Top triathletes in action in East London

FOR nine years, the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 has graced the roads and ocean in and surrounding East London and each year the excitement and the prospects of competition have gripped residents.

On Sunday, close to 3 000 highly tuned athletes from 35 different countries will enter the Indian Ocean at Orient Beach for a 1.9km swim, after which they will embark on a testing 90.1km ride from the East London esplanade to Berlin and back. Once off the bike a two-lap 21.1km run awaits.

Among the locals who will be racing and planning to make their presence felt will be Clinton Gravett, who competes as a professional out of East London. Port Elizabeth pro Kyle Buckingham is expected to be a serious contender up front. Gravett will certainly enjoy great crowd support. Bradley Birkholtz is East London’s best amateur competitor and he has shown fine form over a lengthy period now.

Other East London folk with a seriously competitive streak are Jason Reid, better known for exploits on his various cycles, Dap Louw, an all-round decent athlete, Ryan Hammond, who has been enjoying good triathlon results and Donovan O’Reilly, who is likely to feature in his age group.

Richard Lawrie, of Port Elizabeth, competing in the amateur ranks and the 25-29 age category, is another man to watch.

Port Elizabeth can further expect a big effort from Mauritz Erasmus, who has been in excellent form. He finished second at the ultra distance triathlon in East London last month.

Birkholtz has shared the opinion that Matt Trautman, the winner of the past two events in East London, would have been odds-on favourite to retain his title.

However, Trautman was knocked by a car while training in Franschoek at the weekend and is recovering following surgery.