In his final preparation for the Hawaii Ironman World championships on October 10, Chris McCormack has added two final events to his racing calander in a final tweak to his road to Kona 2009. In what has been a remarkable season, Macca confirmed from his base in Sydney Australia, that these two races presented perfectly and would give him the final hitout prior to his big race in Kona three weeks later.
Macca: "I had an incredible racing season in Europe where I was able to race the real depth of talent within the sport. My bike ride has really developed and I feel the additional series of races I got to do, really pushed my top end strength off basically a race focus. We returned to Australia to build some endurance and decided to add some hot humid hit outs prior to Kona to give me the final touch to my preparation. Being home in Sydney has been wonderful and accessing the great facilites we have here in swimming and laying some long foundation miles in bike and run has been wonderful. I feel amazing, fast and strong and I am ecstatic with our planning this season. I have to say, I cannot wait to get back to Hawaii and race again. I will be 100 percent ready to race in Kona and am looking forward to going to battle with the guys who think they can walk away with this title. Bring it on!"
Macca will race the Ironman 70.3 event in the Philippines on August 23, before flying into base camp in Kona hawaii with Ironman 70.3 World Champion Terenzo Bozzone for an intensive 18 day training block. They will also compete in the 2.4 mile rough water swim on Oahu and the 112 mile, Around Oahu Bike Race. Hawaii local Tim Marr will also join them in camp along with most of Team Macca. Lots of this block will be covered by MaccaX with video and photo uploads from this camp available through Macca'sTwitter. Video will beuploaded daily for MaccaX members.
Macca: "Terenzo is a young guy with huge talent. He is by far the best Ironman 70.3 guy in the World, and with some time and endurance he will really develop into a big Ironman racer. The bike is a key focus for many of us this season ,as after watching last years race there are some obvious weaknesses in some athletes biking ability that can be exploited. Terenzo has some solid strength and together we can really work on doing some key Kona workouts. With the addition of Rasmus Henning to this year event and the strengths of Andy Potts and others early in the race, the back end of this Ironman this year will be very tough. Any bike weaknesses, as shown in the races in Europe this year, will be extremely damaging to your race. The small escapes this year could lead to victory. Solo Escapes will be difficult, but small power groups with big bike strength could end the reign, of running from the pack to win Hawaii. Our focus will be on this, and the fact that both Terenzo and myself are very well rounded at the 3 disciplines gives me confidence that training together will be very beneficial to both of us"
From Kona, Macca will fly into Malibu to defend the title he won last year at the Malibu International Triathlon on September 13. After a week of work in LA he will then fly onto Ironman 70.3 Cancun, to compete in his final race prior to the Ironman World Championships on October 10 three weeks later.
