Sport-loving brothers Keegan and Jarryd Cooke are ready for their next challenge as they begin preparing for the second instalment of the Torpedo Swim Run in Cape Town in November.
The siblings were among the favourites to win the 27km challenge in the Wilderness at the weekend, but after taking a wrong turn, they lost quite a bit of time, ultimately ending their chance at the top step.
They eventually settled for third place.
Despite not knowing what to expect, Keegan said they were blown away by the race venue and the beauty of the course.
“Towards the end [on Saturday], about six kilometres from the finish, there was an arrow that was either turned, or could have been blown skew, which resulted in us taking a wrong turn,” he said.
“So we were a bit bleak about that, as we had lost a lot of time. But we fought hard and we didn’t give up.
“Ending third, we were still happy with that seeing it was our first race.” Jarryd echoed his younger brother’s sentiments, saying: “I found it to be an awesome race.
“There is nothing better than racing in the outdoors in some of the best conditions our country has to offer.
“We got to a crossroads in the veld and an arrow was pointing in the wrong direction,” he said.
“Because the direction we followed kind of pointed to the finish line, that is the direction we naturally thought of going.”
Keegan said together they had decided to put the hammer down on the trail running segments of the race to try and put some distance between their opponents.
“Our tactic was to hit the prologue as hard as we could because we did not know what our opponents were doing and while we were happy with the two-minute lead going into day two, we could have added another minute or two going into the longer race on Saturday,” Keegan said.
Having now had a taste of the Torpedo Swim/Run event for the first time, Jarryd said they knew more or less what to expect going into the second instalment of the race, set for November in Cape Town.
“It was great to have done this race with my brother. We worked really well together and we have learnt a lot from this first race and I am especially privileged in that not anyone gets to race alongside a South African triathlete,” he said.
With prize money set at R100,000 for November’s Cape event, Torpedo SwimRun is attracting both serious competitive athletes and adventurous fun-seekers.