Today I won my second Ironman title here at Ironman Malaysia. I decided I wanted to race Ironman Malaysia around the middle of last year. I never usually decided 100% what races I will do before I have even finished the current season but I knew back then that this year I really wanted to target this race. I decided to do Ironman Western Australia as a bit of an after thought after Kona was a bit of a disaster and was happy with the outcome there but then the recovery from a long hard season left me thinking come New Year that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew! Racing Ironman Hawaii, World Ironman 70.3, Ironman Western Australia, Geelong Ironman 70.3 and Ironman Malaysia in such close proximity might not work out come Malaysia? Had I compromised my chance for Malaysia?
I lined up here confident with a good preparation in Noosa but still wondering if my build up since New Year would be long enough to get the result I wanted ... A win.
The swim leg was warm making it a non wetsuit swim. It was salty, murky and there was a mine field of Jelly fish to contend with. A strong lead group established a lead quickly including Bryan Rhodes, Renaldo Collucci, Mathieu O'Halloran and Hiroyuki Nishiuchi of Japan.
Rhodsey led us out of the water and I was right on his feet. We all quickly filed through transition and it wasn't long till Rhodes, Collucci and myself had broken away from the other two. The lead changed many times throughout the 180km but Bryan and I got away from Renaldo at around the 140km mark and established a good lead coming into T2.
Rhodes and I hadn't been separated by more than 10 seconds all race and that didn't change much for the opening 15-20km of the marathon. At every turnaround I would make my turn to see Rhodsey bearing down on me. It left me wondering "Is he hanging me out here to make a move on me?"
On the third lap of the five lap run I seemed to stretch my lead out to about 30-40 seconds and I was determined to make that gap grow to over a minute by the next turnaround. "I had to get rid of him". Slowly but surely over the next 8km I put time into him and by the last lap I culd see I had at least 3 minutes on him with 5km to run.
Running home I felt no pain "I was running on adrenaline". I came down the finish chute to see my mum and dad, tears of joy in their eyes. It was amazing to experience the joy of it all with them. I crossed the line in 8.26.48, a time I was very pleased with in hot, humid conditions on a tough course.
I was stoked to see my K-Swiss team mate and good friend Belinda Granger win the womens race. We both gave each other a lot of support out there and I am stoked we both got the win. We have been doing a bit of training together in Noosa since the New Year and we talked a few times about our goal to do the double. I am super excited we did! Belinda has been amazing for me personally. Her work ethic in training is unbelievable and she pushes me every time we go out and train. Thanks B!
Thanks to Bryan Rhodes especially for such a great race. I admire Rhodsey as an athlete, he never gives less than 100% and he pushed me all day long. I really enjoy racing against you mate, we have a great rivalry that I really enjoy!
Thanks to Amanda's family for coming to watch the race. It was great to have you here Kim, Sue and Sarah. Sarah is an awesome photographer and got a lot of great images from the race I will upload soon.
Thanks to mum and dad for making the trip also. I was so glad you were there to see me win of of these things. It's not just my journey but "our journey". They have been my supporters from day one and we make an awesome team!
Thanks to my beautiful, amazing, supportive girlfriend Amanda. Her belief in me and us as a team makes me smile every day. I am the luckiest man in the world! I love you babe x
Thank you to all my awesome sponsors. I race for the best companies in the the triathlon industry and thank you all for making me part of your team!
Time to celebrate .... waaaaaaahooooooooooo!!!!
1. Mckenzie, Luke 8:26:48
2. Rhodes, Bryan 8:32:52
3. Fuller, Brian 8:38:06
4. Nishiuchi, Hiroyuki 8:48:23
5. Vabrousek, Petr 8:50:48
6. Evoe, Patrick 8:52:18
7. Schuberth, Elmar 8:55:24
8. Seidl, Gernot 8:56:35
9. Ohalloran, Mathieu 9:02:15
10. Dzalaj, Karol 9:05:11
