Catching Up With Scott Neyedli

Six months training in Australia and two second-place Ironman finishes (Busselton and Port MacQuarie) can be counted as a winter well-spent for UK Ironman Scott Neyedli. Now that he’s back in Blighty, we thought we’d catch up with him on his plans for the rest of the Season.

The next major race for you is Quelle Challenge Roth?
Yeah, that’s my next main focus: Challenge Roth in July. I’ve got a few races before that like the new TriGrandPrix Series – The Outrageous Half in Kent at the end of May and then Zarautz Half in the Basque Country two weeks later. So I’ve changed my Summer schedule a little bit.

Originally I planned to do the UK Ironman 70.3, but because I signed up for the TriGrandPrix series, three half-Ironman in four weeks would be too much.

The TriGrandPrix Series is looking good…
Yeah, it’s got a really solid field – Cameron Brown, Timo Bracht, Fraser Cartmell, Eneko Llanos, Pete Jacobs. It’s going to be an awesome line-up and great preparation going into Challenge Roth and Hawaii.

But my focus is Ironman; I don’t tend to do so well at Half’s. However, it should be interesting to race over the shorter distance. I use half-Ironman as a hard training session or a stepping stone with my A-race goals being the Ironman.

Do you think you can go on to win Roth?
If I have a good day then I could do well. A win in Roth would be special, but I would have to have the race of my life. Outside Hawaii that’s the next strongest field that you’re going to race against alongside Frankfurt. A lot of Hawaii favorites will start in Roth…it’s going to be close – Normann Stadler, Eneko Llanos, Rutger Beke, Rasmus Henning and Chris McDonald to name but a few. There will also be a great number of the top German and European Pros. Patrick Vernay won here in 2008 but I think he is starting in Frankfurt.

It should be a great, exciting race to follow. I’ve already bagged my Hawaii slot so I can give it my all there. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to do a good fast time there; this is the course that Lothar Leder first went under nine hours and Luc Van Lierde’s World Record still stands. Everyone talks about the race and how good it is.

What will you take away from your winter in Australia?
Firstly, lots of good memories and great new friends. Australia wasn’t in my 2009 plan but I knew I had good form prior to Kona. Part of the decision to travel out there was to show that, firstly in Busselton and again in Port MacQuarie.

January was a little frustrating with a minor operation and then a toe fracture, but on reflection it’s been great opportunity to keep the training going rather than having my normal winter break and also avoiding the Winter-time bugs back home. I feel as though I’ve built on what I had last year so that will probably set me up for the season. Obviously having access to training in a 50 meter pool is huge – they’re only 25 meter pools back home. It doesn’t seem like much but it does make a big difference.

And some of the training partners were second to none – there were a lot of pros that I could hook up with through the Glen Parker and War Rides, and then there’s the consistently good weather – it’s been better than Aberdeen! Last week there was still snow back home! So being in a training friendly environment has given me better surroundings – I don’t think you can get it better anywhere else in the World.

What do you want to have achieved by the end of this year?
I want my first top-ten in Hawaii – I know I have the ability to do that. I also want to lower the all-time British Ironman record at Roth and challenge for the medals there. So I guess the UK Ironman record and a top-ten at Hawaii.

I also want to add to my Ironman win tally. So far I’ve had one win and three seconds so I know I’m knocking on the door. On another day or in another race I can win. But I’ve been really happy with my most recent performances, I’m a much stronger all-round athletes these days. If I stay injury and illness free I know I’ll do well.

For more information on Scott Neyedli visit his website: www.scottneyedli.com

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