daniel chigunwe
Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
TRIATHLON Zimbabwe vice-president Pamela Fulton says they are looking forward to some duathlon events during the off-season to help with the preparations for the Africa Championships.
The curtain came down on the 2022-2023 season last weekend with several fun races being held at Mount Pleasant Pool. The national association used the platform to hold the season series awards and trophy presentations.
Triathlon Zimbabwe also announced a seven-member team to represent the country at this year’s Africa Triathlon Championships due to take place in October, in Egypt.
They are hoping to field athletes in the Under-15 girls and boys, Under-17 women and men, and Under-19 women categories.
“Congratulations to the seven athletes who qualified and are eligible to travel to the Africa Championships, in Egypt in October.
“We will be hosting three duathlons in the off-season, ending with our duathlon National Championships. These events will help prepare our touring team.
“We hope for the support of the large cycling community at these duathlons. These races can be done individually or in teams,” said Fulton, who is also the national triathlon coach.
Duathlon consists of running and cycling, unlike triathlon which adds swimming.
Triathlon off-season runs until September and the national association is set to finalise the dates for the duathlon events soon. They held the inaugural national championships in July last year.
Fulton said they had a largely successful season that also saw them celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Troutbeck Africa Cup. This year’s edition attracted a big field compared to the previous years.
“The 2022/23 season seems to have been long but it was a good one.
“We held our inaugural duathlon National Championships prior to the start of the triathlon season. This gave the traveling Africa Championships team a race to help prepare them. The team travelled in September, performed well and came back home with three medals.
“The season was very busy, it consisted of 19 local triathlon races. We had a few new races added to our calendar this season, which were extremely successful.
“In order to help spread our sport provincially, we held a race at Springvale House, Marondera. It was well supported by our Harare athletes and also had new competitors from Marondera. The course was technical and challenging, and our regular triathletes loved the challenge,” Fulton said.
However, the Triathlon Zimbabwe vice-president is concerned by the dwindling numbers in the childrens’ section.
“Two new races added to our calendar were the school specific triathlons held at St Michael’s Presentation School and St John’s Prep. These were so well supported and it was encouraging to see the youngsters having such fun.
“As a whole, the season was a great success and it is wonderful to see so many age group athletes supporting regularly.
“Contrary, it is disappointing to see the numbers in the little kids’ categories dwindle compared to previous seasons. We have much talent in our youth and junior categories, but our continued challenge is to keep them in the sport once they face exam pressures and once they leave school.”
Fulton is, however, optimistic about the 2023-2024 season.
“The 23/24 season is already looking fun and busy with tours to South Africa Championships and Africa Championships, races provincially in Penhalonga, Marondera, Troutbeck and many races in Harare,” Fulton said.
Africa Triathlon Championships Team:
Under-15 Girls: Chloe Steenkamp
Under-15 Boys: Rohnan Nicholson, Callum Smith and Zachary Summers
Under-17 Women: Nicole Madya and Anje Van As
Under-17 Men: Duwan Botha
Under-19 Women: Anje Van As
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