Meet Marino Vanhoenacker

July 24, 2008

Belgian triathlete Marino Vanhoenacker has now won Ironman Austria 3 times in a row and has also been victorious at Ironman Florida in 2005. That is certainly not shabby for someone who was a duathlete not too long ago. We had a talk with the man whose nickname is Bink.

ST: Marino, you have some pretty impressive race results in your career so far. Can you tell us which result means the most and why?

Marino: I think my 4 Ironman wins are pretty equal, Florida 2005 was the first which is special and then Austria 2006/2007 was great to prove that Florida wasn’t a lucky shot. Also the way I won Austria with a superb bike split makes me feel really good. The last one in Austria was quite special as I had lots more stress than I used to have. So it was good for me to finish it off with another big win.

ST: Having won Ironman Austria 3 times now, you should be able to talk more about the course. The times seem very fast and we are curious if you think the distances are correct/long enough.

Marino: To be honest, I don't really care about the times, although everybody was hoping for me to break the 8 hours. Every year I get closer by one minute or so but 8 hours still stays in the distance. It’s a fast course for me, but my friends normally don't go that much harder then anywhere else. This year the circumstances on the run were ideal for fast run splits because of the cool rain and that made it a few minutes faster for them than usual, but to me it only made a few seconds of change. If the distances are correct, who knows? Is there any course with the exact distances????

I don't really feel that we should start focusing too much on times in Ironman; it’s the win that counts. But I can understand if athletes start to go under 8 hours or break world best (record) times that everybody wonders if the distance is right…

ST: Can you tell us about your nickname Bink?

Marino: They gave me the name when I just changed from duathlon to triathlon, at the time I looked more like a Kenyan runner, skinny, skinny, no big muscle’s. Bink means (well one of its meanings) big guy with big muscle or tough dude. Physically I was all but that, so that’s why they baptized me Bink.

ST: What else do you have on your race schedule this season?

Marino: Ironman 70.3 Antwerp on August 3 and Ironman WC Hawaii on October 11

ST: What is your athletic background and who or what inspired you to race triathlons?

Marino: I did some athletics when I was 12 till 17. Inspiration was pretty much the images from Ironman Hawaii

ST: Please describe a typical hard training week for us.

Marino: I don’t really feel like talking about miles and hours of training. Some weeks I do a lot of miles and hours but the intensity is so low that it is not hard at all and sometimes I have weeks with half that amount which really kill me.

ST: What do you do to stay motivated and how do you come back from a bad race?

Marino: Staying motivated is pretty easy since I haven’t reached my ultimate goal yet.
Coming back from a bad race used to be really hard before, nowadays I get over it much faster and I’m able to focus faster again on the big goals.

ST: How are things going for you in terms of sponsorship?

Marino: It’s been hard like for most of us but this year but I got a really good deal with Dresdner Kleinwort and Kuota so I’m going in the right direction.

ST: If you could change anything about the sport of triathlon, what would it be?

Marino: I would not change too much. Keep the non drafting races is important for me because then it is still more man to man, but the drafting distance might be a little bigger if you ask me (7m is really nothing). But I’m pretty happy the way things are right now.

ST: How you typically spend the off-season?

Marino: Off-season is mostly pretty busy. Arranging meets with sponsors and getting all the sponsor stuff arranged. Try to make up some time with family and friends and pretty soon start training again.

ST: Do you follow any other sports?

Marino: Cycling, running, swimming and tennis.

ST: Can you share with us some of your food likes and dislikes?

Marino: I love to eat and I need to eat a lot so that’s easy for me. I really eat everything and a whole lot of it. So no diets for me.

ST: What about music? Anything you listen to more often?

Marino: Music, a big variety of music. I don’t know too many names of artists or songs but I like to listen music every now and then, but nothing specific

ST: What was the last book you read?

Marino: “Ik ben god niet” (I’m not God). It’s a book about the life of (former) superstar cyclist in Belgium, Frank Vandenbroucke.

ST: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Marino: One thing is for sure; I’ll be 36 years old. Apart from that I hope to have some more 1st’s after my name in Ironmans. Hope to improve in Hawaii.
Important is that my wife Elke and daughter Jirte and myself have a good time and all the rest, we’ll see. I’ll do my very best like everybody does or should do to realize his dreams.

ST: Is there anything else we should know about you?

Marino: The biggest carp (fish) I ever caught was 16 kg.