Samantha Kingsford's Double Act

Samantha Kingsford has been a mainstay on XTERRA triathlon podiums worldwide. Now she's hoping to be double trouble for her competition as she takes on long-course racing. We spoke with the New Zealand pro before this weekend's hotly contested Tauranga Half.

Thanks for catching up with us Samantha, how are you feeling heading into this race? 

I feel like I’m heading into the unknown. Rebecca Clarke, Amelia Watkinson, and Hannah Wells are all well-experienced long-course athletes, and this is their bread and butter. So to go into a race knowing I have to race these girls makes me nervous, but also excited to be able to see where I’m at against athletes who are well within the top 50 in the PTO rankings. I guess you can say I'll either sink or swim!

Hopefully, I learn lots for Challenge Wanaka in a few weeks, and by the time I head to the US later this year I’ll be feeling comfortable with the non-drafting stuff.

What's your race plan? Without giving too much away 😂

I’m sure Rebecca Clarke will light the swim up, and Amelia has shown she is riding incredibly well.

How I fit in all of that I'm not entirely sure, so no real plan. Just give it everything I’ve got and make calls during the race. In XTERRA you have to be fluid with your plans as a lot can change very quickly, so hopefully I'll take that mindset.

You typically race shorter XTERRA triathlons, so how have you adapted your training for this weekend's Tauranga half-ironman?

I haven’t changed a whole lot. It's only January so largely just doing early season training, biggest difference is doing a couple of key sessions on the TT bike, but still doing plenty on the MTB, it is more fun after all!!

Any specific session, or moment in training recently that's giving you confidence for this weekend?

A couple of longer TT efforts. I think I have the power from the mountain bike, it’s just a matter of transferring it to the TT bike and being able to push the same on both of them. I am definitely feeling a lot more comfortable on the TT bike than I did in Clash Miami last year. But racing on the TT is very different from being out riding in training.

With a mix of XTERRA and half-ironmans over the next months, what training will help you be the best prepared for the different racing demands?

For most of the next couple of months I’m trying to not get too carried away with hitting too good of form too early. Having two summers of racing, it can be hard to feel like you need to be on for all the racing.

I still want to be racing well at the back end of the year, so really doing nothing special at the moment. Like those in the northern hemisphere, I'm just building a base. And I'm just making the most of the races we have around here, and enjoying pinning a number on!

Looking ahead this year, will you be focusing on the revamped XTERRA tour? or continuing with a mix of events?

I’ll Continue mixing XTERRA & 70.3’s. I love riding my MTB too much to throw that in. The XTERRA world tour is something the athletes have been asking for a long time, so it's nice to see it finally come to fruition. But the way it is set up currently doesn’t make it feasible to chase, you’d essentially be running at a loss all year to hopefully perform well and win some of the bonus pool at the end.

So the plan is to be based in Boulder and race the XTERRA's in NZ, Australia, and the U.S. and mix in non-drafting around that. I'm excited to have something new to also focus on and learn the art of non-drafting, as well as still tearing up the trails on the MTB.

Good luck to Samantha in Tauranga this weekend! If you want to follow her journey give her a follow on Instagram, @samanthakingsford.