South African Raynard Tissink finished 5th in Kona and has finished twice in the top ten before, but this year's effort was his best result at the Ionman World Championships. We also learned that Raynard has skills beyond his athletic prowess.
Slowtwitch: Raynard where are you right now?
Raynard: Back home in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, after 5 months on the road with my family. 2.5 months in Europe preparing for ITU LD Worlds, but then go ill a week before, then 2 months in Tucson preparing for Kona.
ST: How is your Kona recovery going?
Raynard: We did 3 days at Disneyland, California after the race, which I think is harder than an Ironman. The second day we were there for 14hours, standing in queues and going on rides - we were all smashed. Then it was the long haul home, 23 hours of flying, not to mention the layovers. But now the recovery is going well, bored to tears as usual when I don’t train, but I try to keep busy with some surfing or odd jobs around the house.
ST: Are you much of a handyman?
Raynard: You have no idea...sometimes I get carried away that I forget to train. A few years ago I built a 180sqf loft bedroom in the roof of our double story house (thus making it a triple story). I did everything from laying down the first floor board to the last coat of paint, including the plumbing, electrical, and I even made the bedroom furniture. Great fun, but very time consuming - so now I try to keep the jobs sort and simple.
ST: How would you stack up as a surfer compared to some of the Aussie triathletes?
Raynard: Considering that I only moved to the coast 6 years ago, and most Aussies live at the coast all their lives, and considering that I only get to surf a couple of times a year, I'll admit that I'm probably quite useless compared to them. But I can get up and surf a straight line to the beach, otherwise just paddling around for a few hours is just as relaxing.
ST: This year you finished in an excellent 5th place and we are curious if you are happy with your race?
Raynard: Extremely happy. Kona is such a hard place to race with all the world’s best athletes competing, so to finish up top 5 was a good day. I’ve raced in Kona on 4 previous occasions, with 2 top 10’s and 2 DNF’s, so to get my best ever result there this late in my career is very motivational for next year.
ST: How tough was the competition compared to previous years?
Raynard: The competition gets tougher and faster every year. With the younger short course guys coming in, all the races around the world are getting faster. Not good news for older guys like myself, but good news for the sport. Luckily Kona is such an extreme race as far as conditions go, so it nullifies speed a bit and gives the tougher, slower guys more of a chance.
ST: I know you said tougher, slower, but did you really mean more experienced?
Raynard: I guess experienced is a word you can use too, but the fact is, once you've done one Ironman you've got all the experience to know that it hurts, and that never changes. But the more Ironmans you do, the slower you get, so the young guys have the speed advantage. But you also get tougher and learn to deal with the pain better, so that's where we have the advantage at the end of the race.
ST: Along those lines, what did you think about Macca’s win?
Raynard: I had a feeling he was going to be up there this year. It wasn't quite the normal Macca to be so quiet before the big day, so I thought that he was probably doing some serious "secret" preparation. Like the saying goes...outta sight, outta mind. But the man's a great athlete, and he'll always be a factor in any race he does.
ST: What was going on with you in 2009?
Raynard: I DNF’d IM South Africa in April 09 and was later diagnosed as asthmatic. After a few months of training on the new medication I started feeling good again. I decided that I was going to do as many races as possible that year and then retire from the sport. I got a 3rd at Louisville, then a win at Wisconsin, and then tried to double up again at Florida and Arizona, but both were write-offs. I returned to SA with good intentions of starting a triathlon school for kids and focusing on that alone. But my sponsors still wanted to back me for IMSA, even though I missed the 70.3 in January. So I trained for IMSA and won it again after 4 years of 2nd’s or the DNF. From there the focus shifted to Kona 2010.
ST: What is next for you??
Raynard: I never wanted to return to Kona after my DNF in 06 because of the logistics and cost involved (it’s really far and really expensive to travel from the farthest point in the world from Kona), but after this year’s performance where I was very conservative because I wanted to finish rather than get the best out of myself, I want to focus 100% on Kona to improve on 5th. I might end up blowing, but I have nothing left to prove to anyone after this year’s performance,so it’s going to be all or nothing.
ST: Until just recently we didn't realize that you were quite industrious with your bike setup including custom water bottle mounts. When did you start tinkering in that arena?
Raynard: I’m always interested in fine tuning my equipment to be the fastest I can get it. I’ve never been to a wind tunnel, but I just try to imagine water flowing off the equipment and try to find the best possible position for it. I even made my own aero helmet about 15 years ago after seeing Lemond win the tour. Stupid, but I like playing. The nose cone on the Shiv inspired my between the bar water bottle design, trying to get a bottle I already used to fill in all the gaps and cover the front brake. Cervelo claims that there’s no benefit in hiding the front brake, but what’s the harm in doing it. The rear mounted bottles are always a discussion point, but after some research I feel if you only have one small bottle as close to your butt as possible, you’ve got it as aero as you can, and it’s the only place on the P4 to carry another bottle. I use the frame bottle to carry my spares.
ST: Do you still have that aero helmet you made back then?
Raynard: No, definitely not, I tossed it away after about 2 or 3 races when I acquired the real thing.
ST: Any other designs that are on the drawing boards?
Raynard: I’d love to design a bike using all the technologies of the other bikes and put them all together. No brakes, no levers, no cables, no stem, hidden water bottles - that would be cool. But no, I don’t have designs that I work on, just an idea that pops into my head, and then try to make it happen. The water bottle was a tough one, to try get someone to manufacture it was going to cost thousands, but in the end, after a couple of months, a friend finally managed to get a decent finished product to me, completely hand made, one of a kind item.
ST: What is new on the sponsor front?
Raynard: I’ve always been pretty lucky with my sponsors here in South Africa. They take good care of me and afford me the time and money to be a full time professional. At the beginning of the year I got a new title sponsor after my 1-year contract ran out 3 years later with Atlas Security. PBS Consulting came aboard to fill that position, which kept me in the sport at the beginning of the year. Then after I won IMSA, Velocity Sports Lab stepped in to cover all the expenses to Kona, otherwise I would never have gone. It’s amazing how things just work out, and the guys from Velocity flew over to come watch the race (talk about pressure:), and were so blown away by the show, that they’ve committed to do the same for next year. So knowing now that if all goes according to plan, I’ll be lining up in Kona one last time, gives me a lot of motivation to be the best I can be in October 2011.
ST: Is there anything else we should know?
Raynard: I’ll be coming to the USA in June for a full build up before Kona, so you’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more of me next season. I’d like to do at least 4 70.3’s before the big dance.
ST: Thank you so much Raynard and enjoy your time off.
Raynard: Always a please. Hope to see you back in the States again soon.
