Lee McKenzie

This article is about the British female sports broadcaster. For the British male sports broadcaster, see Lee McKenzie (male sports broadcaster). For the Canadian author, see Lee McKenzie (author).
Lee McKenzie

McKenzie at Brands Hatch in 2011.
Born (1977-12-01) 1 December 1977
Nationality British
Occupation Journalist, presenter
Employer BBC, Channel 4
Known for Motorsport journalism
Home town Ayr, Scotland
Parent(s) Bob McKenzie
Website Official website

Lee McKenzie (born 1 December 1977)[1] is a journalist and presenter who is deputy presenter for Channel 4's F1 coverage and also the main presenter of the channel's highlights of the World Endurance Championship. She was the main presenter of Inside F1 for BBC News. McKenzie has also worked as a presenter for the BBC's F1 coverage, Sky Sports and Sky Sports News.[2]

The daughter of Bob McKenzie, a fellow sport and motorsport journalist, McKenzie has worked mainly in motorsport and rugby.

Broadcasting career

McKenzie has presented for ITV, and also launched the horse racing channel At the Races. McKenzie has also presented Lookaround for Border Television, and covered many high-profile stories including the Lockerbie Trial. McKenzie has been a journalist since she was 15 years old. In 2007, McKenzie won the Jim Clark Memorial Award for contributions to motorsport. McKenzie competed in several rounds of the World Rally Championship in 2004, and the Norwegian Mountain rally in 2005.

McKenzie has hosted several programmes, including three seasons of Sky Sports' A1 Grand Prix coverage, as well as the world feed coverage. A lifelong motorsport and "any sports" fan, McKenzie has presented several programmes on ITV, Channel 4 as well as Sky Sports, including the live Sunday afternoon show Speed Sunday and the British Superbike Championship (BSB). In 2006, McKenzie travelled over 150,000 miles (240,000 km) – five times round the world – covering both the Formula One and the A1 Grand Prix.

McKenzie has covered most major sports events from the Rugby World Cup to Wimbledon and the Derby, from Netball, Grand Prix and Football. McKenzie has presented for At the Races, covering horse racing for Sky Sports, and presenting the 6 o'clock news. McKenzie covered many big news stories including the Lockerbie trial. McKenzie starred in a TV advert for Nokia, presenting award ceremonies including Formula One and other events. McKenzie presented for the Sony PlayStation, the F1 Regent Street display in front of 300,000 people and was asked by Nigel Mansell and Carl Fogarty to host the launch of their magazine for whom she was the on-track editor and columnist.

BBC

Since 2009, McKenzie has been a pit lane reporter on the BBC's Formula One Coverage. McKenzie was the lead presenter for the BBC's F1 programme at the Japanese Grand Prix weekend in October 2010 whilst Jake Humphrey presented the Commonwealth Games and presented the Canadian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix in 2012 whilst Jake Humphrey was presenting Euro 2012 and the 2012 Olympic Games.[3] This was the first time a woman had taken on the main anchor role in F1 on British TV.[4]

She was also reported to be on the BBC's shortlist of possible anchors to replace departing host Jake Humphrey for their F1 coverage across the 2013 season. In December 2012 it was announced Suzi Perry would take over the role.[5] She started as a presenter on BBC Inspire in April 2014 and the Commonwealth Games. She announced on Twitter she would be covering the Olympcs in Rio in August 2016.

Channel 4

On 8 March 2016, it was announced that McKenzie would be joining Channel 4's F1 coverage following BBC's decision to no longer broadcast live F1 on TV.[6] It was announced she would be the presenter for the channel's highlights of the World Endurance Championship after the gained the rights with immediate affect in June 2016. McKenzie was announced as the channel's main anchor and reporter for the Paralympics Breakfast show for Rio.[7]

Racing career

McKenzie competes as an international co-driver in the World Rally Championship. McKenzie started after a challenge by ITV to train and become a World Rally Championship co-driver in just three months, and saw her qualifying for an international licence, right through until she won her class at Wales Rally GB. Since then McKenzie has competed in the Norwegian Rally Championship, arguably the toughest national championship in the world, for the X-Power MG ZR. McKenzie owns and runs a driver management company, that looks after drivers from GP2 to World Rally.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Lee McKenzie – fast facts about me...". LeeMcKenzie.tv.
  2. ↑ "Lee McKenzie – Homepage & Welcome". LeeMcKenzie.tv.
  3. ↑ Allen, James. "BBC changes F1 presenter with an eye on the 2012 Olympics". James Allen on F1.
  4. ↑ Leach, Ben (4 August 2010). "Formula 1 to be presented by female for first time". The Daily Telegraph.
  5. ↑ "Perry set to replace Jake". PlanetF1. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Mark Sweney. "F1: Murray Walker and Eddie Jordan to join Steve Jones on Channel 4 team". the Guardian.
  7. ↑ Channel 4 Press. "Channel 4 unveils Rio Paralympics team". Channel Four Television Corporation.
  8. ↑ http://www.LeeMcKenzieNetwork.com

External links

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