Premier Tri Series Underway

The Eastern Cape’s premier Sprint Distance Triathlon Series got under way on Saturday with the first round of the About IT Triathlon Summer Series taking place at Pollok Beach amid a strong and blustery off-shore wind.

Defending Series champion Keegan Cooke, 20, got off to a flying start on Saturday winning in a time of 1 hour 2 minutes, some 2 minutes ahead of Graeme Renand with Justin Fraenkel in 3rd place overall. Conditions were challenging on the swim section with an increasing off-shore wind which got stronger as they participants battled into it over the first half of the 20km cycle leg before enjoying it’s push on the return leg before heading off on a two lap 5km run along the beachfront.

Visiting 16 year old Durban Triathlete, Amber Schlebusch won the ladies race in a time of 1hr 12 minutes ahead of Grahamstown athlete Alexia Loizou and local Sanja Steyn. Two teams also took part on the morning with star junior triathlete Jamie Riddle teaming up with Grey High School scholar Aidan Baker to win the category.

A host of lucky draw prizes were up for grabs including the opportunity for entrants to be in the final draw for a R10,000 Silverback bicycle from local cycle shop, Action Cycles. Hydration on the morning was sponsored by Score Energy Drink and Soga Organic with Distell giving sparkling wine to the winners and Caltex Eastern Cape having great hamper prizes.

The next Sprint Distance Triathlon will be on Wednesday morning at 8am at Pollok Beach followed by another on Saturday morning and then the final round on Tuesday 26th at Port St Francis. Full results and information available on www.zsports.co.za

SUMMARY RESULTS

About IT Triathlon Summer Series, Pollok Beach, Port Elizabeth, Round 1, Saturday 16th December 2017:

Sprint Distance
Men: 1 Keegan Cooke (1:02:39); 2 Graeme Renard (1:04:57); 3 Justin Fraenkel (1:08:15); 4 Ross Helliwell (1:08:23); 5 Jarryd Cooke (1:09:23); 6 Divan Du Plooy (1:10:04); 7 De Wet De Lange (1:11:36); 8 Bruce Gie (1:11:41); 9 Dan Howitz (1:12:28); 10 James Crawford (1:14:07); 11 Chris Herring (1:14:10); 12 Jason Le Roux (1:14:19); 13 Jacques Joubert (1:14:44); 14 Bryce Robertson (1:15:35); 15 Hal Snyman (1:16:38); 16 alcolm Vorster (1:17:22); 17 Andrew Bosch (1:18:12); 18 Mark Bosch (1:18:13); 19 Ettienne Ludick (1:19:28); 20 Jose Coelho (1:20:11);

Ladies: 1 Amber Schlebusch (1:12:41); 2 Alexia Loizou (1:16:07); 3 Sanja Steyn (1:21:48); 4 Charne Hiscock (1:24:12); 5 Rebecca Van Der Merwe (1:24:52); 6 Carey Pohl (1:33:50); 7 Stefan Oosthuizen (1:38:41); 8 Michelle Cronje (1:44:32); 9 Louise Fletcher (1:45:47); 10 Debbi Hudson (1:46:19); 11 Cheryl Gibson-dicks (1:47:05); 12 Jordan Gerber (1:48:16); 13 Belinda Cole (1:50:19); 14 Ansie Van Der Merwe (1:56:57); 15 Ernsl Conradie-venter (2:08:09); 16 Esme Van Niekerk (2:08:09);