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Macca Talk's
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Well the new year is upon us and so much has happened. Challenge Wanaka was a huge success and from all accounts the after party was even bigger. I have spoken to a few of my friends who competed in the race and like any challenge event, they said nothing compares. The venue, the organisation and the people made the event extra special and I look forward to next year for the 2nd running of the race. I can only see success here which is great. Congratulations to Belinda and Luke for two amazing performances and to all the other athletes who competed in the race. The pictures of the event look amazing and I cannot wait to get down there next year to compete. New Zealand is one of my favourite places in the World and this part of the south Island is just beautiful.
Unfortunately for myself I could not get down to this year race in New Zealand . I was up in the United Arab Emirates for an event before flying to USA for the Competitor Awards where I was named 2006 Triathlete of the Year. It was a huge night and very enjoyable. The event was held at Sea World in San Diego and everybody in Endurance Sport was at the gala night. There was over 60 World Champions and 15 Olympic Gold medallists in the audience from all Endurance Sports. There was also 2 Tour De France Champions present at the night. It really was a great evening and we just relaxed, had a few beers and enjoyed the presentations. Felix from Team Challenge came out and enjoyed the night with us as did most of my sponsors. It is the 4th time in my career I have won this award and I was very happy to share this with some close friends. Thanks for joining me guys, it was great to see you all. I have been away from home for 3 weeks now and have not done much training at all.
I had a couple of races in the Emirates before the awards which kept me doing something but over all I have been pretty low key since Hawaii and am relatively unfit at the moment. It is the first time in a long time that I have had an extended break but with the long season this year I think it will only do me good. It is also the first time in I will only do 2 Ironmans in a season so I am sure I will be much stronger and fresher in Hawaii in October. My season now will focus on some shorter events in the early season before I look at taking an assault on the World Record in Roth. I really hope the conditions are good and we can really go for a fast time. It is really exciting and I am really going to go for it regardless of the outcome. When this kind of money is waved in front of you, you have no choice but to go for it. It is great that TEAMChallenge recognises the need to offer this sort of incentives to the professionals. It only pushes the level of racing to new levels and throws caution to the wind as an athlete. I for one will be chasing the pay check and this could see me go super fast or blow to pieces. That is the beauty of World Records. No one has ever gone faster so what happens beyond this time is any bodies guess.
I am really looking forward to it. I am especially looking forward to chatting with Thomas Hellriegel. He was an integral part of the last World record a decade ago and he is one of my absolute idols. He has inspired me my entire career and is one of the true gentleman of the sport. The opportunity to race him is a privilege for me and just to have a chat about the past is something I am really looking forward to. He is an incredible champion and meeting up with him again is something I am really looking forward to. I guess the season starts for me now to begin my assault on 2007. The holiday is over and now the training begins. I cannot wait. I have been in the USA and sourced my accommodation for the season and will change my entire racing season now to focus only on Hawaii.
Norman and Faris have a lot to do with my motivation and for this I must thank them both. My aspirations to go back to short course and chase Olympic success have been shelved and my career focus now is on one firm goal, to win Hawaii and to race these guys. I love competition. It has driven me since I was a child, and I think more so I love rivalry. It feeds me with desire and passion and drive and their attacks on me in Hawaii last year where just what I needed. I will be 33 in Kona this year, and I will be fresher, stronger and more focused than I have ever been in my career for the race because my goals are now definite. Hawaii is all I care about now. Norman and Faris never had this option because they are non players in short course racing. Their attacks on me gave me my focus and now I have two rivals to focus on and motivate me. I had a little race with Faris a couple of weeks ago in the Emirates which was nice for me, but I honestly never considered him a threat in this event. I was 8kg over weight and still managed to get a win up. Faris is faster than Norman but they both only have ever had the ability to focus on 1 distance because that's all that they can perform at. They are slow but strong, perfect for Ironman but that's about it. Maybe this is why they have a distain for me. I don't know but I guess I will thank them publically for giving me the conviction to pick a path. I cannot wait to meet them next.
In the past I have had rivals like Hamish Carter, Simon Lessing, Simon Whitfield, Peter Robertson, Bevan Docharty, Olivier Marceau and Brad Beven to race against so if Faris and Norman think their resumes scare me they are hugely disillusioned. The difference I guess is the above athletes I still respect and speak to quite a lot. We shared a rivalry but a friendship as well which is nice. Hamish and I are still close friends, as is Simon Whitfield who I still speak to a lot. I still don't know why they (Faris and Norman) dislike me so much. I still believe their attacks on me where un called for. I have raced Norman since I was a junior. He finished behind me in junior Worlds in 1993 and then went on a duathlon path and Ironman path. We never met much in our careers again, but I did train with him a lot in San Diego over the years. We were always amicable and pleasant and this is what disappoints me the most. Well now we will race each other a lot. I watched his performances in Wildflower and Australian Ironman and Roth to see what he is really like as these are events we have both done and I can get a measure on him against. It showed me a lot about the physical and mental athlete he is, and from this I draw a lot of confindence. Having trained with him before and got a "feel" for his physical strength, I cannot wait until Hawaii this year to race him. I have absolutely no fear about racing Norman Stadler the World Champion. I wish him the best for his season and his training and look forward to seeing him very soon.
Faris on the other hand is the one who really disappoints me. I really respected him as a competitor and a racer. I have raced him numerous times and beaten him a lot. The thing with Faris is he got caught up in the hype of the entire race in Hawaii last year and for him it was very difficult as he was the defending World Champion. I understand this pressure as I had been through the same as a short course World Champion racing on the ITU World Cup circuit. I did feel for him. His attacks on me post race was ridiculous and then his ludicrous claims that I had to pay athletes to work for me to beat him made me laugh at him and then pity him. As I told Faris after Hawaii , if he believes I need to pay anybody to help me beat him, he is believing his own hype. Faris is a great athlete, tough and strong but I will happily race him anywhere.
I did just that in the Emirates 3 weeks ago and am looking forward to doing it again. I have said it
numerous times, these guys are two awesome triathletes but it does not change the fact that they are disrespectful, arrogant and rude. I will happily say that I have raced stronger, scarier and more gifted athletes in my life than these tow guys. Simon Lessing and Hamish Carter are two that come to mind and both contacted me in disbelief after Hawaii last year. It was funny to talk to them about what happened. Thats all I have to say about this now. I do ask them both to be fit and ready in Hawaii in October and I will tell you right now that there will be no excuses in Kona in October. May the best person win, I will happily shake their hands and congratulate them if they beat me, but please don't make any excuses if the result is not what you were expecting. As competitors have the courage to agree to that. I do and wish them both a safe and solid season that is injury and sickness free.
I will write again in a month when I am a little fitter and in full training. I wish everyone a safe training month and looks forward to writing again soon. If anyone has any questions or anything they would like to know, please email them to the web server and I will get back to answering those in my next post,
Macca
www.chrismccormack.com
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Challenge-Wanaka: |
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Challenge-France: |
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Challenge-Spain: |
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Rennen in
| 12. Juli 2009
