Luke McKenzie, What the heck happened in Melbourne?

Thursday 03 April 2014
Good question! Unfortunately I didn’t have the day I wanted which really started right back with my crash in training two weeks ago. I wasn’t able to swim much leading into Ironman Melbourne and in reality I suffered in the race as a consequence. Swimming in my wetsuit on race day I had trouble with my injured arm and the further I swam the more it began to hurt and I lost time to the main bunch. Things were made a lot worse when as I was rushing to get my helmet on my head I pulled the buckle off the strap. Noooo!!!

I spent roughly 2 minutes re-threading it while the transition emptied around me. I got on my bike and it clearly wasn’t right and I was trying to fix it on the move then all of a sudden it all came undone again and I had to pull over. Missing parts of the buckle now and with the strap fraying at the ends it was a nightmare and I thought it was the end of my race. By this stage even the leaders of the women’s race had past me and they started 3 minutes behind us! Lucky the tech support on course stopped and we were able to use cable ties to get it useable and me back on the road. I lost a further 8 minutes in this drama but can’t thank the people that helped me enough.

I had my work cut out for me but I was determined to make the best of the day even though I was way out of contention. I was still able to ride 4 hrs 25 minutes (The time recorded on my Garmin minus the stops) which is something good to take away from the day and I ran my way from 21st off the bike up to 13th by the end with a sub 3 hour marathon. I finished in 8 hr 28 mins which was respectable considering the days circumstances. Some days the cards aren’t dealt in your favor. I will learn from the experience and continue towards Kona later in the year which I have now validated for with my finish on Sunday.

I have to thank Beth and my family for amazing support on Sunday. I was determined to make them proud no matter what the outcome and I think by finishing the job under the circumstances I did that and myself proud. Onto the next one!
Luke McKenzie


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