Francois, thank you for your fair post. I would still like to hear EZ’s “facts”.
Tell you what, on Aussie-centric forums we don’t go shooting down non-Aussie athletes, like they obviously do on this US-centric site! We give them equal respect, as we all should.
Cheers Francois!
I’m no more qualified than anybody else.
By the way, it’s documented on www.Ironmanlive.com for everyone.
How else may I help you?
Hmmm. . . What in the hell was any guy who didn’t run 8:22:35 on Saturday thinking? They all suck. They should have stayed home. Apparently a lot of folks here already knew the inevitable and could have saved all of them the trouble of flying down and making asses of themselves.
Lots of specious arguments running rampant here. . .
EZ, you haven’t addressed the question but don’t bother, you are not only spiteful but tedious too.
TriBriGuy, I’m glad to see that EZ’s attitude is the minority.
Some of the ‘local’ comments here are ridiculous and a long way from the mark when you describe Macca as cocky and the like. Don’t you think the local media plays a part in what goes into the media ?? Macca copped plenty in American Triathlon Magazines and the media last year yet he came back this year and copped it again UNFAIRLY !. The posts on here by people that actually know him are much closer to the real Macca than you guys believe and I guess that it your perogative. However those that actually know him understand that when he races he goes all out and he leaves nothing in the bank, and yes he is paying his dues at the moment and learning some good lessons I just hope that some of the ‘locals’ here a big enough to say well done when he does finally win it by 15 minutes because that time is nigh !!!
Have a nice day,
Gunther
Cronulla, 2230.
Whatever dude! You’re the one getting his panties all in a wad over my meaningless banter. But at the risk of sounding “tedious,” it was your choice to let it bother you in the first place.
Have a nice day! 
We all seem to forget that Allen, Reid, etc… have failed a few times before they ever won or came close to winning Ironman Hawaii…Macca is just following form and I predict we will see him master this race sometime soon.
As to his perceived cockiness? I know people that have trained and hung out with him and they ALL say he is a great guy, just confident…what does everyone say before a race? BE CONFIDENT.
ok folks…let’s cut it there…
Macca has all the rights to be cocky. the guy is world champion, he won IM Oz twice, he won wildflower twice and tons of other races. He fought a tough IM in Roth against Lothar on german home turf where noone dares fighting the germans anymore and nearly got him…
Who wouldn’t be confident with this??
Besides, the difference in attitudes makes the sport fun…colorful characters…
Why was men’s tennis way more popular 20 years ago? because of fights between MacEnroe/Connors/Lendl/Borg and the swedes…different personalities…
That’s why women’s tennis is more popular right now…
Let Macca talks smack as he wishes. he is a great athlete, has the right to be confident and will probably talk IMH one day.
Besides, he probably doesn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone here thinks and he is probably more bummed about his race than anything anti-macca would say about his attitude…
Best post in this thread. I agree wholeheartedly.
I’ve bitten my tounge for long enough…
Macca is a personal friend of mine who has been very supportive over the recent few years. Before this, I didn’t know him. He has taken the time and energy to get in contact and ask about my own recovery.
Not once that I can recall has he said he is gonna kick a@#e and beat everyone. Any IM race is a confidence race. If you don’t have the confidence to beleive in yourself to finish then we don’t race. Simple! Confidence is sometimes (more than often) confused for arrogance.
He finshed the race in a time I, and 96% of all IM entrants, could never imagine doing. Give some credit where it is due!
Some of the ‘local’ comments here are ridiculous and a long way from the mark when you describe Macca as cocky and the like. Don’t you think the local media plays a part in what goes into the media ?? Macca copped plenty in American Triathlon Magazines and the media last year yet he came back this year and copped it again UNFAIRLY !. The posts on here by people that actually know him are much closer to the real Macca than you guys believe and I guess that it your perogative.
How’s this quote right from the horse’s mouth. This is from Macca’s journal on his website:
“Without trying to sound arrogant or cocky I feel I can win this race (hawaii 03). If I have my day and do what I am capable of doing I think I should win this race easily.”
Sounds awfully cocky to me. That quote was not from some journalist putting a spin on someone’s quote. From Macca himself. The guy flat out runs his fat mouth. Why in the world should a guy like that be getting respect from anybody?
Bottom line is, Macca has talent, and yes he’s won major races, but never has won Hawaii. That’s not to say he won’t. He very well might control that race for the next four years. However, he hardly deserves praise for bad mouthing other competitors just b/c he races hard.
I don’t care if anyone on this thread really is friends with him (by the way, seems like there are a whole bunch of Macca friends here. Hmm). I don’t care if he is a good guy around his “friends”. Why do I or anyone else have to like him? It turns me off when an athlete runs his mouth and discredits his competition and makes excuses about not winning.
“If I have my day and do what I am capable of doing I think I should win this race easily”
Where does that bad mouth other competitors? He is stating his belief that if he can get it together and race to his potential, he can take it out. Great to see him being so open and honest gets him shot down. I’m sure the other pro’s would disagree, and would probably think the same thing of their potential.
If any of the pro’s don’t think they can win it if they race to the very best of their potential, then I’m not predicting a very successful career.
I prefer to praise the awesome performance of Reid, and I’m happy to see Luke Bell’s continued improvement.
“Its better to attempt something and fail, than to attempt nothing and succeed”
BTW haennp, I never said he was my friend, I’ve never met the guy.
"Lets swim to the moon, lets climb through the tide, penetrate the evenin’ that the city sleeps to hide
Jim.
And I didn’t say you said that either.
Freo, the line you quoted from me doesn’t indicate in any way Macca bad mouthing his compeitors. It only shows his cockiness. He bad mouthed Reid and Deboom last year for biking as fast as the girls. This was after he DNFed.
I think all the pros have confidence in winning. I agree that’s a good thing. It’s Macca’s mouth that turns me off.
Haenpp, you’re either just stirring the pot or you have no idea. Either way who cares, you’ve formed your opinion from reading small chunks of news articles written by people who tell gullible people what they want to hear.
As I said, it’s your opinion, no amount of arguing will change that.
Cheers
One eyed americans…i hate em.
I meant to say
Almost as loveable as one eyed Aussies
.
For those of you who think us Aussies are all one persona go to this site for verification;
www.transitions.org.au
Mel, Gunther, Hilly, Gris… shut up… all of us!
How’s this quote right from the horse’s mouth. This is from Macca’s journal on his website:
“Without trying to sound arrogant or cocky I feel I can win this race (hawaii 03). If I have my day and do what I am capable of doing I think I should win this race easily.”
Sounds awfully cocky to me.
When he says he doesn’t mean to sound cocky, he genuinely 100% means it! He just wants to go into a rac with 100% confidence. Wouldn’t you want to feel the same way? Wouldn’t Lori Bowden, and Peter Reid, LVL… all of them do!
The difference here is that our Macca has courage to actually say what he actually thinks. You guys call that ‘cocky’.
Bernie
I am Canadian. I am very proud of Peter Reid’s win. I wrote the National Post to complain because there was no mention of the race - despite double Canadian champs.
I say the above because I want to make it clear that I am not american or australian.
I think that Macca is great for triathlon and great for his sponsors. He still has to prove to me that he can succeed on the big stage in Kona. I don’t think he is running his mouth more than any US Track Star (Tim Montgomery, Carl Lewis etc.) or any professional athlete. A professional athlete has to go into an event believing that they can win or else they are defeated before they begin. Macca believes he can win and he thinks that the tactics some of the athletes have used in the past are not the ideal tactics. That is the same thing as an NFL coach saying that he believes that his team can win the next week by taking advantage of the other team’s propensity to overpersue on defence. That is professional sport. By his making these comments he is doing his job for his sponsors. His sponsors aren’t just paying him for performance. They are paying him for exposure. This is the same reason why advertisers will pay more for an ad during a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game than during a Edmonton Oilers hockey game - T.O. gets more media exposure athough they both have similar performance on the ice.
TDB is a tremendously talented athlete. Possibly a better long course athlete than Macca (although I will give Macca a few more kicks at the can before judging, as posted above Allen, Reid, and yes TDB all took a few tries before succeeding in Kona). But if I were a sponsor I would sponsor Macca long before I sponsor TDB. Simply because of his visibility. Macca is in the mix all year long - his name is in Triathlete, Inside Triathlon etc almost every month.
Do I think Macca was shooting off a bit? Possibly. I have friends who are high profile athletes in other sports who find that if they committ to something in the press then they work harder to accomplish it. Maybe Macca has found the same thing.
In short, sorry for the long post, I think that neither of them deserve to be slammed. Neither one of them had a good day - one finished, one didn’t (but has before in much tougher conditions). I know that few of us can beat them (or we would have on the weekend). I have tremendous respect for both of them but I think Macca has the potential to be one of the all time greats. He is learning, give him time.