📷 Graeme Murray/ Ironman NZ
🐆 Out of Africa: Mike Phillips’ record-shattering Ironman NZ performance was six years in the making. He hopes it’ll take less than six weeks to prove it was no flash in the pan.
The Christchurch 34-year-old is eyeing Ironman South Africa at the end of March, quickly jumping back in the saddle in the hope of cashing in on his blisteringly fast start to 2025 in Taupo. Raced in Nelson Mandela Bay on SA’s Eastern Cape, the 20th anniversary race plays double duty as the African Championship and is also the first full distance race on the Ironman Pro Series circuit.
That’s the key lure for Phillips who will shape his season around the result in Algoa Bay, which borders the city of Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth. If all goes well, he’ll go all in on the Pro Series and race to the World Championships in Nice via Cairns and other key points races. Otherwise he’ll strategically target races outside the glare of the IMPS to bolster his world ranking – and travel kitty.
Regardless, the Cantabrian is convinced he can consistently go sub eight hours now he has a handle on the nutrition issues that forced him to WD from the 2023 worlds in Nice early into the marathon.
“The last sort of one or two years I had a few problems with my nutrition and a few other things. In Nice, I just didn’t absorb any of my nutrition throughout the race. I got to the run, I was just dizzy and had zero energy left.
“So, yeah, that’s the main thing for me now, just making sure that I’m able to do it every time. That’s what I was working on a lot last year”.
The relentless search for untapped speed
When Phillips won the first of his now hat-trick of ANZCO Foods IMNZ titles in 2019, he knew he could eclipse his 08:05:08. It might have taken six years of trial and error in between, but the world No.43 finally delivered last Saturday, slashing a ridiculous 8min 30secs off Joe Skipper’s 2020 mark.
Was that pretty much the perfect race, 7:45:46 on the notoriously sluggish roads of Taupo?
“It’s pretty good but I still actually think I can go quite a bit faster,” said Phillips who took 10min 18sec off his own Taupo PB, set in 2023.
“I don’t know if that’s just like being too optimistic because having everything go perfect over eight hours is easier said than done. Still, I guess you always find little things you could have done better.”
Phillips raced five full 226km races last year but didn’t make his Pro Series debut till Cairns in June where he finished third behind Matt Burton and Braden Currie.
“So you’re already halfway through the year and that’s why, all going well in the next couple of days, I’ll lock in South Africa. Just make sure that I can get back moving again without any niggles after the weekend.
“Last year I ended up doing a lot of full Ironmans just trying to perfect the lead in to races, nail down a swim, bike and run that I thought I was capable of. The main goal is just to try and keep performing like I did in Taupo, regardless of whether it’s Nice or whether it’s Cairns or one of the other races.”
