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Ellina Mhlanga–Senior Sports Reporter
TRIATHLON Zimbabwe vice-president Pamela Fulton says it’s satisfying to see more athletes gracing the Bonaqua Africa Triathlon Cup Troutbeck.
This year marked the 15th anniversary of the event held annually at the Troutbeck Resort in Nyanga.This year’s huge turnout was a positive reflection on the continued growth of the event that attracted elite men and women, and juniors from countries such as Austria, Algeria, Egypt, Ireland, Togo, Mauritius, South Africa, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Mozambique and Ukraine .
“The 15th anniversary being an Africa Cup event, that’s 15 years in a row, and it’s just grown from strength to strength and it’s really exciting to see so many athletes.
“It’s rewarding because the guys who put this event on, I promise you they work at this event everyday of the year.
“Today (Saturday) we do a de-brief and they already start planning for next year’s Troutbeck event to iron out any problems that happened today.
“So there is so much work that goes into it. So it’s so rewarding for the organisers to see so much support,” said Fulton.
The Africa Cup runs concurrently with the Africa Junior Cup.
With Zimbabwe not represented in the elite men and women at this year’s edition, they pinned their hopes in the juniors that competed in the Africa Junior Cup.
But it was a tough day on the course for the local athletes as South Africa dominated.
Zimbabwe’s best performance was from Anje Van As who came fourth in the junior women. Nicole Madya was fifth while Makanaka Mawere had a puncture during the bike race and could not finish the race as well as Inkosinomusa Mthethwa.
In the junior men, Mandlenkosi Mthethwa was placed eighth. Duwan Botha did not finish as he was having difficulties breathing.
This is Van As and Madya’s first year in the junior category coming from the youth category.
“Considering how strong these athletes are I am quite happy with my results. Moving up from the youth category up to the juniors is quite a big step especially when you are in the younger age-group as you are now the youngest so it’s quite nice to like finish in the top five,” said Van As.
Last year’s winners in the Africa Junior Cup, Shaun Wolfaardt and Kadence Ribbink, defended their titles in the junior men and women respectively.
Wolfaardt was followed home by fellow South Africans Nathan Foster and Kyle Erskine on second and third position respectively.
Lome Gouws coming second and Mia Van Der Veen finishing on third place to make it a South African affair in the women’s section.
In the elite men, Ireland’s James Edgar came first. He was followed home by Dylan Nortje on second place. It was an improvement for Nortje, who got bronze last year.
Mexico’s Jorge Alarcon Familiar was third.
The women’s title went to South Africa’s Shanae Williams.
On second place was Barbara De Koning of the Netherlands while Romana Gajdosova of Slovakia finished third.
The event was graced by Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister, Kirsty Coventry, who applauded the organisers for a well organised event.
“It’s really exciting that this is the 15th year, well done… It’s just gone from strength to strength and so again I can’t say congratulations enough.
“It’s an incredible event that brings together incredible people and I hope that our young Zimbabwean triathletes really soak up having all these incredible international athletes with you. Learn from them, ask them lots of questions, get to hang out with them.
“We have unprecedented sponsorship, we have an excellent strong team, we have an incredible venue. These (are) all three things that add to being an extraordinary event. We look forward to it continuing for many years to come,” said Coventry.
Coventry said the continued support for the event by various corporates is because of good governance by the national association and good leadership that puts athletes and the sport first.
The event is supported by various sponsors including title sponsors Coca-Cola Zimbabwe through their Bonaqua water brand, African Sun, CFAO Motors, Cimas, Rooney’s, EcoCash and Simbisa Brands, who also came on board for this year’s edition.
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