Buckingham aiming for podium in Ironman African Championship

PORT Elizabeth professional triathlete Kyle Buckingham will be hunting a topthree finish in his 10th consecutive Standard Bank Ironman African Championship in the city on Sunday, April 15.

Buckingham is fine-tuning his performance as part of his build-up to the championship which starts and finishes at Hobie Beach, Summerstrand.

The former Victoria Park High pupil’s best finish in the event was the second place he achieved in 2014.

The Jendamark-sponsored triathlete has put behind him the disappointment of finishing sixth at Ironman 70.3 Davao last month and has set his eyes on a stellar performance in the Bay.

Last year, Buckingham, who won the 2014 Ironman Lake Placid race, crossed the finish line in eight hours, eight minutes and 58 seconds, missing the podium by a minute behind Britain’s David McNamee, who came in third.

“I am really looking forward to race day in less than two weeks’ time,” Buckingham said yesterday.

“My preparations for Ironman African Champs have gone extremely well, especially after an injury setback in January.

“I say it every year, but this is probably the best training and consistency I’ve had leading into any Ironman I have done.

“Unfortunately, I only got to show half of my potential in Philippines 70.3 on March 25. I lost my nutrition in the early stages of the bike when I hit an unusually large sharp bump in the road. Both my bottles came off the bike and broke open when they hit the ground.

“I carried on with the job at hand and probably had one of my best rides to date.

“I caught the lead group 20km into the ride and moved straight past them, setting my own tempo and now in the lead.

“After about three minutes I looked back and nobody was coming with me on the bike.

“All I could do was grab liquids from the aid stations on course, but unfortunately all the bottles I grabbed were only water.

“I came off the bike with just over a twominute lead heading onto the run, but was severely dehydrated and I could feel I was lacking in nutrition.

“I tried to get in calories and liquids early on the run, but it was too late and I was soon passed 4km in the run.

“All I could do was focus on soldiering to the finish line to finish sixth overall.

“I left the Philippines the day of the race and had to get back home for my last 10-day block of hard work in training,” Buckingham said after having just completed a 210km ride around the Bay.

With only 10 days to go before race day, the 34-year-old said he would now focus on staying off his feet as much as possible, with the odd sharpening-up session in training.

“I just got a message from the coach to say, ‘Mate, that has to feel good. What a solid block of work done and dusted. The engine is built, and built well!

“Time to solidify the adaptations now and prepare the mind for battle’.”