Keegan Cooke Conquers at Duathlon Champs

It was an early morning start for the small but competitive field which assembled at Pollok beach for the NMBT Duathlon Championship on Sunday.

Competitors enjoyed quiet conditions at the start of the race with the wind picking up to a fresh breeze during the course of the morning. However, it was Port Elizabeth’s own Keegan Cooke who blew away the field with an outstanding performance to win in a time of 1 hour 54 minutes 16 seconds over Olympic distance course which consisted of a 10km run, 40km cycle and concluded with another 5km run. Second place in the Senior championships was taken by Ross Helliwell and 3rd went to Stegmann van Zyl.

As far as the men’s category goes the junior champion, Sachin Naidoo, completed the race, which is exactly half the distance of the Senior championships in 1 hour 12 minutes 23 seconds and the youth champion, Francios de Villiers finished in an incredible 35 minutes and 46 seconds on their course. A special mention must be made of Namibian Divan du Plooy who completed the 5km run, 20km cycle and 2.5km run course in 59 minutes and 31 seconds, an unbelievably fast time. Du Plooy was the fastest in the sprint distance by some way however due to his status a Namibian native was not eligible for the junior championship title.

The ladies’ section was dominated by Mariette Hattingh who finished 33 minutes ahead of anyone else in her section in a time of 2 hours 26 minutes 2 seconds. At the age of just 13 Leya Bosman was the girl’s youth champion.

“I am happy with my race today. I felt great and the time was a good one for the conditions which we experienced”, said Cooke at the end of the race. “I am really looking forward to the season ahead and hope to continue getting faster and stronger before the big race in September”. Cooke and the rest of the competitors will continue their triathlon preparations at the upcoming duathlon races on June 9 and July 14.

Stay in touch with these upcoming duathlon and triathlon events on www.zsports.co.za/triathlon as well as all results for the NMBT Duathlon Championship.