One of six local athletes delving into the ninth Ironman South Africa triathlon challenge last weekend, Nolan Berriman crossed the finish line before his fellow Grahamstonians in a praiseworthy time of 11:35:56 – over three hours less than what he recorded last year.
One of six local athletes delving into the ninth Ironman South Africa triathlon challenge last weekend, Nolan Berriman crossed the finish line before his fellow Grahamstonians in a praiseworthy time of 11:35:56 – over three hours less than what he recorded last year.
The other locals competing, Richard Hall, Walter Eksteen, Sean Swanepoel, Terri-Lynn Penney and Bossie Bosman all took full advantage of the great conditions, also going on to record personal best times in last weekend's Ironman.
Eksteen bettered his previous time by just over an hour, Penney by over 55 minutes and Swanepoel improved his time by more than 40 minutes.
Both Bosman and Hall completed their fourth Ironman ventures on Sunday, while Eksteen, Berriman, Swanepoel and Penney all did it for the second time.
Port Elizabeth's Hobie Beach precinct saw thousands of fans, enthusiasts and family members converge to support participants on 14 April.
Sweat, tears and cheers were the order of the day on Sunday as over 1 000 athletes competed in the full endurance event.
Said to be the most gruelling endurance event in the world, it requires athletes to undertake a 3.8km sea swim, followed by a 180km cycle and a 42km run.
This year Nelson Mandela Bay blessed athletes with near perfect weather conditions, in stark contrast to the torrid conditions of last year that created one of the toughest Ironman events.
Switzerland’s Ronnie Schildknecht was the overall winner in 8:11:23 and the USA’s Jessie Donavan came up trumps for the women in 9:10:57.
Ironman SA took place over three days and included events geared towards family fun like the Iron Girl SA on Friday and the Vodacom Corporate Triathlon Challenge and Pritt Iron Kids on Saturday.
Natalie Ross of the Rhodes University Athletics Club beat nearly 1 500 women in this year's Iron Girl 8.5km event.
She successfully defended her title after winning the 2012 event (which was over 10km). Ross won in a time of 32:42.
Grahamstown results from the Spec-Savers Ironman South Africa:
- Nolan Berriman – 11:35:56 (1:18:27 swim, 5:52:42 cycle and 4:09:42 run)
- Richard Hall – 11:45:08 (1:06:44, 5:33:06, 4:51:41)
- Walter Eksteen – 11:55:45 (1:14:41, 5:59:58, 4:27:50)
- Terri-Lynn Penney – 12:25:14 (1:21:11, 6:19:10, 4:33:24)
- Bossie Bosman – 13:58:44 (1:35:02, 6:44:52, 5:20:44)
- Sean Swanepoel – 14:19:46 (1:09:04, 6:16:09, 6:44:56)
