SECOND TIME'S A CHARM

When Christina Mackenzie fell short of breaking the end-to-end record in 2019 she said she’d never attempt the mammoth ride again. But, of course, she did... and obliterated the record in the process

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Don’t take this the wrong way, I ask nervously, but you’ve got quite an obsessive personality, haven’t you? A laugh, thankfully, is how this tricky question is received. “You’ve picked up on that one well, haven’t you?” chuckles Christina Mackenzie. “You’re absolutely right, though: if I sign up to something, agree to a challenge, I will make sure I am committed to it, do everything that is needed.”

It is a week after the Scotswoman set a new Land’s End to John o’ Groats women’s record of 51:05.05, breaking Lynne Taylor’s 19-year-old record by 100 minutes, and she’s sat in her Stirling home, five kilograms heavier due to stubborn water retention, and recounting how she went from not even being a cyclist a decade ago to being the fastest female to ride from the bottom to the top of the UK.

“Obsessive personality,” she muses with a laugh. “I suppose I have, really. I have always had an urge to push myself further: I bought my first road bike in 2012, started with sprint triathlons and within a year was doing Olympic distance and Iron Mans. I then went from 24-hour time trials to riding for 50-odd hours. You can see the pattern, can’t you?”

Spend a few minutes in the company of the 44-year-old and you realise that Mackenzie’s sporting trajectory is as predictable as a join-the-dots drawing exercise. One thing, inevitably, leads to the other.