Cooke on boil in Big 5
Nelson Mandela Bay multisports enthusiasts Keegan Cooke and Richard Lawrie put their best foot forward as the pair finished in the top three positions in the Momentum Big 5 Challenge held at the weekend.
Cooke claimed overall honours in a cumulative time of 7hr 25min 7sec, finally managing to grace the top step of the podium after narrowly missing out on it last year.
Cooke was already on his cool-down routine when Cape Town’s Dean Hopf (7:48:58) ended in second, while the Bay’s Lawrie claimed the final podium spot with a time of 8:07:46.
Defending women’s champion Vicky van der Merwe again outclassed her opponents to cross the finish line in a cumulative time of 8:20:54 and retain her title.
She was followed almost 10 minutes later by second-placed Fienie Barnard (9:34:23) and Almari de Milander.
Cooke said: “I wanted to go one better than last year where I came second to Brad Weiss.
“Last week I surprised myself on the mountain bike, going a lot quicker than last year. Throughout the week I tried to keep it consistent. I felt I had a good swim on Monday.
“The trail run was tough, as always, but I was happy to defend my title of the overall win on that from last year.
“The MTBX is always fun with a few obstacles thrown in and I managed to stay on my bike. It was good to go into the half-marathon with a cushion, so although there was no pressure I gave it a good push. My body is pretty broken.”
The Bay’s other athlete, Lawrie, a full-time triathlon coach, said he was happy with his performance, having participated in the full event on two occasions before.
“I knew I wasn’t the strongest competitor out there, but I tried to remain as consistent as possible and put in as many good performances as I could,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say that going for third place was my aim, but I needed to put on a good race in the final event.
The gap between myself and another competitor was about a minute at the end of the race, so that shows just how tight the finish was.
“I don’t spend enough time out in the mountains as I should, so the MTBX and trail runs were something different, but I am glad with the results I achieved.
“I knew, going into the MTB race, if I could get a good result, it would set me up well for the rest of the week.”
Lawrie, who is preparing for the Ironman 70.3 world championships in the Bay later this year, said he would be back next year for another crack at the challenge.
Van der Merwe, a Stellenbosch-based law graduate turned triathlon coach, found herself behind Oudtshoorn’s Barnard, who opened up a commanding lead in the MTB event.
However, being the fighter that she is, Van der Merwe made up the time in subsequent events to take the overall win and claim her second challenge title in as many years.