Mackenzie (13 years old) is known by most as Mack and has only ever competed in local youth triathlons before this past weekend. A swimmer by trade, Mack, has also participated in track leading up to this year. In the past 6 months, Mack has focused her triathlon training primarily on cycling in order to prepare her for her first draft legal race (Liberty University Online Academy East Coast Triathlon Festival Youth Elite Cup). Six months ago, she was unwilling to get closer than 2 bike lengths form the person in front of her. From then on she has spent every cycling practice tucked in behind the other athletes in order to get her more comfortable riding in a pack. As ECTF approached she became more and more confident in her handling due to determination and commitment to her training. At the race, she came out of the water 2nd and beat everyone out of T1. As the chasing pack finally caught her, she was able to stick with them for the rest of the bike portion. Once she got to the run, she was able to push herself to a 6th place finish in her first ever elite race. Mack has come a long way in the past 6 months and her future in the sport is very exciting!