Triathletes aiming for world champs

ALL eyes will be on Buffalo City this weekend as South Africa’s provinces battle it out in a new sport called modern triathle.

It is a continuous shoot, swim, run endurance event where athletes from 12 years old to 70-plus can qualify for the world championships in Batumi, Georgia, in September.

As a new development discipline of the Olympic sport modern pentathlon, triathle was introduced in Port Elizabeth this year, adding to the already well-represented biathle, which is a continuous runswim-run for those from seven to 70-plus. The aim of triathle is to enhance the biathletes’ skills towards becoming full modern pentathletes.

In a recent first for the Bay and the Eastern Cape, the Nelson Mandela Bay Modern Pentathlon Association (NMBMPA) hosted the first Eastern Cape Triathle Championships earlier this month in which 25 athletes from Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay took part.

The best of these will now represent the province in the SA Triathle Champs in East London on Sunday.

A total of 60 athletes across South Africa will compete and, for the Biathle SA Champs on Saturday, more than 250 athletes will try to qualify for the world championships. The Nelson Mandela Bay triathle team did well at the Eastern Cape Champs, with U18 competitor Gareth Vorster (Cradock High) winning a gold medal and Stephan Vorster (Pearson High) taking silver for the U14 boys.

Grey High’s Kyle de Lange won the U14 category by almost two minutes, achieving the best shooting performance on the day.

NMBMPA chairman Peter Lynch also won gold in the masters category, with Monique Ferreira (Kabega Primary) taking home silver in the U14 girls section.

The remainder of the team selected for Eastern Cape for this weekend is: Kayleigh Hiscock (U14, Herbert Hurd), Kayla Ferreira (U14, Kabega Primary) and Anro Swart (U18, Framesby).