Two-time Kona bronze medallist David McNamee retires at T100 Dubai
The Scottish triathlete added one last result to an already impressive resume of short- and long-course racing
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
After 20 years of racing professionally, Scottish triathlete David McNamee crossed the last finish line of his career on Sunday in Dubai. McNamee has two podium finishes from Kona to his name and many other top-tier results on his resume from two decades of racing alongside the best triathletes in the world. He notched one last result, placing 12th in the stacked field of the T100 World Championship Final, before officially calling it a career.
A stellar career
Like most elite triathletes, McNamee started his career in short-course racing. Representing Great Britain, he found success on the World Cup and European Cup circuits. In 2012, he finished 10th among the elite men at the World Triathlon Grand Final in New Zealand. A couple of years later in 2014, he added several impressive results to his resume, including a sixth-place finish at the European Championships in Austria, seventh at the Commonwealth Games on home soil in Scotland, and 14th at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Edmonton.
McNamee really found his station as a pro when he made the jump to long-course racing. In 2015, he raced for the first time at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. Despite it being his first trip to Hawaii’s Big Island, he finished in 11th place in a time of 8:32:27. From there, he only got faster, first with an 8:28:05 finish in 2016 and then a pair of massive jumps to 8:07:11 and 8:01:09 in 2017 and 2018, earning him back-to-back podium finishes.
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One last season
In his final season as a pro, McNamee posted several great results. He had a solid showing on the T100 series, including a fourth-place finish in April at T100 Singapore. In October, he lined up in Kona for one last race at the Ironman World Championship. In his previous two starts in Kona, McNamee registered DNFs, but this year, he rediscovered his form from his two podium finishes.
He didn’t reach the podium this time around, but he did record his fastest time on the Big Island with a blazing result of 7:57:48. This was good enough for 13th overall, and although he noted on Instagram that it wasn’t the “fairytale ending” he was hoping for, he still “crossed the finish line happy.”
Finally, his last race came in Dubai. The field of men racing the final T100 event of the year was incredibly deep, but McNamee didn’t let this faze him. He had a solid race across the board, eventually crossing the line in 12th and officially wrapping up an incredibly successful career.