ZIMBABWE triathlete, Andie Kuipers, fought back to a commendable 12th place finish having been directed the wrong route in her final running lap at the Asia Cup in Hong Kong over the weekend.
Kuipers was excited to dive into the uncharted waters, breaking personal new ground in the process. She was keen to lay back, explore and compete against a completely new field of women she had never raced with before.
However, buoyed by the good preparations she had prior to the competition, Kuipers entered the race with optimism joining a pool of 20 elite women in the 750-swim lap, 21km bike (six laps) and the 5km run done in 1.5 laps.
She finished in position 12 in a time of 01:06:09 with fellow African sister, South Africa’s Amber Schlebusch winning the gold medal in a time of 00:59:33. Manami Iijima of Guam took silver in 01:00:35 while Hong Kong’s Bailee Brown in 01:00:39 completed the podium finishes with a bronze medal.
“I am happy with the race but not completely satisfied as I made some silly mistakes that cost me quite a bit. I swam with the front group which is something I have been aiming for all season, so to do that at this level of a race was something I am very happy and proud of,” Kuipers told NewsDay Sport.
“Unfortunately, I had a very tardy transition which meant I needed to bridge back to the front group, and I did but was soon dropped from the pack as I had spent so much energy trying to catch them. I thought I wouldn’t have good legs on the run but felt great when I got off the bike but unfortunately was directed the wrong way on the course and ended up running further than I was supposed to, which cost me some time.”
The USA-based athlete is keen to implement lessons learnt in Asia as she looks ahead to her final race of the year in Kenya this weekend.
“Overall, it’s really good to see where I have got my swim to and I know I can ride with the best, but I need to work on my transitions,” Kuipers said.
- Kuipers makes wrong turn in Hong Kong
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“I have another opportunity to test myself next week in Kenya for my last race this year. Been absolutely thrilling to race in three continents in three weeks with three different time zones and I am so grateful for the opportunities and to race for my country and, hopefully, putting Zimbabwe on the map.
