It was a hive of triathlon activities at Troutbeck Africa Cup as local, regional and international athletes battled it out on Saturday in Nyanga.
By Tendai Chisiri recently in Nyanga
Elite athletes were to gain valuable World Olympic ranking points by finishing 8% of the winner’s time regardless of the finish position whilst the local juniors had a chance to be drafted in the National Championship team.
Zimbabwe excelled in the junior triathlon with Matthew Denslow coming first ahead of Tunisia’s Mohamed Aziz and Seifeddine Selmi also a Tunis.
Mathew Denslow shrugged off the stiff competition to lift the gold medal to lift the country’s flag high. Although he had fallen over at the start of the run, he managed to win at last.”I kept going until the 500 metres as the guys were quite competitive” said elated Denslow. Having been in the top ten in previous editions, Denslow felt happy by the result as it depicted that he had started well.
Mohamed Aziz and Seifeddine Selmi both from Tunisia who came second and third respectively were full of praise of the event.”I was first on the bike but the altitude made it hard for me on the run. It was my first time and I have learnt a lot from the event”, revealed Aziz. Selmi also concurred with his Tunis counterpart.”We love Zimbabwe so much. It was great to participate in the event”, he said.
In the junior women category, Zimbabwe came second through Mikayla Colegrave whilst South Africa’s Nadya Stolarczy won the gold medal. Kayla Ribbink a South African finished on the third position trailed by Zimbabwe’s Andie Kuipers.
It was a bad day for Zimbabwe’s only representative in the elite men category Gideon Benade.He came last on the 17th position while South Africa’s Nicholas Quenet quitted after an injury from the race and his South African counterpart Matthew Greer did not take part.
”Unfortunately there were more than world class athletes in the field. Give me 2 years and I will be alright”, he said.
Germany dominated in the elite men category with Justus Nieschlag finishing first followed by Maximilian Schwetz also a German. Ireland‘s Constantine Doherty was third.
“The course was hard and it was a gruesome work to win”, said Nieschlag. The international athletes spoke highly of the event.
In the elite women, Nina Eim of Germany was first followed by Amber Schlebusch of South Africa and Carolyn Hayes of Ireland was third.”The finish was tremendous and today I swam much better than at the World Cup Cape Town”, said Eim.
Bonaqua a product of Coca –Cola was the title sponsor for the third year.
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