Chris McCormack is man looking for redemption. A 20 cent cable malfunction last season in Kona saw Macca finishing the bike leg in the tech truck and not with the lead bunch as he envisaged. Since then Macca has gone back to the drawing board to work on some new tricks for his return to the big island. We speak to him about that, his feelings on the new FINA suits, Chrissie Wellington and being a good loser.
How have you rated your season so far?
Pretty good. I started a little earlier than normal and did the 70.3 in Singapore, I don't usually start a big racing campaign that early in March. But I raced myself into some good form. It usually takes three or four races to find my legs. I started to come good when I hit Europe.
My European campaign was exceptional I thought. The focus this year has been on building the bike ride up and trying to hold my run and i think I achieved that. I'm disappointed I got beaten at Ironman Germany but it was a little bit expected. There was definitely a bit of volume missing. It's always tough to get beaten when you get so close. Overall I rate my season pretty good actually.
How do you take being beaten, are you a good loser?
I'm a good loser I think. I was beaten by guys who had much better races than me, I had an uncharacteristically bad swim (at IM Germany). You know you have to walk away from races, you look at each event and look at where you went wrong and where you can improve. But I think I was on track, I had a bad swim which put me in a position I wasn't used to, and when I look at the race and see where I started and then ended up I'm pretty happy.
I'm proud of myself that I committed to the chase of Eneko. I got off the bike down on Eneko and a lot of the guys were like you ran too fast between 15k and 30k what were you thinking? I said I was thinking that I want to win the race (laughs). I didn't just consolidate third or second position I went for the win. I 'm proud of that mindset. A lot of the older guys around are content for a podium to keep the sponsors happy and have lost that drive to win so I was pretty happy with that.
You're starting you build up for Kona, do you get excited by that?
I do actually. After last year it was so hollow at the end of the year. I don't want to take anything away from Crowie's win it was remarkable, he had an amazing race. But I was in really good form last year and I had such a big build up. Then at the end of the season there's nothing to give you that relaxed mind so that you can have a good off season. I was really anxious after that. After a good result in Kona you can have Christmas time to relax and plan for the next year. I was very impatient this year to get back into it and get back to where I am now.
So I'm really looking forward to it. People say oh you want to get back there and win but it's more I want to get back there and have one really big big race there. I love that event. I hated it for years and I've learned to like it and enjoy the process. If I get the race result I want and have the race result I want I might be at Hawaii next year in a different capacity.
You've talked about working on the bike, is that where you see some advantage?
Getting the opportunity last year, I was with the tech guys and they were working with me at Hawi there and then I was pulled from the event. After that I sat in the tech vehicle and I got to sit with the front group because they follow the front 8 guys basically from halfway to all the way home. What you see when you are at the head of the race is everyone thinking that you are absolutely flying. But I saw that the pack absolutely fell apart. I saw some hollowness in some of the athletes that you don't see when you're racing.
I definitely saw some fragility in some of the guys in that latter stages of the bike ride. In past events, in the hot and humid races, the back end of the bike has been a strength for me. We came back here after Kona '08 and these were some of the things that we looked at and we would focus on this year. If you look at my racing, especially early season I targeted a very hot events. Then I went to Europe and raced speed events and now I'm developing the back end of the bike ride in my lead in to Kona. I think my bike strength is really up this year and it's a real weapon.
What did you make of Chrissie Wellington's race in Roth?
She's the greatest female Ironman athlete I have ever seen, probably that's ever been. She emailed me a couple of times before Roth asking about the course and what I thought she should do on that course and I said "Look Chrissie, you're going to go 8:35" and she didn't believe me and she ended up going 8:31. She emailed me back and said I guess we were both wrong. She thought she could go about 8:40. The course is suited to her strengths.
The thing about these European races is that they are so so fast, especially for the elite age groupers. I'm not saying that they draft but there's definitely a huge assistance on the second lap in the sense that they have lot more people to pace off. They're not drafting of them but if a guy goes hard they tag them for 3 or 4 km and then the next guy goes past and it keeps the pace solid. Roth is a tough course too. She's a freak. Very very special athlete. I used to think that when Emma Snowsill decided to come to Ironman it would be a forgone conclusion she'd win Hawaii but I don't think she'd have a hope in hell of beating this girl she's incredible.
You have twittered recently about the FINA swimsuit debacle.
I personally think that it's BS. I lost an Ironman world championship to Normann Stadler wearing one of these suits you know. He got out of the water with us when normally he is 4 minutes behind. Next year we all get the suits and he's back to four minutes behind. Now I'm watching Janet Evans in the States get her world record broken by the Lazer suit by a girl who swum an 18 second PB c'mon.
And now I'm watching this muppet from Germany, ok he's not a muppet that's a bit hard, but the 20th ranked swimmer in the world beat one of the greatest 400m records set by Ian Thorpe which should have stood for 20 years and was one of the greatest swims I've ever seen. People talk about cyclists and the aero bars and the aero helmets but I think they should have reigned it in a little bit if they are going to go down this route in suits. They really need to split these world records off and say this pre suit and this is post suit. I don't think it's right. All Australian's grew up watching swimmers like Perkins do it in budgie smugglers, and that's the great talk and why you love sport is to compare across eras. And now you can't.
What did you make of Lance and Alberto Contador's post Tour spat?
I liked it actually. I'm a big Lance fan but Contador really impressed me. Lance is a huge personality and I could understand Contador's frustration. I did a SRAM shoot before the Tour and there was already a split and they tried to keep it under wraps. I think it keeps it exciting and makes it interesting for next year.
Is it win this year in Kona or bust for 2009?
You know my best ever race in Kona was the year I was second to Stadler. I had an excellent day that day. I got beaten by a guy who was better than me on the day. But I had a good performance. I might have won the following year but I made so many errors. I'd be very happy with a day like the Stadler day. If I have another day like that I will be very difficult to beat. Obviously winning would be wonderful but I want to assess the race on it's merits not the result
