Don’t take this the wrong way, I ask nervously, but you’ve got quite an obsessive personality, haven’t you? A laugh, thankfully, is how this tricky question is received. “You’ve picked up on that one well, haven’t you?” chuckles Christina Mackenzie. “You’re absolutely right, though: if I sign up to something, agree to a challenge, I will make sure I am committed to it, do everything that is needed.”
It is a week after the Scotswoman set a new Land’s End to John o’ Groats women’s record of 51:05.05, breaking Lynne Taylor’s 19-year-old record by 100 minutes, and she’s sat in her Stirling home, five kilograms heavier due to stubborn water retention, and recounting how she went from not even being a cyclist a decade ago to being the fastest female to ride from the bottom to the top of the UK.
“Obsessive personality,” she muses with a laugh. “I suppose I have, really. I have always had an urge to push myself further: I bought my first road bike in 2012, started with sprint triathlons and within a year was doing Olympic distance and Iron Mans. I then went from 24-hour time trials to riding for 50-odd hours. You can see the pattern, can’t you?”
Spend a few minutes in the company of the 44-year-old and you realise that Mackenzie’s sporting trajectory is as predictable as a join-the-dots drawing exercise. One thing, inevitably, leads to the other.
Bu hikaye CYCLING WEEKLY dergisinin October 07, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye CYCLING WEEKLY dergisinin October 07, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
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