British triathlon star excited for ‘scary’ IRONMAN South Africa return after injury nightmare

After a frustrating injury-blighted two years, Ruth Astle admits “it’s a bit scary” heading into IRONMAN South Africa on Sunday.

The British star is a three-time IRONMAN winner but the last of those successes came back in November 2022 when she triumphed at IRONMAN Israel.

She ran a 2:57 marathon that day, the first and only time so far in a race when she’s dipped under three hours, but much of her running since then has been hampered by calf issues.

Hopefully that’s now a thing of the past, with a long rehab seeing her working her way back towards top shape ahead of her opening race of the 2025 campaign.

Ruth Astle on IRONMAN South Africa

One of those three IRONMAN wins was in South Africa in 2021 and writing on Instagram, Astle said: “So excited for this one. Drawing on all the great memories from 2021, and soaking up all the great vibes from the super friendly community here.

“Feels quite scary going into a race with no excuses… I’ve had a great block leading into this race – a few normal ups and downs but probably the fittest I’ve been and definitely the longest stretch of running I’ve put together in years.”

Astle did belatedly get up and running last season, finishing on the podium at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz to qualify for the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice where she clocked the fifth-fastest bike leg before she was forced to DNF after her calf flared up early on the run to scupper her top-five hopes.

Ruth Astle takes third at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2024 [Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images for Ironman]

Plenty of gravel bike racing followed and a patient winter of training later and she’s relishing the return to race action.

Hoping hard work pays off

Astle is one of the most active triathletes on YouTube and she’s documented her recovery on there over the last couple of seasons.

Not surprisingly there have been plenty of low points during that journey and she explained: “There are many drivers for my motivation for this race but my main one will be hope…

“Hope to cling onto when everything seems bleak and there doesn’t seem to be a way out. Hope that things will get better and there will be more time. Hope that facing fears and doing hard things pays off.”

Up against her are defending champion Marta Sanchez of Spain, who will wear the #1 bib, Dutch star Els Visser, Germany’s Anne Reischmann, Sweden’s Anna Bergsten and Denmark’s Maja Stage Nielsen.

Written by

Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner is News Director for both TRI247 and RUN247, and is accustomed to big-name interviews, breaking news stories and providing unrivalled coverage for endurance sports.

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