Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 54, January 2014 | Page 20

My Goal

The Platform to PRO
This is set to be a big year for Kyle Buckingham. Having won the 30-34 age
group at the GoPro Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii in October,
setting a new course record of 8:37:26 for the age group, the Cape Townbased triathlete has turned professional, and his goal for 2014 is to do as well
as he can in his first pro season. – BY LAUREN VAN DER VYVER

W

ith five full Ironman SA medals to his name, as well as another four from around the
world, plus 11 half Ironmans, Kyle Buckingham says he can’t wait to show what he can do
on the pro triathlon circuit in 2014, but he is also keeping his feet on the ground. “January’s
70.3 in South Africa will be my first race as a pro, but I don’t want to put pressure on myself,
because I want to race and stick to my own plans. It’s very exciting, though! I’m also getting
married in Durban after the Ironman SA in April, so there’s so much to look forward to –
especially the short break from training after the wedding! I don’t get a lot of those!”

ROAD TO TRI
Kyle only took up triathlon at the age of 25, having never participated in endurance sports. “I
surfed a lot growing up in Port Elizabeth, but that never flourished professionally. Then when
I moved to London to work as an electrician, I got into triathlon. I had watched Raynard
Tissink at the 2008 Ironman South Africa, and when my housemate started triathlon
training, I thought why not?”
So Kyle bought a bike and began his triathlon journey, but he had to contend with
cold weather on top of long working hours. “I started by training four to five hours
inside my flat, mostly on my treadmill and bike. Being in the UK was hard because
the weather was really cold, dark and snowy. Also, I’d only start training in the
evenings from about 6 o’clock, after eight hours of manual labour, but I knew
that I wanted to pursue it!”
Thanks to natural talent, he made good progress, and so in 2009 he
took on his first full Ironman in SA, finishing 66th overall in 10:29. A
year later he improved his time on local soil to 9:24 after starting a
training programme with SA Ironman legend Raynard Tissink. Kyle
then went back to Europe to compete in several Half Ironmans,
and in 2011 he was back, chasing a top-10 finish at Ironman SA.
Unfortunately, that race didn’t go to plan, largely due to flat
tyres on the bike leg, but he bounced back in 2012 to finish
13th (one position in front of Raynard). His next outing at
Las Vegas 70.3 saw him bail due to illness, but a month
later he grabbed seventh in his age-group in Kona after
taking a month off work to live and train in Hawaii’s hot,
humid conditions.

BREAKING RECORDS

Images: Courtesy Kate Armstrong & Kyle Buckingham

Having moved back to SA at the end of 2012, Kyle entered
his first 70.3 in South Africa and says things just clicked for him. Always a competitor on the
hills, he put everything into the bike leg before running to a seventh overall finish, and first
South African, in 4:17. He also broke his age-group course record by 12 minutes and was
the first amateur home in a strong field! He then focused on fitting in six sessions each per
week of running, cycling and swimming, while also working on core strength in the gym, to
prepare for Ironman SA, and he did his fine-tuning by finishing ninth overall in the Abu Dhabi
International Triathlon.

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Then it was back to PE for Ironman SA, and in Kyle’s own words, “Everything went according
to plan, despite a hard last 4km on the run where I had to remind myself how much I wanted
a good finish,” He came home in an amazing seventh overall, the first South African and first
amateur over the line, and qualified for Kona in his age group, and Hawaii would prove to be
yet another highlight on his journey to turning pro.
Unsurprisingly, Kyle’s choice of favourite event is not hard to guess. “I put down Ironman
South African as my favourite, because of the crowd support and vibe,” he says. “My family,
my sister and brother as well as my fiancé Lauren also make a plan to be there, so it’s very
special for me. Doing so well in 2013 was a great feeling and having the family and Raynard
at the finish was even better. I went from that to Kona with a new confidence! Now I want to
push on in 2014.”
ISSUE 53 DECEMBER 2013 / www.modernathlete.co.za