daniel chigunwe
Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
TRIATHLON Zimbabwe national coach Pamela Fulton has expressed satisfaction with the quality of competition displayed during the Duathlon National Championships held at Donnybrook over the weekend.
The event featured championship and non-championship events.
This year’s edition precedes the 2023/2024 triathlon season to get underway in two weeks’ time and it presented some of the athletes with a platform to assess their readiness for the new season.
The national championships saw South Africa-based Patrige Chimwendo claiming the title in the Age-Group Men Sprint when crossing the finish line in 1 hour 2 minutes 53 seconds. The race consisted of a 5.5km run, 19.25km bike and 2.75km run.
Shine Doko came in on second place with a time of 1 hour 3 minutes and he was followed by Amos Chakaza in 1 hour 3 minutes 2 seconds.
Former Under-23 Duathlon World Championships champion, Rory Mackie also took part at the event and came fourth.
Laura O’Donoghue retained the title in the women’s category in 1 hour 11 minutes 59 seconds.
Anje Van As claimed the Junior Women (16 to 19-year-olds) Sprint category in 1 hour 24 minutes 39 seconds. Shekinah Mahumbe was second in 2 hours 4 minutes 44 seconds.
The Junior Men Sprint title went to Duwan Botha, who crossed the finish line in 1 hour 7 minutes 45 seconds and George Ascott was second in 1 hour 12 minutes 49 seconds.
Rohnan Nicholson was crowned champion in the Youth Boys (12 to 15-year-olds) Supersprint. Stanley Chasakara and Robert Weller were second and third respectively.
In the girls’ section, Rachel O’Donoghue emerged tops, followed by Olivia Beamish on second place and Bianca Van de Linde settled for third place.
For the youth, the race was made up of 2.75km run, 11km bike and 1.3km run.
“The actual day ran really smoothly and we are very happy with the turnout that we received on the day because we do understand there is a lot going on at this time of the year.
“We were competing with the water polo camp, so we did lose a few of our regular triathletes to that event. But overall we are very happy with the turnout on the day.
“The age-group men’s category, the sprint event, that was really exciting to watch, we had a good turnout there and some very competitive racing . . . Really high quality, good quality racing and very exciting to watch,” said Fulton.
The age-group women and juniors section attracted limited numbers of participants.
Triathlon Zimbabwe were holding the event for the second time.
“In the age-group ladies sprint category, the turnout unfortunately was not as high as expected with only Laura O’Donoghue competing. Unfortunately, she raced really well, she is a really strong athlete. So it would have just been nice to have a little bit more competition there.
“This is the second year that the national championships have been held and I will say that our turnout at this duathlon was pretty similar to last year’s duathlon, still a good turnout and it was really fantastic to get the support from the cycling clubs, from Tsvaira cycling club.
“They were there in full force, there were approximately 20 athletes there supporting us. So (we) really appreciate their support,” Fulton said.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter