Eleven athletes from Grahamstown made the long trek to Worcester, in the Western Cape, for the national duathlon championships last weekend.
Eleven athletes from Grahamstown made the long trek to Worcester, in the Western Cape, for the national duathlon championships last weekend.
The strong winds and cold weather on Sunday didn't stop the Grahamstown athletes from producing some fine times though, including two bronze medals. A total of 305 athletes from around the country descended on Brandvlei Dam to represent their provinces at the champs.
The first run involved two laps of 5km with two gradual hills, the rest being reasonably flat, which took runners through the Brandvlei Correctional Services property. A quick transition saw the athletes cycle along vehicle restricted routes in the Louwshoek triangle outside Rawsonville.
The start of the bike trail was on a deceptive little hill, which got many cyclists off their seats and most of the cycle was against the wind. Darryn van Huyssteen, representing Border, was the first local athlete home in 2 hours 10 minutes and 47 seconds.
Natalie Ross finished in 2:22:44. Ross and Terri-Lynn Penney both finished third in their age categories, each earning an SA bronze championship medal. The rest of the local athletes competed in the two distances; junior took part in the sprint distance (5km run, 20km cycle and 2.5km run) while age category athletes, from 20 years up, covered the Olympic distance (10km run, 40km cycle and 5km run).
In the women's race Andrea Steyn lead from start to finish to be crowned the 2012 South African Duathlon Championship title holder. It was an “Awesome race in tough conditions. Happy with my SA duathlon title,” Steyn said. In the mens’ race Travis Johnston went on to win overall, even though he received a two-minute penalty on the bike leg.
After the race he tweeted: “Very happy with the result today. Time for a glass of red wine.” Age category results: 33. Darryn van Huyssteen 2:10:47 (36:55 run, 1:12:05 cycle and 19:36 run) 77. Natalie Ross 2:22:44 (38:01, 1:20:57 and 20:49) 87. Terri-Lynn Penney 2:25:08 (39:42, 1:21:44 and 21:15) 111. Deon Boshoff 2:33:07 (45:19, 1:19:31 and 25:11) 123. Julie Walker 2:39:00 (46:30, 1:22:42 and 26:19). Junior results; 16 – 19 years: 25. Richard Simpson 1:07:05 (19:06, 37:32 and 8:08) 29.
Matthew Archer 1:09:06 (17:43, 39:27 and 8:50) 31. Dylan Ramsay 1:09:56 (18:30, 41:04 and 8:06) 41. Richard Hobson 1:12:30 (20:04, 40:15 and 8:57) 51. Matthew Danckwerts 1:25:28 (44:32 for the cycle – no times for the run) 53. Anna Nelson 1:36:11 (23:28, 59:40 and 10:29).
