Kate Mcilroy
Kate Mcilroy has redefined the meaning of the word resilience, as her journey is full of adversity but her ability to pick herself up and still find a way to compete at the highest level is truly inspirational. A Mountain runner, turned Steeplechaser, turned Triathlete, turned Cyclists and now Mountain Biker, Kate has been non-stop for the past 20 years in elite sport. She is part of an exclusive group of female athletes who have represented New Zealand in multiple sports.
Starting as a Runner, Kate burst onto the scene in 2005 when she won the Mountain Running World Championships in her hometown of Wellington. That same year winning the Halberg for Sportswoman of the Year. In 2006 she competed in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games, placing 5th, which was a heroic effort after she fell ill after the opening ceremony and was bed ridden for five days leading up to her event. Mcilroy’s dream of going to the 2008 Olympic Games were dashed by an Achilles injury, subsequently ending her running career.
Kate now turned her focus to swimming and cycling, quietly planning to start competing in Triathlon. Still not being to reach her top running form, in 2009 she had rose through the ranks and was now competing on the world ITU circuit. After a few years of good form, Mcilroy realized her dream when she attended the London Olympic Games placing 10th in the Triathlon event. This highlight was followed by one of her biggest lows, when she wanted the ground to swallow her up during a disastrous race at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It was later reviewed that the New Zealand Triathlon team were ‘detrained’ leading into the event and were becoming unfit the more they trained.
Kate’s second career ending injury came in 2015 leading into the Rio Olympic Games. While on a training run, an innocuous rolled ankle turned into a serious hip injury. This put her in doubt for the Games, but after crashing her mountain bike and tearing her hamstring, Kate’s Triathlon career was finished. It was time for Kate to give up the sporting career and get ‘real job’, so she got her first corporate job working for Xero in Wellington. Still able to ride her bike, Mcilroy was not satisfied with how her career finished and had a burning desire to compete again.
A number of solid performances nationally earned her a place on a Professional Cycling team, racing all over the world. In 2018, Kate was chosen to compete in the Road Race at the Commonwealth Games. This was her third appearance at the games in her third different sport, an impressive feat. In search of a new challenge, she has now set her sights on a Mountain Biking career and is planning to compete at the highest level for as long as possible.
In this episode, host van Beek and Mcilroy dive deep into her journey and cover a number of key moments in her career; from the epic 2005 World Mountain Running Championships; to being bed ridden to racing in front of 90,000 people at the 2006 Commonwealth Games; The ‘added pressure’ New Zealand endurance athletes have going into World Champs and Olympic events and learning to shut out those external noises; the 2008 Olympic dream dashed by injury; "Always fighting time" and racing at events when you are not 100% fit; Career Low - being "detrained" for the 2014 Commonwealth Games; Picking herself up after career ending injury and accepting not being an athlete anymore; Why Kate loves endurance sport - "You learn to love to suffer".
Chapters
- Intro/winter training (2:14)
- Childhood/Key moments/Early lessons (4:12)
- 2005 World Mountain Running Championships (8:15)
- Winning the Halberg Sportswoman of the Year award (12:17)
- How Kate ended up competing in the 3000m Steeplechase (13:26)
- Bed ridden to racing in front of 90,000 people - Competing at the 2006 Commonwealth Games (16:20)
- How Olympic athletes get their training right in order peak for a major event (19:16)
- The ‘added pressure’ New Zealand endurance athletes have going into World Champs and Olympic events – Learning to shut out external noises (21:44)
- 1st Turning Point - 2008 Olympic dream dashed by injury (25:14)
- Next Challenge - not telling anyone you were training for Triathlon (28:26)
- What a training week looks like for Professional Triathlete (33:30)
- Slashing her toe during a race and still being able to finish the event (36:22)
- Fulfilling a dream - The 2012 Olympic games Journey (39:22)
- "Always fighting time" - racing at events when you are not 100% fit (43:53)
- Career Low - Being "detrained" for the 2014 Commonwealth Games (48:47)
- 2nd Turning Point – “I was told I would never run again” (52:37)
- Picking herself up after career ending injury – accepting not being an athlete anymore (56:09)
- A burning desire to compete - The start of a Professional Cycling career (58:40)
- The sexism in Professional Cycling - Kate's shock entering the sport (1:01:30)
- Dramatic stories from a couple of Cycling Road Races in NZ – LeRace/Rice Mountain Classic (1:04:14)
- Why Kate loves endurance sport - "You learn to love to suffer" (1:08:49)
- The mental side of being an endurance athlete (1:10:08)
- A Mental or Physical skill you would of loved to have in your career (1:13:51)
- 3rd Commonwealth Games - 3rd different sport (1:14:59)
- A new challenge - Starting a Mountain Biking career (1:18:14)
- Advice for a young athlete starting their Running/Triathlon/Cycling career (1:22:06)
- The beginning of Kate's cycling coaching journey (1:24:22)
- How Kiwi athletes are able to compete on the world stage with our lack of resources (1:25:31)
- Transferable skills athletes can bring to corporate environment (1:26:36)