Ironmanlife: Catriona's Bragging Rights

Kevin Mackinnon recounts Catriona Morrison's Impressive Ironman Lanzarote win. Photos by Bob Foy

Chrissie Wellington might have dazzled us all with her incredible win in Kona in 2008 - you know, the one where she stood on the side of the road for 10 minutes waiting for some help getting a flat tire fixed - but her training partner from this winter, Catriona Morrison, has her smoked when it comes to stand-on-the-side-of-the-road-for-a-while-then-come-back-to-win-the-race-stories.

The diminutive Scotswoman arrived in Lanzarote as many people’s prohibitive picks to take the title. After that training camp in Spain with Wellington, Morrison did a tune-up race in St. Croix, which she won. By the time she got to Lanzarote, word had spread that she was the woman to beat and it didn’t take long before she was proving that to be true. Out of the water second behind Hillary Biscay, Morrison heard a bit of a funny noise as she started the bike. (Speaking of noises, if you ever have the chance, get Morrison to describe how her Shimano Di2 gruppo sounds. “Zzzz, zzzz – it sounds so cool it makes me want to change gears all the time,” she joked before the race. But, as happens so often in this Ironmalife column, I digress.)

That funny noise was her chain. Just as the two-time world duathon champ (who also screamed through a sub-8:50 Ironman-distance debut last year) started the long climb towards the summit of Mirador de Haria, the chain broke.

Chain tools aren’t the kind of thing you typically pack next to your spare tube or tire, so Morrison was pretty much snookered. Our Ironmanlive spotters reported in almost immediately on her predicament, but since many of the technical crew were already taking care of other issues, it was left to the head of the technician to jump on a motorcycle and try to get to Morrison. Problem was, he was at the finish line, while she was about 50 miles away.

On race day I reported that Morrison was on the side of the road for about 37 minutes. Turns out I was off by a bit. Here’s how I envision the conversation between Morrison and Wellington in about 30 years, when the two get together for a beer or, since they’re both from the UK, a cup of tea. (Sorry, another digression. These two are both so approachable, easy-going and fun-loving – my money says they'll be sharing a beer. Probably a Guinness.)

“Yes, I was worried about that flat in Kona,” Wellington will say in her typically diplomatic fashion. “To have given up 10 minutes to the best athletes in the world was a bit frightening. I was fortunate to be able to pull that one off.”

“Luxury!” Morrison will likely reply in that wonderful Scottish brogue. “Ten minutes? That’s just a long pit-stop at an aid station. Try 45! Try coming off the bike more than a half hour behind, then having to run your way to the front, then come and talk to me about being worried.”

Morrison waited so long on the side of the road that the timing crew at Ironman Lanzarote were told she had pulled out of the race. Nothing could have been further from the truth. She calmly waited for help to arrive, figured out that her eight-minute-plus lead before the halfway point of the ride might have meant she was pushing a “wee bit too hard,” and, once she was back riding, steadily worked her way back into contention.



In fact, putting Morrison on the side of the road for that long made the race that much more exciting. By the time it was all done we’d seen Tara Norton, Bella Bayliss and super-age-grouper Louise Collins all take the lead at some point before Morrison finally ran her way to her first Ironman title, taking the lead from Collins with just a couple of kilometers to go.

Sorry, Chrissie, I can’t help but say that Morrison’s got you on this one, but somehow I’m sure you’re not going to be trying to top 45 minutes on the side of the road any time soon. That day in Kona 10 minutes seemed like an eternity to me – and I was just watching. I can’t imagine what 45 minutes would have felt like for Morrison.

You can reach Kevin Mackinnon at kevin@ironman.comComments powered by Disqus.