
It’s always hard to judge how a race is going to play out, but I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve had a strong, injury-free build and I started training a little earlier this year so I should have a lot more endurance fitness under my belt than what I did this time last year. It will be interesting to see, once we get out there.
Q: It seems Ironman racing is getting quicker and quicker. It’s likely that the winner on Saturday will have to go under 8:10, and if not, sub 8 hours. How much has that speed changed, even in the short time that you’ve been fully committed to Ironman racing?
For me, its always been around that sub 8 hour mark if you’re going to win a bigger race or a championship (obviously conditions make a difference). I haven’t seen that change in time, but I guess if you look back in the history books; if you were consistently doing 8:10/8:20 you would be winning races. Whereas now, if it’s a nice day here in Taupo, you’ve got to be going on 8 hours really.
Q: How did 2019 play out for you, post Ironman New Zealand?
It was pretty good. All round, Sunshine Coast 70.3 was a highlight as I had one of my best 70.3 races there with a really quick run and the build to Kona was fantastic. Kona was a good result in the end but parts of it were a bit disappointing so there’s been lots of work to do there. Most importantly, I’ve had a great year with the family and lots of great travelling.
Q: Big dangers; assuming the obvious in Phillips, Brown and Skipper. Any one else? Have you been training with Dougal at all?
Yeah I’ve been training with Dougal and of course he’s going to be a big threat on the bike. In my eyes he’s the most powerful rider out there. But I think the biggest threat this year is going to be Cam Brown: no matter what, if he can pull off a race in a field that’s going to be a bit smaller he’ll be right up there. Let’s face it; if there’s someone you don’t want to be in a marathon run battle at the end of an Ironman, its him and he wont change form. He’ll just keep ploughing on.
