MACCA WINS!

Wow.. what a day at Kona! This is the first time I was catching the race "live" on video streaming and it was certainly a blast! With Faris Al-Sultan and Stadler out-of-action due to a stomach virus, I knew it was going to be Macca's day!

The race proved not to be an easy one for Macca though. He wasn't featured in the Top Ten at the start of the bike leg. He had emerged from the swim slightly later than the lead group and was in something like 15th position. 40km into the bike, he caught up with the others and was now part of the chase group hunting down a very fast Chris Lieto. His lead lasted for a while until bike specialist, Torbjorn Sindballe decided to step up gear and opened up a wide gap between him and the others. I wanted to see for myself how fast this man, also known as "Thunder Bear", could ride and maintain his lead into the marathon leg. He is known to hit the wall early on the run because his big body frame causes him to overheat easily. I heard he had a heat management plan in place. I guess that translated into a white long sleeve top and extremely high heat compression socks. It did made him look a tad nerdy though.

I will NEVER wear anything like that to race. Not even if the scorching sun begins to melt my body. No way, never.

Macca ran an amazing 2:42 marathon to overtake Chris Lieto and Torbjorn Sindballe. He was hotly pursued by eventual 2nd place winner Craig Alexander but Macca's blistering pace gradually opened up a 3mins lead. In fact he was so fast out of T2, he did 16mins over 5km. Now, that's FAST. I could never do that even if I was running a 5km time trial. It's inhuman. But that's Macca for you. He never dropped his pace. He kept the stride on, beaming to the fact that he was now living his dreams. He looked up to the sky every now and then, pumping his fist in the air as he ran the final 2 miles of the marathon. He was already basking in the glory of winning his first World Championship title.

Macca's plan was executed to perfection. He has been training so hard for this and finally got what he desired.

Well done Macca! You've been truly inspiring.

Fishmonger