Craig Kirkwood

Craig has been competing in endurance sport since he was 14yrs old and has many times competed on the world stage at the highest level. Originally a runner, he reached his pinnacle qualifying for the 2002 Commonwealth Games after finishing 13th in 2:13.17 at the 2001 Chicago Marathon.

After moving back to New Zealand in 2002 due to serious injury, Craig continued to run road races and the odd Mountain Running Race. In 2006 he went to World Mountain Running Championships and in 2007 he won both Rotorua and Christchurch Marathons. In 2008 after admitting that his days for fast running were over, he found a new challenge; IRONMAN.

As a Triathlete he has been to the World Ironman Championships three times (2009, 2013 & 2015), World 70.3 Champs in 2016 (finishing 6th) and has been selected four times to compete in the ITU World Long Distance Championships (finishing 9th in 2018) and once in the ITU Duathlon World Championships.

Craig started coaching in 2003 and in 2013 CK Coaching was born. Flash forward to 2021 and Craig now coaches some of the most talented athletics and triathlon stars to come out of New Zealand, including 2 x Toyko 2020 Olympians.

CK Coaching encompasses juniors, right through to competitive age groupers and some of the best athletes in the business including Hayden Wilde (Bronze Medalist, Toyko 2020 Olympic Triathlon) and up and coming New Zealand middle distance running star Sam Tanner, (New Zealand 1500m and 3000m champion and Toyko 2020 Olympian).

Craig enjoys nothing more than seeing his athletes realise they can push the boundaries of what they thought was possible. Achieve what seemed impossible, and then look forward to the next challenge.

Qualifications:
Bachelor of Sport Science
Accredited and Registered Athletics NZ Coach
Triathlon NZ Accredited Coach

Track Personal Bests:
1500m 3:49 / 3000m 8:01 /3000m SC 8:53 /5000m 13:53 10000m 28:37

Road Running Personal Bests:
5km 14:03 / 10km 29:03 / Half Marathon 1:03.43 / Marathon 2:13.17

Triathlon Personal Bests:
Half Ironman 4:09 / Ironman 9:09