Branton Matondo
A chipper South African side proved too good at this year’s edition of Bonaqua African Triathlon Cup at Troutbeck resort as host Zimbabwe failed to appear on the medals podium in all three age groups.
The much anticipated Bonaqua African Triathlon Cup which took place this past Saturday at Troutbeck resort in Nyanga was yet another South African showdown while Zimbabwe botched any medal.
South Africa, which has been a triathlon masterpiece for the past years, took charge of the junior men, women and elite women groups.
South African Olympic regular Shanae Williams who scooped Gold in the elite women group said the race was tough but credited the biking section for her victory.
“Honestly it was one of the toughest courses that I have done so far. I was really happy that I came out first. Barbra and I managed to work together in the bike section and we managed to break together. I also managed to create some distance in the run and won. Barbra and I have been training together for the past months so it has been really nice to race together and just push together,” said Williams.
Williams who came second in last year’s edition of Bonaqua African Triathlon Cup admitted that Troutbeck course is very hard to work with.
“It’s a really hard course but l am really happy to take the win especially coming from another tournament in New Zealand. The course is really tough and it freely tests you. I am going to get into a solid training block in the coming weeks. I am doing super league next week in London which I’m really excited about and then after that I’m going to train more for WTCS in Yokohama,” added Williams.
Best placed Zimbabwean Anje Van As who participated in the junior women race said the race wasn’t her best.
“I was hoping to be in top five but I’m happy that I finished the race. My race wasn’t the best that I’ve had because I was struggling on the run but I guess we have to move forward and work towards improving everything. Considering how good my competitors are, I’m quite happy with the result. The run was mentally challenging, you just have to dig deep and go a place that you never thought you would go mentally. Mentally I was actually struggling but I realized that I was representing my country so I had to finish,” said As.
Nicole Madya and Inkosinomusa Mthethwa had to pull out of the event.
Winners from the elite group are James Edgar (Gold/Ireland), Dylan Nortje (Silver /South Africa), Jorge Alarcon Familiar (Bronze /Mexico). Elite women winners were Shanae Williams (Gold /South Africa), Barbara De Koning (Silver /Netherands) Romana Gajdosova (Bronze /Slovakia). In the junior men section, winners were Shaun Wolfaardt (Gold /South Africa), Nathan Foster (Silver /South Africa), Kyle Erskine (Bronze /South Africa). From the junior women groups Kadence Ribbink (South Africa) got gold, Lome Gouws (South Africa) took silver while Mia Van Der Veen (South Africa) settled for bronze.
