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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
The 2021-2022 triathlon season resumed yesterday with the youth pursuing qualification for the South African Championships due to take place next month.
The event was the fourth selection race for the youth — Under-13 and Under-15.
This year, the South African Championships will see the youth and junior competitions being held separately, with the Youth Championships coming first on February 13 in Bloemfontein, followed by the juniors in March.
Going into yesterday’s event, Anje Van As and Rohnan Nicholson had already acquired the required number of points to qualify while Nicole Madya was one of the hopefuls as she was close to qualification and she just did that yesterday.
Madya was impressed with herself and is looking forward to making her debut in South Africa.
“Today was a bit of a challenge because I am just recovering from being sick, so today was a bit of a challenge. But it was okay.
“It will be my first time at the South African Championships. I think it’s going to be really hard and challenging but I think I will do my best,” said Madya
The South African Championships are also a platform for qualification to the Africa Championships to be held later in the year.
The 14-year-old said she has had to work hard during the holiday break and it paid off.
“It was really challenging like with the break, but you have to keep on training and pushing. I am looking forward to going to the Africa Championships if I am able to qualify,” said Madya.
For Nicholson, having already qualified, the race gave him a good platform as part of his build-up to for the upcoming tour.
“It’s been quite hard, but good. It feels good to qualify for the South African Championships and I would like to do well.
“It was very important to qualify. I am expecting a tough competition but I just want to do well,” said Nicholson.
There is still an opportunity for those that have not qualified, with another selection race scheduled for this month.
For the rest of the participants, yesterday’s competition was a fun event as they get ready for the last half of the season.
National coach, Pamela Fulton, said they are hoping to travel early to South Africa so that athletes going for the first time get to familiarise themselves with the course.
“With regards to go to the South African Championships, for the first time, the championships have been divided into a Youth Championships and a Junior Championships. Normally we go as one tour, everyone together.
“But they have decided that the sea swim for the juniors, which will be in PE (Port Elizabeth), in March, will be too challenging for the youth, so that’s why they have kept the youth tour in Bloemfontein.
“It’s actually quite a daunting swim, so even though it’s not the sea it is very dirty… So for some of these kids who have never been on tour before, it’s going to be a real challenge for them.
“And we will hopefully be going down a couple of days early, which will give the athletes time to actually swim in this water a couple of times and get used to it and so when it does come to race day, its second nature to them,” said Fulton.
They are hoping to also have some juniors travelling as individuals to compete at an Africa Cup event that will run at the same time with the youth competition.
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