ANESU MASAMVU RECENTLY IN NYANGA
Andie Kuipers says she has turned her focus to the upcoming competitions, which include the African Games.
It comes after she finished fifth in the elite women category at the 16th Bonaqua Africa Triathlon Cup which took place at Troutbeck in Nyanga over the weekend.
Ireland’s Elizabeth Carr who was debuting the vigorous Troutbeck course won gold in the elite women’s race. Netherlands triathlete, Marit Van Der Berg won silver while Antonela Manac from Romania and Ikeno Minori from Japan finished in third and fourth place respectively.
Speaking to journalists after the race, Kuipers said: “The swim was hard while the bike took me a while to find my rhythm. (But),this is good because I was the first African to cross the line, so in terms of getting points for Africa, it is promising for me.”
With her sights set on more races in the near future, including the Africa Games, she indicated that she would be putting in more effort in her swim to qualify for Paris.
“I need to work on bridging the gap on the swim and then the run. I was really exhausted from working hard on the bike, so definitely, the swim needs to be worked on,” she said.
Kazakhstan’s Ayan Beisenbayev won the gold medal in the elite men’s category.
Austrian Noah Künz won silver, and Temirlan Temirov, came third.
Mauritius’ Jean Gael Laurent Letete came in fourth in the same race. Seifeddine Selmi of Tunisia and Siefeldeen Ismail of Egypt placed sixth and seventh in the race, respectively.
Zimbabwe had four boys in the Junior Men Africa Cup. The first athlete from Zimbabwe to cross the finish line was Rohnan Nicholson, who finished sixth. Callum Smith finished the race in seventh place.
Stanley Chasakara and Mandlenkosi Mthethwa finished eighth and ninth, respectively, at the completion of the race.
After finishing the race, the Eaglesvale School student ,Chasakara stated that he will put in more effort on the bike as well as his mentality when on the playing field.
“I think the competition was good. I managed to do okay on the swim coming out in the middle of the pack. On the bike, I struggled a lot. So that is something I need to work,” Chasakara said.
He added, “Mentally I wasn’t strong. When I came back for the second lap, I had already lost the race because in my head, I was no longer there. So I think that is something that I have to work on.”
“I think I tried to go too fast on the first lap because when I came back for my second one, I was almost finished so I had to push myself to finish.”
Mandlenkosi Mthetwa, who finished ninth in the junior men’s race after a time of 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 30 seconds, said the swim was where he lost it.
Nicholas Horne and Nathan Foster of South Africa won gold and silver medals respectively while Fourie Steyn of Namibia finished third and earned the bronze.
