Kyle Buckingham wins Ironman Africa

 

 

I cant believe my dream came true of winning in my home town.

 

I had a great start to the day with a solid swim with the front pack of contenders. Ive really been working on my swimming and I’m so happy to see it paying off.

 

On the bike I felt strong from the start but at 120km a bee flew under my visor and stung me on my eye lid. I was very lucky that I took the sting out quick enough, and very fortunate that after 20min with only riding with one eye open the stinging finally went away and I was able to carry on seeing properly.

 

 

I had to play a very patient and smart game on the bike even though I felt strong, because I knew some of the guys that were with me on the bike were also very good runners.

 

When I put my running shoes on, I knew that I was going to have a great day. I started my run with a 2min deficit to 2nd place and just over 10min to first place, but all I could do was do my race and run strong. When I was around the 15km mark I was down only by 1min to 2nd place and 7min to first so I knew I was making up time. From then the times were lowering significantly and I was making up huge ground. I was in 2nd place at around the 23km mark with a 2:40min down to first place. I kept running strong and overtook first place at the 28km on the run. The crowds were unbelievable on course carrying me through that run. I couldn’t believe that I was in the lead of the Ironman African Champs with 14km to go. I was still very much super focused because it wasn’t over until the finish line. When I reached 1km to go I nearly came to a dead stop just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Running down that red carpet was unreal, making my long time dream come true when I started this sport 10 years ago after many hours of hard work.

 

 

I am so happy with this amazing opportunity in life and having sponsors like you guys being behind me and believing in me.

 

I have qualified for Kona again and cant wait for the rest of the season ahead.

 

Thanks again