Nelson Mandela Bay triathlete Antonelle Saporta made it two wins in as many starts when she claimed the third leg of the Summer Triathlon Series, which attracted 110 competitors at Pollok Beach on Sunday.
Saporta, who missed the second race last Wednesday, came back guns blazing to win in a time of 1 hr 10 min 6 sec, almost a minute ahead of Pretoria’s Hannah Newman, who claimed another second-place finish in 1:10.55.
Karla Lokotsch rounded out the podium spots in 1:15.43 in third.
In the men’s race, the Bay’s Keegan Cooke went a step closer to retaining his series title as he blew away the competition to finish in a time of 59:04.
He was followed home by Jeffreys Bay’s Divan du Plooy in 1:04.04 while Rossouw Venter, in 1:04.52, claimed the final podium spot.
Saporta, who had at least 16 hours of training outside the series, said her body was tired, but she was happy with her race and believed her preparations for the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo City were on track.
“I didn’t have a great swim today. I guess running in on tired legs was tough, so I battled with the swim.
“On the bike, there was nobody there to draft on.
“We had a strategy with the two front boys that we would break away from the rest of the group, and then on the run it was about just trying to keep the speed up.
“I had a quick first lap, and I thought if I could go faster I could drop the second girl,” Saporta said. The series had aided her in building strength and banking hours for the East London event towards the end of January.
“I think doing these races makes you so much stronger because you actually race it on tired legs.
“So one can only bank it for East London. You cannot get better training than this and that is why this series is so important for the Eastern Cape,” Saporta said.
While she was happy with her race, Saporta said she would look to improve her swim in the final leg of the series in St Francis Bay as she enters the final stages of her preparations for 70.3 East London.
Cooke went even faster in the third race as he finished four one-hundredths of a second better than his previous win time.
“We had much better conditions today compared with Wednesday.
“The sea was a bit choppy and it was possibly the toughest swim we’ve had in the series so far.
“On the bike I felt decent. “I could feel the last two races in my legs, but the wind was good on the bike, which helped in having a quick leg.
“I felt quite good on the run, and I tapped off slightly on the last lap so as to save some gas for the last race in St Francis Bay on December 26,” the Nelson Mandela Bay 5150 champion said.
Cooke said his previous two races saw him put out much better bike legs, but believed all three disciplines had improved as a whole.
“All round I have been fairly solid. I have been very happy with my runs, as running well off the bike is a big part of it.
“You can bike as hard as you want, but you still have to be able to run off that.
“So, I think the last two races I have put all three disciplines together quite well.”
Cooke said he would still race hard in the final race on Boxing Day, as he looks to secure back-to-back series wins.
Meanwhile, in the super sprint triathlon race, Emily Raath won in 40:20, seven minutes ahead of Amber Herman (47:20), second, and Lara Watts (48:27), third.
The men’s race saw Nathan Gallacher first in 33:27, more than five minutes ahead of Siphosethu Nomoyi (39:53), second, and Muhammad Allie (42:29), third.
The sprint duathlon saw Ross Helliwell take the win in 1:03.38, five minutes ahead of Pierre Charl du Plooy (1:08.55), second and Warren Paris, third with 1:09.25.
Anche Schubart ran her way to victory in 1:15.02 in the sprint duathlon women’s race.
The super sprint duathlon women’s race was claimed by Vanessa du Plessis in 49:46, followed by Susann Chapman (51:46) in second, and Ayesha Hendricks (1:02.12) in third.