IN PHOTOS: Mpumalanga triathle and biathle athletes shine at provincial champs

Triathle and biathle athletes from all over the province took part in the Mpumalanga Triathle and Biathle Championships earlier this month and excelled on every front.

Hosted by the Mpumalanga Modern Pentathlon at Curro Nelspruit on August 9 and 10, the provincial championships are a key step in the athletes’ preparations for nationals later this year. Adding further significance to this year’s provincial championships, the nationals will be hosted at Curro Nelspruit, allowing participating athletes to use the Mpumalanga champs as an opportunity to get a feel for the course.

With this advantage in mind, athletes from other provinces made the trip to Mbombela to do just that. They were able to participate and garner qualification times for SAs, but did not qualify for medals. The triathle and laser run races were held on the first day of competition, followed by the biathle on the second day.

There were familiar names and faces across all three disciplines, though. Lumay de Beer was dominant in the U9 girls category, winning all three races, while in the U9 boys category Lealdo Wessels won the triathle and laser run and Wihanré du Toit the biathle. In the U11 girls, Lucy van der Westhuizen won the triathle and laser run while Leame Plath won the biathle.

The U11 boys’ races were evenly contested with three different winners. The triathle belonged to Adrian Lopes, the laser run to SJ Neuhoff and the biathle to Hilton Vos. In the U13 age group all three disciplines were won by Estevan Wessels in the boys and Hannah Morgado in the girls. It was much of the same in the U15 age group where Jean Eksteen won all three boys’ races and Zoe Janse van Vuuren won all three girls’ races.

Giann Wessels won all three U17 boys races while Lara Janse van Rensburg won the girls’ triathle and biathle with Janke Steenkamp winning the laser run. No U19 boys participated and there was no laser run for the U19 girls, but Chrystil Raymond won the triathle and Rebekah Braack the biathle.

In the traithle and biathle JB Eksteen won the 30+ category, while Johan Eksteen (50+ men) won the triathle and laser run with Jan Wilkens winning all three disciplines in the 60+ men category. Anneli Wiltshire won the 40+ ladies’ laser run, while Leon and Isabel Pienaar won the 70+ men’s and ladies laser run respectively.

Simon Harrison won the men’s 40+ biathle and Marilize Janse van Vuuren the ladies 40+ biathle. Nicko Janse van Vuuren (50+ men) and Sonne Odendaal (50+ women) were also victorious in the biathle.

The SA Biathle and Triathle Championships will be held at Curro Nelspruit from October 3 to 5, and will feature 100s of the best athletes from around the country, including 77 representing Mpumalanga.

> Photos: Blake Linder