adminBlessing Malinganiza
LEADING Zimbabwean triathlete Andie Kuipers’ heart aches as she is set to miss the Bonaqua Africa Triathlon Cup Troutbeck at the Nyanga resort on Saturday.
She will also miss out on some vital Olympic Qualification points due to school commitments.
The United States-based athlete would have been the country’s sole elite representative, taking over from 46-year-old Greer Wynn, who called time on her career after last year’s event.
“I am gutted to miss racing in my home country again this year, it would mean so much to me to be able to compete as Zimbabwe’s only current elite triathlete,” Kuipers told H-Metro from her base in America.
“But, I will have to wait until next year when I finish my degree and no longer have university commitments.”
The 21-year-old has set herself a target to qualify for next year’s Olympics in Paris and the Los Angeles Games scheduled for 2028.
“To qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games would feel like a dream, trying to balance a degree, competing all over the world as well as for my university.
“There has been a lot to take on these past three years and, so, to see all the work and efforts that have been put in by myself and the team around me in Paris would be amazing,” she added.
Meanwhile, the elite event for both men and women is over subscribed as Triathlon Zimbabwe celebrates 15 years of hosting this event at Troutbeck.
The elite race will see athletes going through a 750m deep water swim in a clean, disease-and-animal-free lake.
After that they will go through the transition heading into three bike laps of 6.6km of 2000m altitude over a hilly terrain and will finish off with two laps of a run covering a distance of 2.5km each.
Online Reporter