{"id":13273,"date":"2022-04-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.220triathlon.com\/?p=8089"},"modified":"2022-04-07T10:53:18","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T08:53:18","slug":"the-top-15-greatest-kona-athletes-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/rss_feed\/the-top-15-greatest-kona-athletes-of-all-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The top 15 greatest Kona athletes of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Matt Baird\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 06 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Boy was this a contentious debate in the 220<\/em> office! But after much debate, gesticulation and hand-wringing, we managed \u00a0to whittle our exhaustive list down to the following 15 athletes, made up of, what\u00a0believe to be, the greatest eight men and seven women who have ever graced the Queen K Highway. <\/strong><\/p>\n

But with two championships being contended in 2022<\/strong><\/a>, will this list look the same after 8 October\u2026<\/p>\n

15. Chris McCormack<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Chris McCormack celebrating victory at the 2010 Ironman World Championship, Kona, Hawaii. Credit: Paul Phillips<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Chris McCormack, known as Macca, is famed as a master tactician, triathlon historian, purveyor of pre-race words of warfare more akin to boxing, and one hell of an athletic performer.<\/p>\n

All these traits and more were evident on 9 October 2010, when the Australian multisport legend won his self-proclaimed masterpiece, the Ironman World Championships<\/strong><\/a>, his victory over Andreas Raelert being instantly labelled an Iron War for the 21st century.<\/p>\n

Everything that has made him a fascinating, fearless and formidable presence on the triathlon circuit for two decades was distilled into that famous victory. But the seeds of success were planted in Hawaii twelve months before, with his disappointing fourth place in the 2009 event.<\/p>\n

In his book\u00a0I\u2019m Here to Win<\/em>, Macca recalls how he began publicly recruiting strong bikers such as Timo Bracht, Marino Vanhoenacker and Faris Al Sultan to form an alliance with him on the bike leg in a bid to topple the stronger runners \u2013 especially Australia\u2019s reigning Ironman world champ Craig Alexander \u2013 in the 2010 contest.<\/p>\n

What is the greatest Ironman Hawaii race?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The unprecedented plan may have drawn criticism for not being in the spirit of the (individual) sport, yet on that suitably sticky day in Hawaii it came together. After a series of calculated bike surges throughout the 180km course the alliance had dealt with Alexander\u2019s chances of victory, creating for Macca a nine minute advantage out of T2. His chief concern now was the presence of rising German Raelert two minutes behind him.<\/p>\n

Raelert caught Macca with 5km of the run to go. After over seven hours and 221km of racing it would come down to a 5,000m duel between the proven winner and the German new kid on the block, four years Macca\u2019s junior. In one of the sport\u2019s most iconic moments Macca turned to Raelert and said, \u2018Andreas, best of luck. No matter what happens here, you\u2019re a champion. May the best man win.\u2019<\/p>\n

Macca would prove to be the champion, crossing the line in 8:10:37 to win the greatest Ironman Hawaii race of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

Who is Chris McCormack?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Born in April 1973, Macca grew up in southern Sydney. Surfing was his first love but it was his early displays of running prowess that got him a scholarship at the University of New South Wales. Macca had been intrigued by triathlon when he annually watched the ABC Wide World of Sports highlights of Ironman Hawaii.<\/p>\n

His first triathlon came in 1992, when he showed up at the Wollongong Triathlon and beat the nation\u2019s best junior athletes by virtue of a 31min 10km run split.<\/p>\n

McCormack graduated in 1995, moved to France, joined the ITU circuit and rarely looked back, winning his first elite race as a wild-card entry at the 1996 ITU World Cup in Drummondville, Canada. In 1997 he\u2019d become the only man to win the ITU World Cup series and the ITU World Championship title in the same season.<\/p>\n

In 2002 he turned his attention to Ironman, winning Ironman Australia on his long-course debut in April 2002: the first of four consecutive victories.<\/p>\n

Things at Hawaii weren\u2019t so easy for him. He arrived on a wave of hype (some of it self-generated) in 2002 and failed to finish; he came 59th<\/sup>\u00a0in 2003 and failed to finish again in 2004.<\/p>\n

By chance, the race vehicle that picked Macca up after his 2004 defeat was being driven by one Mark Allen, who suggested to him that he should enter fewer iron-distance races during the season.<\/p>\n

After that Macca went on to finish sixth in 2005, then second the following year \u2013 behind his new nemesis Normann Stadler (there was evidently no love lost between the two). Finally he captured the Ironman Hawaii title in 2007<\/strong><\/a> after outpacing Craig Alexander on the run.<\/p>\n

220<\/em> said: A true character of the sport, Macca can be counted on for a \u2018candid\u2019 comment on almost any topic. What we like to call \u2018an interviewer\u2019s dream\u2019 and a pleasure to observe both on and off the course. Plus, he gave the world\u00a0Super League Triathlon<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Macca\u2019s Kona Highlights<\/strong><\/h4>\n