Iron Woman Danielle McKenzie from New Zealand is at the top of her game right now and holds numerous titles across all surf disciplines at New Zealand, Australia and World Championship Surf Life Saving events.
Vaikobi is stoked to have Danielle on the team and we look forward to working with her as we develop our range of technical performance products for Surf Athletes.
Danielle competed in many sports growing up through school. Her international career started off when she competed for NZ in the U19 Age group triathlon World Championships in Budapest 2010. At only 16 years of age she placed 2nd in her age group. In 2011 she again competed at the Triathlon World Champs in China, where she again placed 2nd.
In 2012 after finishing high school Danielle shifted her focus to Surf Life Saving. In 2012 she was selected for the U20 NZ Surf Life Saving team which placed 2nd to Australia at the World Championships in Adelaide. From here, her dreams of representing NZ in the Open Surf Lifesaving World Champs would become reality.
In 2014 she was selected in the Open NZ Surf Lifesaving team (Black Fins) who were crowned World Champions at Rescue 2014 in France and created history in NZ Surf Lifesaving by becoming back to back World champions. Danielle is the current World Board and Line Throw Champion.
In 2014, Danielle qualified for the Professional Nutrigrain Kellogg’s Ironwoman Series in Australia, one of the few kiwis to gain acess to this elite series. She placed 13th overall with her best result 11th. In 2015/16 she again re-qualifed for the Ironwoman Series where she again placed 13th overall, with her best result a 10th. The 2016 Surf Life Saving season saw Danielle take out both the ski and the board in the Summer of Surf Series in Australia as well and many nationals medals in New Zealand and Australia.
Late 2016, Danielle competed for NZ and BMD Northcliffe at the Surf Life Saving International and club World Championships in Netherlands. Both the team NZ and BMD Northcliffe reclaimed their World Title positions. Danielle is now current World Champ in female Ski race and line throw. Danielle headed to Fiji in November to compete in the ISA World Paddleboard technical and Distance races. Here she placed 2nd in both.
Keep an eye out for Danielle as she competes in the last round of the Summer of Surf this weekend on the Gold Coast, before she takes on the World's best Iron Women at the Nurti-Grain IronWoman Final at Cronulla on Feb 24-26.
DANIELLE MCKENZIE PROFILE:
Age: 22
Lives: Auckland, NZ / Gold Coast, QLD
Surf Club: BMD Northcliffe
National Team: Black Fins, NZ Surf Life Saving
Favourite Vaikobi Item: VCold Storm Paddle Pants!
Danielle's Dad took her down to Mairangi Bay SLSC when she was 7 years old and she has never looked back.
Today Danielle is a star on the Nutri-Grain & Summer of Surf Iron Woman Circuits and holds numerous titles across all surf disciplines at NZ, Australian and World championship events.
Danielle also finished a tight second at the ISA Paddleboard World Champs in Fiji in 2016.
Danielle is currently studying a Bachelor of Sport and recreation majoring in Sport and Exercise Science and Sports Management at AUT.
In her spare time Danielle also runs Nipper clinics, sharing the passion with tomorrow's champions. For more info, check out www.facebook.com/oceanathleticscoaching/
