In his very first EP Olympic distance championship race, Port Elizabeth youngster Keegan Cooke, fought back bravely after crashing into the back of a car half way through the cycle leg to secure the EP Men’s Title. Close on 100 triathletes contested the EP Triathlon Champships In near perfect conditions at PE’s Pollok Beach on Saturday morning, with the top competitors vying for a place in the provincial team for the SA Championships in Bloemfontein in March.
19 year old Cooke came out of the 1,5km swim together with East London elite triathlete Clinton Gravett and took the lead during the first lap of the 40km cycle only to see his dreams of a maiden win also dashed when just passed the 20km cycle mark a car puilled in front of him and then stopped resulting in Cooke crashing into the back of the car. Fortunately he was able to recover without any serious injury or equipment damage but had lost valuable time and it was only during the run leg that he managed to catch race leader Mauritz Erasmus to complete the 10km run to win in a time of 2hr 5min and 55 sec, just over a minute ahead of Erasmus with Gravett placing 3rd.
“I was feeling great after the swim and into the cycle and just couldn’t believe that the car would pull in front of me and then suddenly stop. As it pulled in front of me I expected it to accelerate but it slowed down and I couldn’t avoid riding into the back of it causing me to fall off the bike. Whilst I scraped the left side of my body and started cramping badly, I thankfully didn’t damage the bike and could continue and was super stoked with my win. ” said the new EP Olympic distance champion who recently successfully defended the About IT Triathlon Summer Series.
In the girls Olympic distance race it was Julie Walker from George who enjoyed a comfortable win in a time of 2hrs 35min and 40secs with Agnes Nieburg in second and Raquel Iverson in 3rd. Whilst earlier in the morning Dewald Klinkenburg secured a win in the EP Sprint distance triathlon in a time of 1hr 12 minutes with George triathlete Reynard Janse van Rensburg in 2nd place and Jason Collier in 3rd place whilst Kris-Mari Voges won the ladies sprint distance title from Susan Ferreira and Marteliza Kruger. In the youngsters super sprint race, Vojta Horak won in 37 minutes and 20 seconds with Francois de Villiers Junior in 2nd place and Andrew Bosch in 3rd place.
Full results from the EP Championships are available on www.zsports.co.za and the Provincial team will be announced by the Eastern Province Triathlon Association in due course.
2017 EP Triathlon Championships, Pollok Beach Port Elizabeth – Saturday 21st January 2017:
Olympic Distance
Men: 1 Keegan Cooke (2:05:55); 2 Mauritz Erasmus (2:06:59); 3 Clinton Gravett (2:08:16); 4 Ross Helliwell (2:11:41); 5 Jc Visser (2:12:59); 6 Jason Le Roux (2:13:32); 7 Darryl Koekemoer (2:16:36); 8 Warren Barber (2:17:07); 9 Jabu Mpengesi (2:17:44); 10 Shane Kemp (2:18:52); 11 Thembile Nxele (2:20:46); 12 Shane D’arcy (2:21:13); 13 De Wet De Lange (2:22:43); 14 Mauritz Janse van Rensburg (2:22:52); 15 Michael Sutherland (2:23:05); 16 Peter Marriott (2:25:11); 17 Mark Bosch (2:27:55); 18 Terry Thornton (2:27:59); 19 Graeme Van Zyl (2:29:00); 20 Stephen Van Niekerk (2:32:14); 21 Siya Daweti (2:33:04); 22 Derek Smith (2:35:05); 23 Craig Shillaw (2:35:12); 24 Tim Briscoe (2:36:29); 25 Jacques Barnard (2:38:21); 26 Jose Coelho (2:40:34); 27 Yazeed Cupp (2:41:06); 28 George Smith (2:41:27); 29 JJ Greyling (2:41:37); 30 Elbe Strydom (2:42:23); 31 Warren Paris (2:44:14); 32 Renier Botha (2:46:14); 33 Helder de Almeida e Silva (2:53:05); 34 Duane Muller (2:53:12); 35 Ben Joubert (2:57:45); 36 Lochi Lochner (3:00:48); 37 Chris Viljoen (3:03:08); 38 Graham Richards (3:05:16); 39 Johan Barnard (3:11:03); 40 Graham Chrich (3:15:24); 41 Neels Campher (3:23:52); 42 Yaseen Cupp (4:19:45); 43 Bryce Conlon (4:36:29); 44 Paul Van Heerden (4:58:27); 45 Louis Hattingh (5:24:43);
Ladies: 1 Julie Walker (2:35:40); 2 Agnes Nieburg (2:52:52); 3 Racquel Iverson (2:53:09); 4 Sandy Glover (2:55:08); 5 Amanda Shaw (2:58:42); 6 Lindsay Steele (3:00:50); 7 Paddy Cloete (3:01:26); 8 Amanda Pieterse (3:01:56); 9 Aletta Joubert (3:01:56); 10 Lauren Smith (3:07:47); 11 Jackie Strydom (3:33:58); 12 Etreshia Coetzee (3:44:08); 13 Rebecca Gatang’i (3:54:21); 14 Jacqueline Van Heerden (4:06:18);
Sprint Distance
Men: 1 Dewald Klinkenburg (1:12:28); 2 Reynard Janse van Rensburg (1:12:35); 3 Jason Collier (1:19:48); 4 Evert Vermeulen (1:24:35); 5 Shane Hall (1:25:26); 6 Juan-Paul Joubert (1:29:01); 7 Richard Maclear (1:29:48); 8 Frans Lombard (1:31:41); 9 Ignatius Venter (1:31:58); 10 Jt Ferreira (1:34:18); 11 James Helliwell (1:35:17); 12 Louis De Villiers (1:35:43);
Ladies: 1 Kris Mari Voges (1:20:48); 2 Susan Ferreira (1:23:12); 3 Martelize Kruger (1:25:00); 4 Ione De Vos (1:26:33); 5 Mags De la Kethulle (1:34:15); 6 Jeanette Oberem (1:35:30);
Super Sprint Distance
1 Vosta Horak (37:20); 2 Francois De Villiers Jnr. (41:54); 3 Andrew Bosch (42:59); 4 Daniel Van Niekerk (53:25); 5 Reghardt Klinkenburg (54:10);
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