Challenge Wanaka 2014 Pro Men Preview

Challenge Wanaka 2014 gets underway at 6.30am this Saturday morning. Here are the top men's contenders.

 

Dylan McNeice (NZL) is the defending champion, winning the race last year on his long-distance début.

Before the race last year he was thinking of throwing in the towel on his triathlon career. so the win changed his life and now he is enjoying triathlon more than ever.

"I absolutely loved this race last year and I want to race here every year. I want to make this my race."

With no expectations on him last year, this time he goes into the race as a marked man.

"There is definitely a bit more clutter upstairs at the moment but it is good. I've had probably the best preparation for any race I have.

"I've felt the pressure but to be honest I like the pressure. I felt the pressure in Taiwan last year after Wanaka, but it brings the best out in you. I'm really looking forward to getting out there and racing.

"I'm going to have to be a little bit aggressive and try and take the race to everyone and hope that I can hold on, it's going to be close."

 

Richard Ussher (NZL) is the Challenge Wanaka course record holder, competing in the race just once in 2010.

"I'm super excited to be back at Challenge. The one other time I competed here I had a really good race and it's always been on the list to come back, and so I'm back!"

In 2009 Richard was third at Challenge Roth in 8:02:15, an outstanding performance which he said was the culmination of a good build up and having a belief in himself.

"I passed Normann Stadler with 4k to go in front of about 50,000 screaming Germans which was probably almost the highlight of my sporting career." 

"For this weekend I want to have a performance equivalent to that."

 

Dougal Allan (NZL), a Wanaka local, will be doing the distance for the first time.

"I've got really know idea what's involved in this style of racing, but perhaps an advantage I might have is the familiarity with the course."

He is happy in the water and enjoys swimming but considers he will be at the tail end of the swimmers, despite being a swim teacher at the local pool.

Time trialling is where he considers himself the best on a bike, being able to hold a big gear and push along.

He knows the bike course well and is comfortable on the bike so he has nothing to lose, he said.

"It's a sport that suits people that chase and I'll certainly have a bit of chasing to do coming out of the lake so I'm actually really excited about how the day might unfold for me and hopefully I wont go any further backwards than I do after the swim."

 

Second place at Challenge Penticton in 2013, Scott DeFilippis (USA) is looking to improve on his previous seventh place at this race.

Its a pretty hard course with the roads making it tough compared to the smooth roads in Europe and the United States that he is used to, he said.

Coming from a long-distance running background, his weakness is the swim which has always been an obstacle for him.

"I was actually afraid of the water until I was probably 11 years old, even though I grew up at the beach on Jersey Shore."

Being a small guy at 60kg, the bike was always a question mark for him.

"I can't push the power that some of the bigger athletes can but I have improved year to year to year."

Also be on the watch for Keegan Williams (NZL), with more than 15 years of experience in endurance racing and previous podium finishes, Matty White (AUS), Carl Read (NZL), Simon Cochrane (NZL) and Paul Hawkins (UK).

Check the full start lists at http://challenge-wanaka.com/event-guide/

 

Men's Press Conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqo5OCSC8ec