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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
LOCAL and international triathletes are gearing up for the 10th edition of the 2017 Bonaqua Troutbeck Africa Triathlon Union African Cup and Zimbabwe National Championships to be held in Nyanga on 1 April.
Rick Fulton, the Zimbabwe Triathlon Association president said this is the 10th anniversary of the annual event sanctioned by the International Triathlon Union as an African Cup, which is a points-scoring race for elite athletes within the ITU ranking system. For the local triathletes the event will also be the National Triathlon Championships.
Fulton indicated that they are introducing aquathlon which was brought to the local events this season aimed at the schools. It incorporates run, swim and run as one continuous event for teams as well as individuals. Another first for this particular event is the Schweppes Holdings Corporate Team Relay Triathlon Challenge which Fulton is confident will grow year on year not only at Troutbeck but also at their local events.
On the number of participants, Fulton said they are looking at close to 200 competitors across all of the events with the elite field still to be confirmed as these entries are facilitated through the ITU. Local events registration is still open until the day before the event, Friday 31 March. Ayan Beisenbayev of Kazakhstan won the men’s elite race while Fabienne St Louis of Mauritius was the elite women’s winner.
This is the first year that Bonaqua, a product of Coca-Cola which is bottled by Schweppes Zimbabwe are the title sponsors.
The sponsors partner the event financially and also with product as well as logistical support. Fulton explained that the event has to take place at Troutbeck owing to the safe water venue and the good roads for the bike section while it is also crucial to have a resort on site for all amenities. The infrastructure and logistical support has to be transported in entirety from Harare to the venue, as well as the athletes. Besides Bonaqua which took over from Schweppes Water as the main bankroller, the other sponsors for the event are Bokomo Weet Bix, Hyundai and Bon Marche.
On the competition day, the elites will do a 1 500m swim, 40km bike ride followed by a 10km run. The age group adults (20-65 years) will do the same distance, the juniors (Under-17 to Under-19) will do 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run as will age group adults (20-65 years) and teams, the youth (Under-13 to Under-15) and the corporate teams will do 375m swim, 10km bike, 2,6 km run. The men and women do compete separately at Championship and Elite level, for the rest, they all race together.
The junior and youth national teams would have been selected from their competing at the South Africa Triathlon Championships on 19 March. They will then compete at the African Triathlon Championships in Tunisia on 6 and 7 May. The Zimbabwean juniors will be racing against an invitation junior team from South Africa at Troutbeck as part of their preparations for Tunisia.
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