East London will host the third edition of the Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 triathlon on Sunday, and 22 Grahamstown locals will be swimming, cycling and running for all they’re worth.
East London will host the third edition of the Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 triathlon on Sunday, and 22 Grahamstown locals will be swimming, cycling and running for all they’re worth.
The Ironman 70.3 is made up of a 1.9km sea swim, 90km cycle and a 21km run. The fastest time by a local over the course is by Alex Joiner who completed the triathlon in a total time of 5 hours 31 minutes and 54 seconds at last year’s event. The fastest swim time by a local was set in 2008 by Richard Hall, with his 23:09.
The quickest cycle is a 3:10 set in 2008 by Neil Currie, while Terri-Lynn Penney holds the fastest time in the running leg by a local with her 1:42:35 set at last year’s event. The fastest overall time by a local woman is 6:04:38 set by Penney at the 2008 edition of the event.
In 2008 13 locals competed in the Ironman 70.3, nine competed in last year’s event, while 22 locals have entered for Sunday’s event, which will feature a number of national and international professional athletes.
With reigning champion Raynard Tissink out with an injury all eyes will be on James Cunnama to keep the SA flag flying on race day. Women’s champion Lucie Zelenkova (Czech Republic) will have her work cut out for her with a star-studded women’s field this year.
Her strongest contender will be in the form of German athlete Sandra Wallenhorst. Faiers said that two days – Friday 15 and Saturday 16 January – have been set aside for official swimming course training for participants wanting to get a final swimming warm up.
They will be able to venture into the sea at Orient Beach between 8am and 10am. Registration opens on Thursday, 14 January for the 2 000 athletes – many of whom are first timers. The United Kingdom has 25 athletes representing them followed by 20 from Germany and the USA rounding off the top three with 14 athletes.
The race will also welcome athletes from as far afield as Australia, Israel and the Netherlands to name but a mere few. On the provincial side Gauteng has a lion’s share of the athletes with 39% hailing from up north. The Eastern Cape has 33% of the total followed by the Western Cape with 14%.
The Grahamstown athletes who have entered for the 2010 Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 South Africa (with the number of Ironman 70.3 events completed in brackets) are:
Kevin Barnard, Anthony Bernard, Deon Boshoff (1), Douglas Cockcroft, Johan Conradie (2), Neil Currie (1), Richard Hall (1), Dave Hanton (1), Katjana Hoskin, Keith Hoskin, Janet Kelly, Mike Loewe (1), Kerry Longhurst (1), Kelly Marx, Candice Mullins, Stephen Penney, Terri-Lynn Penney (2), Kevin Rafferty (2), Andrew Roberts, Sean Swanepoel, Julie Truter and Julie Walker.
