Bay triathlete Travis McGrath held his arms aloft as he crossed the line to take victory in the first round of the Summer Triathlon Series at Pollok Beach on Sunday morning.
Despite grey skies and humid conditions, McGrath controlled his race down to a tee as he claimed the win in 59 min 39 sec, ahead of another Bay favourite, reigning Nelson Mandela Bay triathlon champion Keegan Cooke (1:00.06) and John-Pierre Weiderman (1:02.40) in third.
The series, which is part of the city's Molo Festival of Triathlon initiative and powered by Caltex, saw more than 150 participants take to the start line. In the women’s race, the Bay’s Antonelle Saporta continued her preparations for Ironman 70.3 East London as she was first to cross the line in a time of 1:08.32, with Pretoria’s Hannah Newman taking second in a time of 1:12.59 and Cape Town’s Kelly Vroon (1:16.42) in third.
McGrath said the win was the perfect way to get the festive season under way, having had a lot of pressure from Cooke, who was just a few paces behind the leader at the end.
“We were blessed with the best day in terms of conditions.
“I always knew that I would be quite close to Keegs and he is quite quick heading into transition.
“I never panicked too much in the swim because in the last two races I have had a decent lead off the bike, but my running legs just didn’t show up the last two races,” he said.
McGrath said the rivalry between the him and the Standard Bank 5150 NMB champion was good for the sport in that it created a competitive atmosphere in every race in which they compete together.
Saporta was a cut above the rest of the women’s field as she crossed the line four minutes ahead of Newman, with Vroon a further eight minutes back.
“I had quite a good race. I was out of the water third, so I knew I had to do a bit of work on the bike.
“Conditions were perfect today, and with a draft legal race, we could draft off the boys.
“So I was in a good bunch and I made some ground over the other two girls as they were on their own,” she said.
Saporta said her aim was still to get in as much speed work as she could in preparation for the Ironman 70.3 in Buffalo City in January.
She said she would do two more races in the series, giving the mid-week one a miss.
In the super sprint triathlon, East London’s Nathan Gallacher took first place in a time of 28:23, with Allessandro Fanicchi second (46:26) and Paulo Figueira (50:04) third.
On the women’s side, Uitenhage’s Leya Bosman claimed the win in a time of 56 seconds flat, with Pauline Louw claiming the second podium spot in a time of 1:08.06.
In the sprint duathlon, Jeffreys Bay’s Pierre Charl du Plooy took first place in a time of 1:06.54, followed home by Keith Vroon (1:16.39) in second and Reagan Robinson (1:19.07) in third.
Anche Schubart was the winner in the women’s sprint duathlon race, coming home in a time of 1:15.08.
The super sprint duathlon race saw Benjamin Terblanche take the win in a time of 40:09.