Keegan Williams keeps moving up

August 12, 2011

Keegan Williams, of Cambridge New Zealand had a breakthrough race last year at Copenhagen, finishing 2nd in 8:12:52, 5 minutes 13 seconds down to winner Tim Berkel. His 2:46:32 run was 3 minutes better than Berkel, and the runner-up finish culminated a progression from 4th at Ironman New Zealand and 3rd at Challenge Wanaka. The end of the season brought highs ands lows — a joyous November wedding to fiancée Tracy Hampton — followed by bad news. Team TBB dropped Williams in a slimming down of their elite roster.

This season Williams kept charging ahead, acquiring an excellent Timex sponsorship and a continuing relationship with Orbea bikes. He also is building a coaching business, guiding the growing career of Graham O'Grady and rising elite woman Candace Hammond. Most of all, he is coaching himself with successes including a podium finish at Challenge Roth.

We talked with Williams inside the architecturally spectacular Bella Sky Hotel in Copenhagen on the eve of battle against the likes of Bjorn Andersson, Tim Berkel and Stephen Bayliss.

Slowtwitch: What was your better athletic performance? Your second place here in 2010, or your third place at Roth last month?

Keegan Williams: My run here was a little better [2:46:32 – better than winner Tim Berkel by three minutes] . But my bike at Roth was a lot better [4:26:23 at Roth 2011 versus 4:32:19 at Challenge Copenhagen 2010] .

ST: Talk about your race at Roth.

Keegan: I had a fairly average start and I was with the second group until Raelert took off. About the 1500 meter mark I drifted off the back. Ended up leading the third group, about four minutes off the front. [51:32 vs. Raelert's 46:18]. It was a little bit discouraging and slower than I expected. Guys I normally come out of the swim with were a minute and a half ahead.

ST: Where have you trained?

Keegan: I am based in a place called Cambridge, which is in New Zealand's North Island, two hours from Taupo and a few hours south of Auckland. For most of the year, I've been training at home.

ST: The terrain there was a good fit for Roth?

Keegan: Perfect for Roth and its slight, rolling hills. The difference is the roads are far rougher at home. Whereas Roth it is nice and smooth and thus the speed.

ST: You must have come out of the swim very far back at Roth?

Keegan: Maybe 30th. I swam 51:32 [which was 5:14 worse than Raelert]

ST: To what degree were you discouraged?

Keegan: I thought forget about the swim and bike as fast as I could.

ST: Lot of people to pass?

Keegan: Yes. Raelert and Sebastian Kienle were well out front. Then there was a bunch of guys riding 4:30 or so.

ST: You were going better than they were?

Keegan: It took me until 90-100k to catch that group. I caught them just at the top of the [famed, spectator crazy hill at Solarer Berg.]

ST: Ever worry about the crowd hooking your bars?

Keegan: I didn’t think about it to be honest.

ST: You rode a negative split on the bike.

Keegan: The second lap there are a lot of age groupers on the course.

ST: They give you an aerodynamic effect?

Keegan: On Solarer Berg they are so close together you get a bit of an easy ride up it. The thing about that course if you maintain your momentum up the short hills and you get a long fast downhill. Yeah the uphills are short and sharp and then you get the benefit of long slight downhills.

ST: Remember a few notable folks you passed?

Keegan: Lothar Leder.

ST: He is sort of historical now? Although he finished 8th. Not bad for 15 years after he was the first man to break the 8 hour s barrier – at Roth.
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Keegan: Yeah but he is not much older than [fellow New Zealander] Cam Brown who is still very strong. I believe Hellriegel was also there but I think he pulled out somewhere.

ST: Who did you catch at the end?

Keegan: Quite a few strong German riders.

ST: What place were you at the end of the bike?

Keegan: I think I was about 11th or so. My bike was 4:26:23 and my legs felt a bit rough.

ST: So you had to push hard on the run?

Keegan: Yeah. There must have been six or seven of us who came off the bike within 30 seconds. I was one of the last of those to leave transition. I caught three or four of them within the first 4 km. I thought I was doing well until I saw Raelert coming back the other way along the canal. I didn’t know where the turnaround was so I felt good at first. But that was a long time coming. A long way.

ST: Sure! Fastest ever Ironman distance. Raelert was also running 2:40:32.

Keegan: It was pretty amazing. CHUCKLES

ST: Who did you pass in crunch time?

Keegan: I get to first run turnaround, and Raelert and Kienle. – I knew I could not catch them. The only two left in reach were James Cunama [South Africa] and Christian Ritter [Germany]. I had a bad patch in the middle. But at 28 km I caught James – he was standing by the side of the road. I think he was having trouble with his Achilles. `Then I caught Ritter about the 20 mile mark.

ST: You finished 8:16, sadly it was 35 minutes behind the new world's best of 7:41:33 by Raelert.

Keegan: Yes CHUCKLES. It makes you look a bit stupid. LAUGHS

ST: How do you evaluate your career to Roth? Worried or sure all will be fine? What did 3rd place at Roth mean to you?

Keegan: It was good to be on the podium with two men who had such great races. Great to be part of that day.

ST: Glad you beat Chrissie?

Keegan: Yes! By two or three minutes. [2:12 8:16:01 versus 8:18:13. ]

ST: How did that solidify you and sponsors?

Keegan: Obviously Team Timex is really happy. As is Orbea, as I biked well.

ST: how has it gone this year without Team TBB?

Keegan: After I was let go by Team TBB late last year, I am now self coached. It saves a bit of money and my performances continue to improve.

ST: You've gained some respect for coaching yourself?

Keegan: Yeah and I have been coaching some athletes who have been doing well. Graham O'Grady won the NZL half Iron championships. And Candace Hammond is an up and coming young woman. She was 4th at Challenge Cairns.

ST: Watch out! Your athletes may come and bite you in some race. Mark of a good coach I suppose. Has this made up, in some small or significant way, the disappointment of being left off Alex Bok's downsizing at Team TBB?

Keegan: Obviously I was disappointed when Alex told me I wasn’t going to be there. But I've moved on and I'm real happy with Timex. and I'm racing faster.

ST: You may be making more money?

Keegan: Yeah, I've had goods races this year.

ST: Better money?

Keegan: Team TBB is different for every athlete. Don't like to talk more about the money details.

ST: You have raced a lot. How have your other races gone this year?

Keegan: Challenge Wanaka was a disaster. Funny story. I didn't feel so well. Halfway through the bike, my eye started throbbing. I thought I must have been having a bad day. I wasn't riding very strong. When I got off the bike, I might have been ten minutes down. When I took my helmet off, I found I'd ridden about 180k with my swim cap on. My brain was a bit fried. I was cooked and that started to slow everything up. With 20k to go, I had a long walk home and my run time was the same as the bike.

ST: Good riders all had one day like that.

Keegan: No problem with my fitness. Just my race execution.

ST: How cold was the water?

Keegan: It was 15-16 degrees Celsius. Not that cold. Year before it was 13 – a bit chilly. I also raced a short course recently and took 6th overall. Graham O'Grady beat me.

ST: You said Copenhagen will be your 5th Ironman distance race of the year. .How did they all go?

Keegan: I came 4th at Ironman New Zealand. I was going really well through 130km of the bike then the legs fell off.

ST: Why?

Keegan: Maybe we rode too hard at the start. I came out of water with Cam Brown, then we rode up to Terenzo and Mathias Hecht. The weather was kind of like Copenhagen today — windy and raining buckets and buckets.
ST: When did things go south at New Zealand?

Keegan: About 130k it was Cameron, Mathias, Terenzo and me. Then Cameron put in a surge and went way off the front. The rest of us looked at each other and we just laughed.

ST: Cameron Brown has that race dialed.

Keegan: About 20k later, Terenzo rode up and he looked at me and we started laughing . We understood that we both had tired legs and had to run a marathon. But we didn’t have to say anything. The last 15k is a gradual climb. There are some bad roads. I soldiered thru and ended up 4th. Cameron wrapped it up again. My time was 8:48:35. Cameron was 8:31:08.

ST: You also did Ironman Brazil?

Keegan: That is the one I am most disappointed with because I went there really fit. But I got a little bit sick. I'm not sure what it was. I had a bit of a virus. Not really a fever. Just a kind of weakness. I finished 6th.

ST: What's going on in your life outside sport?

Keegan: I married Tracy Hampton last November in Ohope. That's on the North Island, about four hours southeast of Auckland on the coast. We have a baby on the way. So Tracy is happy when I race well.

ST: What is life like at home in Cambridge, Ned Zealand?

Keegan: Cambridge has a population of 15,000 asnd has a rich sporting culture. Sara Ulmer (gold medal winning Olympic track cyclist) is just 600 meters down the road. New Zealand rowing has a base in Cambridge. Caroline and Georgy Swindell raced in a double scull and won Olympic medals. Rob Waddell won medal in Sydney.

ST: How did you prepare for Copenhagen?

ST: I stayed in Germany with my home stay great family. Dominic Portisch did Roth. We got along well. He is an athlete who does Challenge and 8 days before the race he didn’t swim once, he rode his bike once with me. He didn't run either.

ST: Super taper?

Keegan: He told me his training for the year and I told him I didn’t believe him. But after I saw him race…

ST: With so little training, he must be hurting after the race?

Keegan: He was a bit sore too.

ST: What did second place here last year mean to you?

Keegan: It was a real breakthrough race. Kind of set me off at a high level. Still, there is more work to do to get to next level.

ST: How will you improve?

Keegan: I feel I am a well balanced triathlete. When I get home I need to evaluate what I need for next year. There are different races have different demands. If I want to do Hawaii I have to fix my swim. It is not worth going otherwise. You have to swim to be with the men's pack.,

ST: Will the race be tough here?

Keegan: All the guys are tough. Stephen Bayliss has Ironman wins. Jimmy Johnsen of Denmark ran 2:43 here last year. He won Challenge Spain at the end of last year.

ST: Other guys?

Keegan: Martin Jensen pulled out with calf muscle problems. Bjorn Andersson is a wild card. He has won a few big races. I watched him race at Taupo one year and he just about won the thing.