A Pre-Kona Chat with One of Australia’s Finest: Steve McKenna

It’s been eleven years since an Australian native stood upon the IRONMAN World Championship podium – in Kona or otherwise. The last Aussie to achieve this feat was Luke McKenzie in 2013 when he came second to Belgium’s Frederik van Lierde. 

With a smattering of strong Australian contenders prepared to hit the start line at Dig Me Beach next weekend, we could see this dry spell finally broken. Aussie Steve McKenna is one such contender, but he has an extra challenge ahead of him given this is his first-ever IRONMAN World Championship. 

McKenna has a smattering of podiums and one outright Ironman win over the past year and a half: a second-place finish at 2023 IM Cairns followed by a fourth-place finish at IM Western Australia that December, and then a win at IM New Zealand earlier this year. He also nabbed second place at the World Triathlon Long Distance World Championship in Townsville.

Despite qualifying for the 2023 men’s IM World Championship with his second-place finish at IM Cairns, McKenna says it was not until his qualification at 2024 IM New Zealand that he truly felt ready to accept his IM World Championship slot. 

The Aussie will be taking the start line in Kona this weekend after a dynamic year in which he and his wife welcomed their second daughter and in which McKenna formally launched his race belt business Nerd Belts. 

We caught up with McKenna ahead of race day to see how the athlete from Down Under is feeling about his first dance on the Big Island.

Kona, Kids, and Nerd Belt Kits

ST: How do you feel about your 2024 season thus far? 

SK: I had two goals this year, the first of which was to be present when our second daughter was born, and to put family first and triathlon second this year. The second goal was to qualify for and to attend Kona – that’s why I raced IM New Zealand pretty early in the season – I knew I had to commit fully to that one earlier in the year than I usually do because my daughter’s birth date was predicted to be the same day as IM Port Macquarie. 

She actually ended up being born a few days before IM Port Macquarie, and I hadn’t really trained for it, but for some reason I still went and tried to race, but it didn’t go very well. After that, I took six weeks of just being a dad to make sure I prioritized my family and those special moments. 

That all means I haven’t raced much this year, and for a period was quite unfit as a result. So, I started getting fit midway through the year, raced Townsville World Champs, and I hadn’t really got going just yet on where I wanted to be, but was way fitter than I thought and came second at the Townsville World Champs. In the future, I will be doing the IM Pro Series and fully committing, but I’m not going to let triathlon get in the way of the special family moments outside of the “tri bubble,” as I think those moments are, for me, more important in the end. 

ST: What are your thoughts on this being your first Kona?

SK: I’m a lot newer to triathlon than people realize – I’ve been in the sport for nine years as I was a runner first. I didn’t get into triathlon until I was 24, and I’m 33 now. I didn’t feel ready to do Kona until this year. 

However, I don’t know that that’s the right mindset – I probably should have done it two years ago when I qualified. My mindset now is to not be afraid of failure. 

ST: Given that this is your first Kona, how do you feel about the race? Can you share anything about your race-day strategy with us?

SK: I think the race will go well if I don’t get too carried away with chasing the other guys in breakaway situations and whatnot. I need to try my hardest to be smart in the moment – which isn’t a strength of mine.

I’m not too worried about the heat as I just raced the Townsville World Championships in Australia in similar hot and humid conditions and I felt really good during the run. Overall, I’m feeling confident that if I don’t stress going into the race, drink a lot of water, and have fun I’ll have a good day.

I’ve got to pick my battles wisely, and that’s tough. I don’t want to accidentally overdo my efforts on race day, and that’s the biggest risk factor for me. 

ST: There are now many professional triathletes who are also parents and race at the highest levels of our sport. How does being a dad to two young kids impact your triathlon career, both positively and negatively?

SK: Unlike some other professional triathletes who are parents, I don’t really get motivation from having kids – I probably get less motivation to train and race because I’d rather hang out with my kids and not train. 

The biggest positive for me with having kids is that I don’t care about my results as much anymore, which is really cool. I don’t get as nervous for races now because at the end of the day, my results don’t matter to my kids, which is a great perspective to have. If I quit doing professional triathlon tomorrow – which I’m not planning on doing – everything would be fine because I have my kids and triathlon isn’t “everything” to me.

I’m also way less stressed about getting sick than the average triathlete. I’m very used to getting some sort of childcare-related sickness ahead of a race; I actually just had a stomach bug last week. I look at the positives: I lost two kilograms from it and I’m still pushing the same power on the bike.

One of the negatives of balancing parenthood and professional triathlon is that there is definitely less consistency in training. I don’t get nearly as much sleep as I used to get [before having kids]. I do go to bed earlier now, though, because if I don’t go to bed when my eldest daughter does, she screams for me, haha. But some nights there are so many middle-of-the-night wakeups, and that’s the downside.

But again, at the same time those situations actually destress me because there’s nothing I can do about them and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I just try my hardest to train the next day at the same level, or am flexible and alter my training. 

I am in Kona on a “Dad-only” trip, though. I will get a bit of extra sleep and can get some downtime after my pre-race training. I miss my girls and my wife, Lauren, but I’m feeling extremely healthy and happy at the moment. 

ST: In addition to having a family and mixing in some racing this year, you also started a small business in the past 18 months: Nerd Belts. How has that been going for you?

SK: I started off just developing one Nerd Belt for myself, selfishly, because I saw the value in creating a truly good run belt. And then I had nonstop messages with people asking if they could purchase one, too. I was a bit frustrated at the start because I only intended to make one for me, but I did end up making 500 of them to start. 

I underestimated what it would take to run a business, so to be honest, it’s just about ruined my race results for 18 months. Nerd Belts was a one-man show for about a year. It’s come to a point where I need a big break after Kona to sort it out. We’re going to hire two staff members. We’ve already got some folks assisting with shipping and social media, which has helped a lot. We’ve got people doing shipping.

It’s been the toughest 18 months of our family’s life because of trying to manage a business, raise our kids, and also fit in triathlon at a high level. That’s all fine because it’s short-term pain, and I think I’ll be the athlete people expected me to be once I sort out the business after Kona. My career has felt about 18 months delayed because I ran the business myself. 

ST: What are you most excited for on race day in Kona? 

SK: Once the swim settles, I hope I can be in the moment and enjoy that nice water. I want to be in the moment as much as possible on race day and appreciate that I’m racing these other guys who I watch all year. 

Racing is pretty stressful, especially as a pro, and I hope I don’t bonk or overheat. Honestly, I’m excited for the entire trip here on the Big Island – maybe slightly less excited for the race. I do love racing, but if I end up having a bad day out there, I’m gonna hate it. If I have a good day, that’s a different story.  

ST: And lastly, who are your sponsors this year?

SK: 2XU, Hoka, Aid Station, Modex, Vision, EliLee Bikes, Radiology SA, and of course, Nerd Belts.

Photo: KoruptVision

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