Riddle is runner-up in Netherlands triathlon
Port Elizabeth-born triathlete Jamie Riddle capped a near perfect return to racing as he claimed a hard-fought second place at the 2020 5150 Maastricht-Limburg in the Netherlands at the weekend.
Trading blows with the strong field of professional athletes, Riddle took the silver medal at the Ironman sanctioned event after finishing just over a minute behind eventual winner, Dutchman Youri Keulen, on Sunday.
In what was his first outing after more than five months away from professional racing, the 20-year-old posted split times of just over 18 minutes on the swim and 1:00.33 on the bike, before ending off with a 33:30 run, to cap his overall time at 1:55.54 and secure his podium spot.
Riddle said it was a tough outing taking to a 5150 start line for the first time in his fledgling triathlon career.
“I was very happy with my performance.
“To come out and be able to battle through cramps and navigating the distance was a good challenge,” Riddle said.
While the race is seen by some as “an easy distance”, Riddle said it was still a challenge due to the frenetic pace at which it was contested.
“With the intensity at which we are trying to compete it is still a long distance.
“So for me, it was good to see that I could last that long and keep my performance up at the speed we were going.
“I am someone who doesn’t want to settle for silver.
“There is always that piece of me screaming that we need to be on that top step,” the Under Armour athlete said.
His aim, he said, was to ensure he got a good start in the swim discipline to open up a gap for the bike.
This was not easy against a strong field of 40 professional athletes, Riddle said.
“I knew everyone else was on time trial bikes, while I was using a road bike, so I needed to try to get as big an advantage as I could on the swim.
“I tried to get the best position I could even on my road bike, but it only lasted about 15km into the bike when the uber bikers caught us and I just had to try to hold that gap.
“I knew I was one of the best runners in the field, so the goal was to get on the run and find a good rhythm.
“I started to feel the fatigue and cramping start to set in towards the end, so I am just happy I managed to absorb all those challenges, obstacles and soldier through,” he said.
Riddle said he was excited to see how his racing improved once he was back to full conditioning, having put in the hard yards during the extended break.
“It gives me a lot of confidence and it shows that everything I did during lockdown is starting to pay off.
“It also shows that my conditioning is not there yet, so once I have that nailed down, I am hoping it will put my name among some of the top up-andcoming athletes,” the former Grey High pupil said.