Athlete trains in Bush for Ironman world championship
Thursday, 11 August 2022
Athlete Olaf van den Bergh will start his training to prepare for the Ironman World Championships in Kona on the Island of Hawai`i on Thursday, 11 August 2022, in the Bush, the indoor tropical rainforest of Royal Burgers’ Zoo. The Bush is the ideal training location because of its high humidity and temperature. Van den Bergh has scheduled endurance training sessions of around two to three hours on a stationary trainer.
Ideal training location
The Ironman World Championship will take place in Kona on the Island of Hawai`i on 8 October 2022. The average temperature in Kona is 30 degrees Celsius, and the humidity is between 85 and 90 per cent. Arnhemmer Olaf van den Bergh realised that the fully covered Bush with a similar climate in summer is the ideal training location in preparation for the World Championship under such extreme climatic conditions.
Athlete Olaf van den Bergh
Olaf van den Bergh (1994) is a former 400-metre athlete who was part of the Dutch national athletics selection and lived and trained at Papendal, Arnhem. He won national championships and achieved a fifth place at the Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF). In 2018, he decided to specialise as an Ironman athlete. In 2021, he finished three full triathlons and ran a marathon with a time of 2:29. He set his personal best for the full Ironman at 08:33 and qualified for the World Championships.
Background information Ironman
Ironman is a long-distance triathlon: 3.86 kilometres of swimming, 180.25 kilometres of cycling and 42.20 kilometres of running (the equivalent of a marathon). The Ironman World Cup will be held in Kona, on the Island of Hawai`i, on 8 October 2022.
