Age Groupers in Marbella: 70.3 Champion Ted Ward Eyes World Title in Spain

Ted Ward and his Kú Cycle TF1 in Marbella. Photos: Kevin Mackinnon

There are 6,300 athletes competing in Marbella, Spain, this weekend at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, and if you asked them all about their goals for the race, you would likely get 6,300 unique answers. Sure, a lot of the answers might be similar, but everyone racing will have different time goals, different hopes for how they feel throughout the day and different reasons for showing up.

The UK’s Ted Ward has quite a lofty goal for his race on Sunday: he wants to win the world title in the always competitive 18 to 24 age group. He says he realizes this is a tall order, but he is confident that he can pull it off — and with his resume, it seems very possible that this dream could become a reality.

A Family Affair

Coming from the UK, Ward had plenty of short-course stars to look up to as he grew up in triathlon. The Brownlee brothers, Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and more incredible athletes showed young British talents like Ward that World Triathlon titles and Olympic glory are achievable dreams, but Ward says he always had his sights on long-distance racing.

“My uncle had been to Kona a couple of times, my dad had done an IRONMAN,” he says. “I think the whole long-course thing was in the family.” (His father is also racing in Marbella, along with his uncle, Will Newbery, whose story can be found here.)

IRONMAN has strict rules that athletes must be 18 years old in order to race in either a 70.3 or full-distance event. Pretty much as soon as he was of age, he jumped into his first half.

Ward says he is hoping for tough conditions in the water on Sunday, as the swim is his strength.

“I was 18 years and one month,” he says. That first race came in the UK at 70.3 Staffordshire, an event that is no longer running. It was a solid debut, with Ward crossing the line with a sub-five-hour result in 4:43:46. He would climb much higher in the coming years, though, and he is now knocking on the door of a sub-four result.

Earlier this season, he finished second overall at 70.3 Bolton, stopping the clock in 4:06:52. He followed that up a few months later with the overall win at 70.3 Weymouth. That was a huge breakthrough, Ward says — especially since the swim was cancelled.

“That was really good, a big confidence boost, as my swim has usually been the good kickstart to my race,” he says. “That was taken away and then, yeah, I managed to sort of seal the deal anyway with a good bike-run performance.”

Ward says that win was “a surprise” considering the cancelled swim, as his race strategy normally involves him trying to get as far ahead in the first leg, maintaining or perhaps extending his lead on the bike and then hoping not to be “reined in on the run.”

Everything seems to be clicking at the right time for Ward, including a new partnership with Kú Cycle as a member of the company’s development team. Now, waiting out the final few days before his race in Marbella, he is laser-focused on trying to become world champion.

“Ever since I won in Weymouth, it’s definitely been a goal of mine to stand on the top step of this age group at the world champs,” he says. “So, yeah, I’m going to be going out there with full guns blazing for sure.”

With that hope in mind, Ward adds that he knows it won’t be easy to become world champion.

“You can think about placement and all that, but you never know who’s going to turn up,” he says. “Everyone else here is going to be absolutely insane, so you’ve got to keep a level head. All you can do is your best on the day.”

As Ward has shown in his previous races this season, his best is pretty good, and if he can roll up to the start in Marbella in top form on Sunday, it shouldn’t be a surprise if he finds himself atop the age group podium by the time the race is complete.

Kú Cycle TF1

Ward is riding the Kú Cycle TF1 as part of the Kú development team.

Drivetrain

Cockpit

Rear Hydration and Saddle

Wheels

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