Interview with Kevin MacKinnon from WTC:

OutRival Racing, based out of Texas, won the 2014 IRONMAN TriClub Global Championship for Division III (100-199 members), the second year in a row that the team took that title. Head coach Michelle Leblanc offers her thoughts on what makes the club tick.

A winning formula

We won last year, so if we didn't win again this year so I was sure hoping we would win again in 2014! We focus a lot on coaching education and the quality of our coaches and our sessions. We really focus on personal coaching and putting the athlete first. We coach to each athlete's specific goals. We pride ourselves on catering to athletes of all levels—last year at IRONMAN Texas we had the pro male who set the run-course record as well as three athletes finish in the last two minutes! It takes a lot of people to support that type of a program, but our diversity has been one of the best things about us.

Weekly sessions

While we are hubbed in South Texas (only 60 percent of our team is in The Woodlands and Houston area and we offer 15 sessions in the area on a weekly basis), we have also grown a lot on our social media connections, so that even those not close by feel like they are part of the team. Since we're the official coach of Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas, we host ongoing open community rides and runs on the IRONMAN Texas course; we have also hosted an annual "got 112?" ride on the entire IRONMAN course that allows athletes to practice with aid stations and a special needs practice. This open free ride is March 28th this year.

A modest beginning

I started with 15 athletes six years ago and slowly added coaches and training sessions. We now have hundreds of athletes and have recently merged with QT2 Systems and acquired Onurleft Coaching, so our numbers and quality are just getting stronger.

Inspirational moments

Having an IRONMAN event in our back yard has helped keep the community excited about the sport, even our youth members. Many of them are proud to be on the same team that their parents are on. Last year alone, we had 6 year olds and 75 year olds racing at the some of the same events!