Luke McKenzie - setting his sights
It’s obviously been a good season for you but has it been a different season? Do you feel like a different athlete to last year?
This season I can’t complain with how it started out. To get two Ironman wins early in the season, I was over the moon. It’s been a different season for me in that I’ve been given that buffer to be able to focus on Hawaii now. So I’ve given myself a good break over the last month or two and sort of regrouped and really looking forward to the next ten weeks leading into Kona. To focus on this race (Kona) finally I’m pretty psyched about it.
Your race in Brazil, 8:07, course record, was it something you expected? There were some very good guys around you, some guys who had won on that course. Was that one out of the box for you?
Yeah, it’s definitely the goal to go there and try and win. I knew that those guys were almost unbeatable down there in South America. You look at the results over the past 10 years there and I think those guys have one 6-7 times out of the last 10 years. So I was up against it but I think I went there with a little bit more knowledge from my experiences of winning races over the last two years.
I didn’t let the little things get to me. I think I’ve learned a lot in that regard. I always tend to sit out there off the front and in the past I haven’t been confident enough to just keep on putting the pressure on these guys. In Brazil I definitely learned a big lesson. I kept the pressure on those guys all day and in the end they just fell by the wayside and I came through with the goods in the end. So I was just really stoked to have one of those races where I proved to myself that I can just duke it out with these guys.
There seems to be a bit more "ruthlicity" about your racing. I’ve just made up a word here, I’m quite proud of myself.
It’s an awesome word, I like it! I must use it.
There just seems to be a bit more ruthlessness about the way you race at the moment.
Well I think we’re seeing a changing in the guard in that respect. If you look at how these younger guys that are coming through now are winning races, it’s pretty evident that there’s no real sitting back on the bike anymore. You look at the way Terenzo is winning races, and even Andres Raelert in Germany.
I think gone are the days now where everyone just fluffs around in the swim and sits in on the bike. I’m really excited that this is how the racing is sort of panning out now because it’s really the way that I love to race. It’s more exciting to see guys having a go rather than all just sort of sitting around like I feel like they used to and wait for the run. So it’s just great.
You had a good result in Kona last year, you were part of the race coming in. You were making the race on the bike. Then getting that 4:26 (bike time) in Brazil, is that giving you more confidence to have another race like the one last year in terms of just being not just a participant of the Hawi Express but to get out there and actually push the pace?
After Brazil this year I’m really excited to go back to Hawaii again this year and at least try and put some pressure on like that during the race because last year I don’t think I committed to my move on the bike. I was sitting a minute to a minute and a half off the front of 12 guys that…some of these guys were earmarked to win the race and I just think maybe still feeling out the race in Hawaii I didn’t feel confident in myself in making that move. I think about it quite often and I know I shouldn’t have sat up when I did, I should have kept the pressure on last year. You can’t live in hindsight, I’ve just go to look forward to this year and hopefully…I feel like I’m definitely riding a lot stronger again than I was last year so hopefully this year I can do something similar.
So with all your races this year, you’ve had a lot of success. In terms of sponsorship and advertisers is Kona still the towering monolith over the sport? To do well there, is that your year?
Yeah I think so. this is the first year where I would say that I’m going there fully dedicated to putting in a good performance there. The last few years I feel it was quite necessary to go out there and race myself and learn how to win races and to experience the ups and down that is Ironman racing. I’ve put in a lot of racing over the last two years but I think now I’ve been able to give myself that position where I can now focus a bit more on what I ultimately want to achieve which is to win Hawaii. So I know that’s not going to come this year but I feel like I’m getting closer to being able to put all my eggs in that basket and try and do that.
And it’s something that you look around and see what’s going on in the sport at the moment. Are you one of those guys who tracks your competitors or is it simply just a case of this is my day, my race and the other guys will do what they need to do?
I definitely keep an eye on the other guys. I’m constantly impressed with the things these guys are doing but it’s also something that it spurs me on to get out there and train each day too. I love nothing more than tracking an Ironman like I did in Frankfurt a few weeks ago and then go out the next day and just give myself a hiding in training. I like to use that as fuel for when I line up against these guys, I really want to be competitive with them. I don’t think that I waste any energy on thinking about people in that way, I just think it’s more a motivational tool.
What are your thoughts on the likes of Chrissie Wellington and what she did in Roth?
Mate, she is a freak! That is an amazing performance. Easily the best triathlon performance in the history of our sport no doubt I think. The scary thing is we’ve all sort of been throwing stuff around the table. We think she can still go faster and I think there is possibly a chance in the future where she could line up at an Ironman and win it outright. I don’t know where or when that would be but I’m pretty sure it could happen now.
She’s certainly got the back end of her ride and her run amazingly dialled. Are you always sceptical of course length and things like that when you see really low times and fast times?
I know from experience just this year, I know we definitely got given a short swim course in Ironman Brazil this year and I was a bit…I don’t know how to feel about that. As a swimmer, I like to utilise my strengths and to only be in there for 42 minutes. I still came out with the lead but you think what if the course was the proper distance? Maybe I could have got an extra minute or two. This is the case for anyone that’s the strong rider or the strong runner, if the course is not the right length. These days with GPS, there’s no real excuse to get it wrong. I feel like sometimes maybe Race Directors are trying to cut the course a little short to make it fast, To make a bit of a spectacle of it. I mean that’s pretty much all I’ve got to say on it. I just wish that they would get the course lengths right.
And the WTC of course have been tinkering with their rules as they’ve gone forward this season and there’s been a lot of discussion from the pros about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Are you comfortable where they sit at the moment?
The thing that I’m really pleased about is now we have a world ranking system for the Ironman guys. I really think that that’s something that was long overdue. I don’t know how to feel about how heavily weighted 70.3 is in the qualifying system for Hawaii. I really think that they might have missed the mark a little bit there.
The one thing that I think is tragic for Ironman in Australia is that it’s been given the status of virtually zero on the world scale of things and it baffles me to think back at all the legends of our sport that have won at Ironman Australia. For it to now basically be meaningless on the world triathlon circuit, I just can’t get my head around it. If you look at the calendar, there’s so many heavily weighted races in the States and in Europe. Yet you look in the Southern Hemisphere, besides Brazil and South Africa, if you’re an Australian athlete it’s going to be tough to qualify for Hawaii or make money. I just don’t think they thought that through. But what can we do? They’ve set it in stone now and hopefully they can maybe rectify it in the next year or so.
Moving onto to more important matters, pictures of your bike have been beamed around the internet at the moment. You must be pretty pleased to be getting on such a beast?
Yeah definitely. I’ve had a good relationship with my bike sponsor, Scott, since I’ve been on board with them and I guess in the last 12 months we’ve really be very proactive in our sponsorship. They’ve really supported me in my goals and what I want to do and when this new bike was available to tri-athletes just this last few months, I was really lucky to be earmarked as one of the guys to ride it in Kona and there’s only going to be four of us on this new bike. So I’m really stoked to have my hands on it. It’s a beautiful bike and definitely the best one I’ve ever ridden so I can’t wait to get out there and give it a good thrashing.
And we’ll be talking to you later this year in December. For you, what would be a satisfying end to your season?
I would definitely like to say I’d love to come Top 10 in Hawaii but I’ve been talking a lot with my dad and with my partner, Amanda, and I would really love to have a good crack at the top 5 in Hawaii this year. I think I’ve just got to go there and just have no fear and just have the race that I know I can have and not get caught up in any sort of…any of the other stuff that goes on at that race and just focus on what I need to do. I really think that my swimming, biking and running has gotten up to a level now where I can stop thinking about just coming in the Top 10 and just maybe look a little bit higher. So I think Top 10 is definitely an achievable goal but Top 5 I think would be something that I would really be having a crack for.
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.
