Lucy Buckingham produced a brilliant performance at the Singapore T100 to underline exactly why she was given a wildcard.
And her eventual fifth-placed finish in no way tells the full story as she went head to head with the world’s best – as well as the searing heat.
Buckingham has often struggled in hot and humid races in the past but she managed her effort superbly.
She was able to stay on swim leader Lucy Charles-Barclay’s feet in the water and the two Brits then went on to open up a five-minute gap on the rest by the end of the bike, despite Buckingham briefly cramping up late on.
Her run isn’t quite as strong as her impressive swim / bike combo and eventual winner Ashleigh Gentle and Charles-Barclay had flown long before the finish.
But it was only late on that Els Visser and Amelia Watkinson came past Buckingham for third and fourth respectively.
‘A lot of effing and jeffing’
And speaking afterwards, Buckingham said: “It was tough – just a challenging environment to be in. The girls just pushed me the whole way and there was just no let up and it was all about managing the heart rate.
“Unfortunately, I got a little bit of sciatica at the start of the week, so I’ve been struggling with my left leg a bit. I knew it was going to be a bit of a battle and on the bike, it cramped at around the 60k mark.
“There was lot of effing and jeffing going on at that point!”
‘Out of my natural habitat’
The heat had proved a challenge in the first T100 in Miami but this was a different level, as Lucy explained: “After Miami, I was like, hell no [in terms of racing in Singapore].
“The heat just gets to me. Like, I’m a redhead and out my natural habitat! This isn’t normal for me. But it was just about trying to give it a go and see where I was at.
“I knew that with the run, I had to just let Lucy go, and I knew Ash would catch me, but it was just about trying to pace it as best I can.”
The display – which helped animate the first two thirds of the race – will surely mean plenty more wildcards are forthcoming.
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