‘Embarrassing’ crash fails to stop Phillips
Never giving up is an obvious prerequisite for any Ironman competitor.
But Christchurch athlete Mike Phillips can claim to have more starch in his mindset than most game enough to take on the challenge of a 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run in one day.
Phillips, 28, overcame two costly setbacks on the bike and a 17-minute deficit to win the Ironman New Zealand race in Taupo on Saturday.
‘‘It’s one of those days I’ll never forget,’’ Phillips told Stuff.
He can laugh about an ‘‘embarrassing’’ crash now following his monumental victory and can even cope with his next setback – a possible broken hand.
A mechanical issue on the bike cost Phillips before a crash late in the cycle leg threatened to destroy his chances. The two incidents combined cost him more than three minutes, but still, the plucky Phillips refused to throw in the towel.
‘‘I guess it’s kind of that Kiwi attitude. I went over the handlebars and crashed into the fence and it was right in front of the busiest section of the crowd and the commentators’ booth.
‘‘I was thinking, jeez this is embarrassing. I didn’t want to stay here lying on the road for too long, I need to get up on my bike and get out of here.’’
‘‘At that point, I was wondering what else could go wrong as I was having such a terrible day.’’
His hand is now severely swollen – an unwanted souvenir from the crash – and Phillips will undergo X-rays today to confirm the extent of the damage he suspects is a broken bone in his hand.
Even with the hand injury, Phillips climbed off the canvas like a prizefighter to claw his way to a popular upset victory.
Heading into the run leg, the small matter of a marathon, Phillips trailed race leader Andrew Starykowicz, of America, by 17 minutes.
Shaving 10 minutes off his personal best to finish the 42.2km run leg in 2:40.04 was enough to land the biggest win of his career.
For most of the run, Phillips was content to finish second – a result that would have earned automatic qualification for October’s Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
But sitting in second at the 30km mark, Phillips encountered Kiwi Ironman legend Cameron Brown – who had earlier pulled out of the race – standing in the crowd.
‘‘He was yelling at me saying ‘you can get him. Give it a crack, try and win’.’’
At that point, Phillips was still six minutes behind Starykowicz.
‘‘When Cameron gave me that encouragement I thought, ‘bugger it, I’ve got to try and win’. I can’t let a US guy come over here and steal the show.
‘‘That’s when I threw all the hay on the fire and thought I might as well die trying,’’ Phillips said.
The massive amount of Kiwi support in the crowd was also a big boost and pushed him to run down Starykowicz and go on to win by 2min 24sec.
‘‘When he came into sight I started catching him quickly. To see that you’re catching up to him and he’s slowing down, it’s a pretty empowering moment.’’
Kona now becomes Phillips’ main focus of the year but he will have a short break – regardless of the seriousness of his hand injury – before resuming training.
‘‘It’s good to have the qualification wrapped up early in the season because it really leaves my options open and I can have a long build-up to Kona without having to worry about racing to get the spot somewhere else.’’