Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga-Zimpapers Sports Hub
AFTER taking part in his first selection event for the season yesterday at Mount Pleasant Pool, promising triathlete Callum Smith says he has high expectations for the next races.
The selection races are used to select youth and junior athletes for different tours, including the South Africa Championships.
Smith missed the first selection race two weeks ago due to an injury.
Competing in his first race yesterday, he came second behind Zander Botha in the junior men’s category, sprint event.
“I must admit I found the race very challenging due to being away for quite a while for my studies, for my AS exams. And due to the fact that I had an injury, I haven’t been able to do as much training as I would have liked.
“I did find this race particularly challenging. But this prior week I have been trying to fit in some training so the race didn’t go as badly as I expected it to. It actually went a bit better,” said Smith. The 17-year-old is one of the promising juniors, and yesterday he was up against another rising star Zander Botha.
Some of the major events Smith is targeting include the 2026 Africa Triathlon Junior Cup Troutbeck, South Africa Championships and the Africa Championships.
“Obviously now with my exams over and my injury recovered, I am going to be getting into a lot more training now, so that hopefully for the races coming in the future I will be better.
“And I honestly have high expectations for my next races as I am going to be doing some hard rigorous training to make sure that the rest of the events can go smoothly.
“Africa Champs, SA Champs and also the Africa Cup in Troutbeck are my biggest events I am pushing forward to. And we also have Penhalonga in December, which I am trying to get ready for,” added Smith.
In third place was Matthew Hildebrand.
Botha and Hildebrand just graduated from the youth category, and being their second race of the season, they seem to be settling in well.
Unfortunately, in the junior women category, only Rachel O’Donoghue was on course yesterday.
O’Donoghue, who dominated the youth category, admitted the races have been tough as this is also her first season competing over the sprint distance.
“It’s tough, it’s long, much longer than I am used to but I am excited to try and get some more PBs.
“There isn’t much competition. I am the only girl racing at the moment because Olivia is away but it’s nice to race with the boys and Zander is super strong.
“It’s going to be a nice season there is definitely some good races to look forward to and I am just going to race myself to the best I can,” said O’Donoghue.
It was the same story in the youth girls category with Hannah Hosack the only participant for the supersprint distance.
However, the boys category had a decent turnout, and John Goddard was the first to cross the finish line.
He was followed by Alvin Mufute on second place, and his brother Sebastian Goddard was third.
Sebastian said the competition was good.
“It was quite good. I think the team is getting better, getting more fit, like Alvin.
“My ride and my swim were quite good.
I need a bit more training on my run but otherwise it’s quite good,” said Sebastian.
Yesterday’s event also featured the Schools Series’ first race of the season.
