Donald Miralle
South Africa will be represented by 59 athletes at this year's IRONMAN® World Championship in Kailua-Kona in Hawaii this week, with the event taking place 6 - 8 October.
The list of South Africans features no less than six triathletes from Nelson Mandela Bay who will be competing in their various age-group categories in Hennie Van Eck,
Raynard Tissink, Siyabulela Jabu Mpengesi, Dwayne Kemp, Roger Hooke and Rhiannon Farrel.
Nelson Mandela Bay homegrown hero and reigning African Ironman Champion Kyle Buckingam emigrated to America earlier this year and will be starting as one of the favourites in the elite men's pro race.
Well-known local sports personality and cancer survivor Xylon van Eyck, who works for one of the sponsors, is also in Kona at the moment soaking up the occasion.
Durban's Sanele Shange and Nelson Mandela Bay's Siyabulela Jabu Mpengesi are the first black South Africans to qualify for an IRONMAN World Championship event.
Mpengesi, aged 40, managed to grab his VinFast IRONMAN World Championship qualification slot earlier this year at his home race at the ISUZU IRONMAN African Championship.
"Having tried to earn my qualification via the normal racing method for the last 17 IRONMAN races I have done since 2005, and to finally qualify with a top ten in age-group 40 - 44 category means a huge deal to me, because at one point it seemed an impossible dream," said Mpengesi.
The other South African professionals competing alongside Buckingham are Magda Nieuwoudt, Matt Trautman and Bradley Weiss.
This is the first time in the 40-year plus history that the event will take place across two days, with all the women racing on Thursday 6 October and the men's field racing on Saturday 8 October.
