Monday, May 31, 2010

SLOWTWITCH.COM

McKenzie and Macel in Brazil new

Written by: Herbert Krabel
Date: Sun May 30 2010

Aussie Luke McKenzie led from start to finish at the 2010 Ironman Brasil Florianopolis to win his 5th Ironman title in record time. Tereza Macel won her 4th title, but had to fight Dede Griesbauer until late in the run.

The men

A superb swim by Luke McKenzie put him 3 minutes clear of any other Pro athlete and a couple minutes ahead of the fastest age groupers. Eduardo Sturla, Reinaldo Colucci and Oscar Galindez surely represented some serious fire power in the Pro men's field, but 3 minutes is still not the kind of lead you want to give the young Aussie who won Ironman China and Busselton Half earlier this year.

Early on during the bike it appeared that the chasing pack with Sturla, Colucci and Galindez made time back on McKenzie but the seconds came of the clock ever so slowly. At the 115k mark of the bike Sturla and Galindez had clawed themselves within 2:25 of McKenzie, but Colucci paid the price for the pace and started to drift back. McKenzie eventually opened up the gap again and reached T2 with no one else in sight.

McKenzie looked smooth on the run too and despite hard efforts by Galindez and Sturla to reel him in, the Aussie wasn't relenting. Sturla fell of the pace first and the bigger threat for McKenzie actually came from a bit further back in the form of Ezequiel Morales of Argentina. This fleet footed runner was flying along and by the halfway point of the marathon moved past the now fading Sturla and Galindez, but McKenzie was still way out in front. McKenzie crossed the line in a course record time of 8:07:39 and with it captured his fifth Ironman title. Morales crossed the finishline 5 minutes later in second place and Santiago Asenco captured third. Sturla found some late energy to finish fourth and Galindez hung on for fifth.

"So happy to get the win today. I was in a tough position for a lot of the bike only being about 2-3 minutes ahead of Oscar and Eduardo," said McKenzie to slowtwitch. "I thought they might reel me in close to the end, but I actually increased my lead by T2 to around 4 minutes. Oscar came at me early but I had a great day on the run. I felt strong the whole way and actually was able to pick it up over the last 5km as I knew I was close to the record. I didn't see Morales till late in the run (he was flying) I knew once I passed 30km I had it I just had to hold my pace."

Top 10 men

1. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 8:07:39
2. Ezequiel Morales (ARG) 8:12:44
3. Asenco Santiago (BRA) 8:18:33
4. Eduardo Sturla (ARG) 8:20:25
5. Oscar Galindez (BRA) 8:33:00
6. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:36:16
7. Guilherme Manocchio (BRA) 8:39:12
8. Florian Greckl (GER) 8:40:01
9. Gabriel Raff (ARG) 8:40:27
10. Ivan Junior (BRA) 8:54:06

IRONMAN.COM

McKenzie and Macel take Brazil

Shawn Skene wraps up the day of racing at Ironman Brazil

Published Sunday, May 30, 201

What an exciting day of racing here in Florianopolis. Both the men and women's races were hotly contested and resulted in champions that are both in the midst of career-making winning streaks.

Cool Hand Luke
In the men’s race, Australia’s Luke McKenzie took out the race in his typical fashion: all out. He led all the men out of the water by over three minutes, with Fabio Carvalho, Reinaldo Colucci, Eduardo Sturla, Oscar Galindez, Ezequiel Morales and Raul Furtado all exiting the water less four minutes behind the leader. The scene was set for a close race.

On the bike, McKenzie put his head down and went for it. Nipping at his heels early were Sturla, Colucci and Galindez. However, even working together the trio could never get much closer than two minutes to McKenzie at any given time. Eventually Colucci succumbed to the pace, faded and withdrew from the race. Sturla, the course- and bike-record holder, along with Galindez, were the only ones to be able to match McKenzie’s pace, but still couldn’t chew into the hard charging Australian’s pace.

Heading onto the run, McKenzie said, “Ì have never felt so good on the run, especially an Ironman run.”

The only challenge during the marathon for McKenzie came early from Galindez out of the transition. The Argentinean closed the gap to one minute at 10 kilometres, but that was all he had in the tank and eventually faded back after he could not sustain the pace.

McKenzie’s 2:54 run provided him his fifth Ironman title and his second of 2010.

Morales stormed towards the front during the marathon. The Argentinean had the third fastest run at the Ford Ironman World Championship last year and showed that his run there was no fluke. Morales had too much real-estate to make up coming off the bike, though and had to settle with the fastest run split of day and second place.

As Brazil’s highest placed finisher, Santiago Acscenco thrilled the crowd and become an instant hero with his third-place finish.

Sturla slowly lost touch with McKenzie throughout the run and eventually finished fourth.

1. LUKE MCKENZIE 8:07:39
2. EZEQUIEL MORALES 8:12:44
3. SANTIAGO ASCENÇO 8:18:33
4. EDUARDO STURLA 8:20:25
5. OSCAR GALINDEZ 8:33:00
6. PETR VABROUSEK 8:36:16
7. GUILHERME MANOCCHIO 8:39:12
8. FLORIAN GRECKL 8:40:01
9. IVAN JUNIOR 8:54:06
10. LUCAS PRETTO 9:01:53

Friday, May 21, 2010

ARTICLE - FHM SINGAPORE

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

IM BRAZIL PRESS (if you can read Portugese?)

Monday, May 17, 2010

AUGUST MAGAZINE - SINGAPORE

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

IRONMAN.COM

New Kid in Town for Ironman Brazil

Shawn Skene profiles four-time Ironman champion - Luke McKenzie

Published Tuesday, May 11, 2010

New Kid in Town for Ironman Brazil The usual suspects are all ready to battle it out in Florianopolis later this month in the men's race at Ironman Brazil, but they'll have some company.

Yes, both three time Ironman Brazil champions, Eduardo Sturla and Oscar Galindez will be shooting to claim their fourth title. Both are from Argentina, and between the two of them they account for the last four championship titles. In addition, Brazil’s own Reinaldo Colucci, who has two second place showings in his last two appearances, will be starting his fifth Ironman Brazil. While it might be reasonable to expect that this years winner at South America’s only Ironman will come from this trio, the boys from the south had better take note: there will be a new kid in town in Florianopolis this year.

That new kid comes in the form of Australia’s Luke McKenzie. With four Ironman champion titles, a couple of wins at the Ironman 70.3 distance and handful of podium finishes in the past twenty-four months at various race distances, the 28-year-old has the credentials to take on the South Americans on their own turf.

McKenzie’s is no stranger to the Ironman scene. As a teenager he accompanied his parents to volunteer at an aid station at Ironman Australia in Forster.

“I remember watching Pauli Kiru of Finland, who won four Ironman Australia titles in the early 90's, and I thought he was amazing,” explains McKenzie. “My family volunteered at the 38 km aid station and one year, when he (Kiru) came running through, I ran five meters behind him on the footpath all the way to the finish line. I left my family high and dry at the aid station. I went back though. It was then I knew it was always a goal to race Ironman and Hawaii after that experience,” said McKenzie.

Five years after watching his first Ironman, McKenzie was taking his initial plunge into triathlon at the age of thirteen. The result was a win and a triathlon career was born.

While being schooled in the St. George sprint triathlon series, McKenzie was selected for the Australian junior teams for the World Championships from 2001 through 2003. McKenzie eventually became a product of the Australian development system that has produced many of triathlon’s champions.

After some promising results, McKenzie secured a coveted spot with the Australian Institute of Sport Triathlon (ASI) squad. The ASI provided the valuable support, training and learning experiences through their camps within Australia and abroad that helped McKenzie develop. He launched his international career after some superb performances in Europe.

Early in his career there were some valuable Australian triathletes for role models. Brad Beven and the 1994 Ironman World Champion, Greg Welch were both tearing it up at all distances and set high standards for McKenzie to shoot for.

After competing on the short course circuit for a time, he did his first Ironman at 23 – putting together an impressive debut at the 2004 Ironman Western Australia.

“I led until 15 km of the run, then blew up. I had second until about 39 km, but Pete Jacobs stormed past me and I had nothing; a marathon is a long way.” He ended finished third in a time of 8:34:24.

“I had been in the sport for 10 years by that stage and I guess it was just where I felt I belonged,” continued McKenzie. “I still like to race Olympic distance and 70.3, but I just love racing Ironman.”

McKenzie’s resume now includes wins at the 2008 and 2009 Ironman Japan, 2009 Ironman Malaysia as well as his recent his win at Ironman China. There’s also a second place showing at last years Ironman Louisville and a pair of third place podium finishes at Ironman Western Australia. “It brings a smile to my face when I hear or read of those titles,” said McKenzie. “It took a lot of hard training, but mostly self belief that I can be an Ironman champion.”

McKenzie has displayed progress at the Ford Ironman World Championship over his four appearances, and solid understanding of what it will take for him to jump to the next level into the top ten. He explains: “I had always raced from the front ever since I started Ironman. In my first several races, I would plummet back through the field because I was not confident in my marathon. Over the past two years I have worked hard on my running to bring it up to the standard, and now I have a few Ironman titles, which are great. The next goal is to bring it (his running) up to standard to have a chance of winning in Hawaii.”

Kona holds a special place in terms of training, racing and life for McKenzie and his fiancé, third year pro, Amanda Balding. Currently training in Kona, McKenzie explains, “The last two years we have come to Kona in May and June to train leading into Ironman 70.3 Hawaii and to prepare for Ironman Japan. This year we changed the race schedule slightly and, although we aren't racing Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, we came back to train here leading into Ironman Brazil. With winter coming on in Australia it was time to leave and head north back to summer.”

McKenzie continues: “We love training here for so many reasons. I guess it's the climate, the riding out on the Queen K, the swimming in the ocean … just to name a few things. We also have a great support base with good massage therapists, bike shops and gyms. We actually have a lot of friends here now which also makes it a fun place to be.”

While McKenzie makes his fifth appearance at the Ford Ironman World Championship this year, the Island will take on more significance and meaning in his life. Balding and McKenzie plan to marry on the Island after this year’s race.

However, before his big day(s) in Kona this year, McKenzie has his focus clearly on May 30th, where he hopes wrestle the South American stranglehold at Ironman Brazil. We will have to wait to see how the new kid in town, with four Ironman titles to his name, can continue his winning ways.

Shawn Skene can be reached at: SSkene@Ironman.com