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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THIS year’s Bonaqua Troutbeck ATU Sprint Triathlon African Cup, set for February 17 to 18, is expected to increase the elite athletes’ chances of earning more points after the organisers reduced the distance from the usual standard 1 500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.
The annual competition will be staged at Troutbeck Resort with elite athletes from Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe expected to take part.
So far there are 16 entries for men and four for women and entries will close a week before the event. Speaking at a press conference in Harare yesterday, Triathlon Zimbabwe president Rick Fulton said they reduced the distance as they took into consideration the feedback they got from the elite athletes.
“We found that the reputation for the toughness of the event was starting to have a little bit of a negative effect because of the point earning capability of the athletes as some of them realised that if they went there they might not get within that percentage to the winners’ time and earn points.
“So what we decided to do for this year was to reduce the distance from the standard distance to a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run,” said Fulton.
Triathlon Zimbabwe are also hoping to attract some of the participants set for a World Cup event taking place in Cape Town just a week before the local event. Zimbabwe will, for the first time in a number of years, have a representative in the elite section with Gideon Benade making his debut appearance in the men’s category.
The 19-year-old is excited about the upcoming event but made it clear this is going to be a learning curve for him.
“My plan for this race is just to learn how to race like a professional and it’s the goal for this year. So for me it’s just a big stepping stone from the junior categories up into the Under-23 elites.
“For me, it’s a learning curve,” said Benade. This marks the 11th year of the event which is being sanctioned by the International Triathlon Union as an African Cup, which is a points scoring race for elite athletes, with the ITU ranking system.
And it’s the longest event of its calibre in Africa. For local athletes the event will also be the National Championships. Other highlights for this year’s event include the Cross Triathlon, also known as Off-Road Triathlon, comprising a 375 swim, 20km off-road cycle followed by a 2.5km run.
There is also the Troutbeck Trikidz and Trisports, a fun event for young children who participate regularly at Mount Pleasant events. There will be two races — one for the five to eight years age-group, doing a 30m swim, 600m cycle and 340m run. The nine to 12 years will do a 30m swim, 1.2km cycle and 570m run.
It will be the second anniversary for Bonaqua, a Coca-Cola brand, as the title sponsor of the event after taking over from Schweppes. Other sponsors that attended yesterday’s briefing include DHL and Bon Marche.
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