Kyle Buckingham has sights on Ironman UK
● Gqeberha triathlete moves on from miscalculated run at Sun City Ultra Triathlon
Gqeberha triathlete Kyle Buckingham’s training will be ramped up in the coming weeks as he looks to compete in the full-distance Ironman UK event scheduled for July, he said.
Buckingham, who recently participated in the 70.3 Sun City Ultra Marathon, said even with the imminent arrival of his first child, his training would continue as normal and he wanted to get into decent shape for the long-distance event.
The 2018 Ironman African Champion has been working at full tilt since his last race, the PEople’s Triathlon in Gqeberha, in November.
He had set his sights on the Ironman Frankfurt event originally scheduled for the end of June, but that race was rescheduled for August, forcing Buckingham to turn his attention to the UK event.
“We will play it by ear, the baby is coming very soon, so that might change a few dynamics, but my focus is definitely to participate in the Ironman UK,” he said.
Coming off the back of a third-place finish at the Sun City Ultra Triathlon at the weekend, Buckingham had a day to forget out on the course when a miscalculation on the run leg robbed him of a potential silver medal.
Though far from pleased with his performance, Buckingham said the event was just a way for him to get some more racing under his belt, even though his training was not geared towards the race’s shorter distance.
“I had a pretty decent swim and a pretty decent bike, even though I lost about a minute and a half to Matt Trautman.
“I wanted to try to run well off the bike. I had been practising mostly [full distance] Ironman pace, so it was a bit of a change,” he said.
“Getting onto the run, there was a sprint-distance race on the same day, so as I was approaching an aid station, I grabbed some water and carried on, and then all of a sudden I was at the finish line but felt that something was not right.
“I literally had to run back about 1.5km, which meant I ran just over 3km extra, so that cost me about 12 minutes.
“I had about an eightminute lead on third place; I just didn’t want to give up, so I ran and finished the race third.
“It was just nice to be out racing again and burning off the cobwebs.
“I was a bit disappointed that I missed the turn, but it is what it is.”
Having been on a training block to prepare for a full Ironman and with a new coach in his corner, Buckingham said he was hoping the new training concepts would pay off come race day.
“I changed coaches about three months ago.
“It is a new thing for me, but I am really loving the training so far and it’s been suiting me.
“We have focused a bit more on my running and making me a much stronger runner,” he said.