Chelsea Sodaro (USA) and Steve McKenna (AUS) have claimed the 2024 ANZCO Foods IRONMAN New Zealand titles on a historic day as the event celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Sodaro, the 2022 IRONMAN World Champion, was hugely impressive from cannon to tape on her IRONMAN New Zealand debut, setting a new course best time of 8:40:06.
Defending champion Els Visser (NLD) battled hard all day to finish second in 8:57:33, more than 17 minutes behind Sodaro. Joceyln McCauley (USA), a two-time IRONMAN New Zealand champion, finished third in 8:58:22.
“I’m stoked, absolutely stoked, this is such an iconic race, it’s a massive year for this event and to come here and take the win means a lot,” said Sodaro.
“It feels really good, up until this season I’d only won one race since giving birth to my daughter and that was the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. Last year was really tough for me but I wanted to get back to the love of racing and it’s much easier to love racing when you’re winning, I just wanted to pour all my training out on the racecourse and have fun doing this because it’s such a privilege to do this sport,” she said.
Sodaro started strongly, exiting the 3.8km swim in a lead group of five women that included McCauley, Regan Hollioake (AUS), Meredith Kessler (USA) and Barbara Riveros (CHL).
The American duo of Sodaro and McCauley then made an early break on the bike, with the pair taking their turn at the front for the first 90km.
Sodaro was then stung with a five-minute drafting penalty, but she was able to claw some time back as they raced toward T2, with Sodaro coming off the bike +2:38 down on McCauley.
As soon as she hit the run course the chase was on, and it wasn’t long before Sodaro caught and passed McCauley for the lead. Demonstrating her smooth and classy run, Sodaro continued to extend her lead for the rest of the race to post a sub 2:50 marathon.
“The swim was super rough out there for everybody, you couldn’t really relax with the conditions, so I had to stay super focused and make sure I was with the group that I wanted to be,” said Sodaro. “And then on the bike I was having such a good time, I worked really hard on my bike this off season and that came through today, of course there was a little hiccup in the middle with the penalty, I don’t know where that happened or why that happened but I just rode my brains out for the rest of the ride and was pretty happy with the gap that I came into transition with, or how small the gap was to Jocelyn and then I went to work on the run. I have a lot of confidence in my run obviously, when I get off the bike it’s time to go to work.”
Sodaro, who has been training in New Zealand with her coach for the past few months, said she loved the atmosphere out on course and felt embraced like a local.
“I felt a lot of love on the course, from the spectators and also the athletes competing, I felt like the hometown girl here which was so cool and awesome,” she said.
“I think I just really want to enjoy the win. I’ve learned since the win in Kona that just because you win once and on a really big stage it doesn't mean anything for the next races and I’ll always have a target on my back in some ways, but it feels really good when you can execute your day and show your fitness. I have such an incredible team of people around me, what they did to get me to the start line this week even is next level, and winning is the best way to say thank you to the people who support you and it will be fun to celebrate for the next few days.”
While Sodaro’s margin of victory was more than convincing, the battle for the podium places behind her was nail biting right to the finish. Less than two minutes eventually separated second, third, and fourth place in the women’s race.
McCauley, who led for much of the race until passed by Sodaro early on the run, held onto second place for 33km but eventually succumbed to the fast-finishing Visser. The Dutch athlete herself was pushed throughout the run by Hollioake, who was making her professional IRONMAN debut.
Australia’s Steve McKenna secured the second IRONMAN victory of his career with his win today in Taupo, taking the tape in 8:01:12.
“I’m in disbelief still, pretty emotional, I don’t know, we said I was going to win this at home but that was me just trying to be confident. You never imagine you can win, everything just has to go so perfectly, I’m just still trying to decide that it’s real. I’m very, very, very happy,” said McKenna.
“I think I’d be crying a lot if my family was here, I’m nearly crying, besides having our baby – and we have another one coming in eight weeks – this is the best feeling, but unfortunately for me I cry a lot, so it looks like I’m sad when I’m my happiest, but I’m trying my hardest to take in the moment because it takes a long time to win another race.
“It’s tough and everything has to go perfectly, for me especially with a young one things are really tough being a Pro against the blokes that get eight hours of sleep a night and have a nap during the day, I do my best to help out at home so things are tough and I work a lot as well so I’m really proud that I can win a race despite all the things that are going on,” he said.
Part of the lead group for the swim and much of the bike, McKenna entered T2 in second place, +2:25 down on New Zealand’s Mike Phillips.
Impressing early on the run, McKenna steadily reeled in the Kiwi and had taken the lead by the 21km mark. At that point, McKenna’s win looked somewhat of a formality – but Dutch youngster Niek Heldoorn had other ideas. With just over 10km to go, Heldoorn made the pass on McKenna and himself looked set for victory, only for McKenna to snatch the lead back in the final few kilometres.
McKenna would go on to beat Heldoorn to the line by just over two and a half minutes.
“I was cramping in the swim, cramping a lot on the bike, I’ve had a lot of IRONMAN races where I’ve cramped the whole day so I just have to stay positive and when I got to about 30km left in the bike I was hurting but I knew my legs were in the best shape that they have been at that point in an IRONMAN so I was thinking pretty positively,” said McKenna.
“On the first lap of the run I thought ‘wow’ I’m feeling incredible but you never, ever feel confident, I didn’t even feel confident with 4km left, I thought I might walk and come fourth still. It’s never over and I was very shocked that I didn’t blow up and that’s the fastest run that I’ve done in an IRONMAN on a very hilly and windy course today.”
As is now tradition for McKenna when he wins a big race, the Australian crossed the finish tape doing ‘The Robot’. It was one of two promises he made pre-race should he take out the win – the second being a new hairstyle.
“Now I have to shave my head, I’m going to shave my head but leave the fringe so that will be a ‘frullet’, I’ll do it tomorrow,” he said. “Actually when my cousin came over from New Zealand he had a frullet so that’s why I thought they were so funny so it’s a New Zealand thing I think. So I’ll do it, but I don’t think that Lauren [McKenna’s partner] will be happy, I’ll leave it until I get home so she can see it but then I’ll definitely have a shaved head and I’m really depressed about that because I have a really small head with big ears.”
Behind McKenna and Heldoorn, Kiwi rookie Ben Hamilton put together the performance of his career to claim a podium finish on his professional IRONMAN debut.
2024 ANZCO Foods IRONMAN New Zealand – Results
Professional Women
Chelsea Sodaro (USA) – 8:40:06
Els Visser (NLD) – 8:57:33
Joceyln McCauley (USA) – 8:58:22
Regan Hollioake (AUS) – 8:59:18
Amelia Watkinson (NZL) – 9:14:01
Professional Men
Steve McKenna (AUS) – 8:01:12
Niek Heldoorn (NLD) – 8:03:45
Ben Hamilton (NZL) – 8:08:12
Mike Phillips (NZL) – 8:10:57
Colin Szuch (USA) – 8:18:39
For full results visit: https://www.ironman.com/im-new-zealand