East London’s top triathletes will be heading the field in this weekend’s Halcyon Triathlon powered by Tribal race two at the Orient Beach on Sunday morning.
The event is doubling up as the Buffalo City Triathlon provincial championships and this should bring out the best local triathletes who will be gunning to qualify for the team to compete at next year’s South African champs.
“I think it is going to be an exciting race. We were so happy with the turnout at the last race, so we are expecting a good entry field and some great racing,” said Buffalo City Triathlon secretary Sherry Wattrus.
“We will be looking to name a team of between 20 and 25 athletes for next year’s SA champs, with most of the athletes competing tomorrow. However, if some are unable to for certain reasons they can still be considered.”
East London’s elite triathlete Cindy Schwulst should be leading the charge on the women’s front and she will be a strong favourite to take top honours.
EL’s top male triathlete, Clinton Gravett, is unfortunately not back to his best yet after injury and illness have kept him out recently and he is still recovering.
Thus Ryan Hammond will be one of the leading contenders on the men’s front after he took a third place finish in the first Halcyon triathlon event at the end of October.
The top two finishers from that race, Bradley Birkholtz and Jason Reed will both be missing this weekend’s event but both will hope to still qualify for the Buffalo City team based on other results.
Birkholtz in particular is arguably our top age group triathlete after finishing third in this year’s SA champs and second at last year’s, and in the first Halcyon race crossed the line almost 10min ahead of runner-up Reed.
Junior athletes Wickus Saunders, Davion Leon and Travis Saunders will also be aiming for top placings in their respective divisions.
On the women’s side Lindy Collins, Nikita Steele and Kimberly Murgatroyd were the top three finishers in the first race and will be expected to challenge again and hope to give Schwulst a run for her money.
In all on the day three distances will be competed.
The main event will be the Olympic distance race which consists of a 1500m swim, 40km bike and a 10km run.
The sprint division then features a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run, while the mini race covers a 350m swim, 10km cycle and 2.5km run.
“A few athletes who would normally take part will be saving themselves for our ultra event in December, but we should still have a really good field and an exciting day of racing,” said Wattrus.
Race entries for this weekend’s event can be found at Tribal or online at .
Online entries close tomorrow at noon and no late or on the day entries will be accepted.
For more information e-mail secretary@bctri.co.za.
Registration will take place on Sunday at the Orient Beach from 6am, with transition closing at 7am. The main Olympic distance race starts at 7.15am, followed by the sprint distance at 7.30am. The mini-distance will get under way at 8.05am.
Tide to turn on all battlefronts
The event is doubling up as the Buffalo City Triathlon provincial championships and this should bring out the best local triathletes who will be gunning to qualify for the team to compete at next year’s South African champs.
“I think it is going to be an exciting race. We were so happy with the turnout at the last race, so we are expecting a good entry field and some great racing,” said Buffalo City Triathlon secretary Sherry Wattrus.
“We will be looking to name a team of between 20 and 25 athletes for next year’s SA champs, with most of the athletes competing tomorrow. However, if some are unable to for certain reasons they can still be considered.”
East London’s elite triathlete Cindy Schwulst should be leading the charge on the women’s front and she will be a strong favourite to take top honours.
EL’s top male triathlete, Clinton Gravett, is unfortunately not back to his best yet after injury and illness have kept him out recently and he is still recovering.
Thus Ryan Hammond will be one of the leading contenders on the men’s front after he took a third place finish in the first Halcyon triathlon event at the end of October.
The top two finishers from that race, Bradley Birkholtz and Jason Reed will both be missing this weekend’s event but both will hope to still qualify for the Buffalo City team based on other results.
Birkholtz in particular is arguably our top age group triathlete after finishing third in this year’s SA champs and second at last year’s, and in the first Halcyon race crossed the line almost 10min ahead of runner-up Reed.
Junior athletes Wickus Saunders, Davion Leon and Travis Saunders will also be aiming for top placings in their respective divisions.
On the women’s side Lindy Collins, Nikita Steele and Kimberly Murgatroyd were the top three finishers in the first race and will be expected to challenge again and hope to give Schwulst a run for her money.
In all on the day three distances will be competed.
The main event will be the Olympic distance race which consists of a 1500m swim, 40km bike and a 10km run.
The sprint division then features a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run, while the mini race covers a 350m swim, 10km cycle and 2.5km run.
“A few athletes who would normally take part will be saving themselves for our ultra event in December, but we should still have a really good field and an exciting day of racing,” said Wattrus.
Race entries for this weekend’s event can be found at Tribal or online at .
Online entries close tomorrow at noon and no late or on the day entries will be accepted.
For more information e-mail secretary@bctri.co.za.
Registration will take place on Sunday at the Orient Beach from 6am, with transition closing at 7am. The main Olympic distance race starts at 7.15am, followed by the sprint distance at 7.30am. The mini-distance will get under way at 8.05am.
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