The effects of the gruelling Ironman competition only a week earlier caught up with South Africa’s top triathlete Jamie Riddle, when he was forced to withdraw from the run in the Africa Triathlon Championships held at Nelson Mandela Bay.
Riddle had finished fifth on his Ironman debut (3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run) and had taken a few days off to rest and recover before tackling the standard triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km cycle, 10km run) and had performed heroically through the swim and bike ride.
However, he started suffering badly when disputing the lead with eventual winner Jawad Abdelmoula and withdrew from the race after one lap (2.5km) of the 10km run.
Abdelmoula went on to open up a gap of nearly four minutes on Julian Birkel and won in 1hr 47min 44sec, with the South African 3min 28sec behind.
“I felt flat all day,” the 24-year-old Riddle said on Instagram. “I managed to get a 45 second gap into the first transition with Jawad. It was a solo effort on the bike though, but I felt hip and hammy pain and decided t make a smart call as this race means nothing in the bigger scheme of things.”
The women’s race was a fight between the two South Africans, Shanae Williams and Bridget Theunissen, with Williams sealing the victory on the run which she completed in 37:21, putting 2min 29sec between herself and her rival over the 10km which sealed the impressive win in an overall 2:07:32.
In other events, Anthony Clayton sprang something of a surprise when he beat Nicholas Horne home by 33 seconds, while the the para-triathlon, Mhlengi Gwala (1:13:35) and Paralympian Kirsty Weir (1:22:16) won the PTS4 categories.
“It was really tough conditions,” Williams said. “The swim was pretty choppy with lots of waves, but I managed to get quite a big lead on the swim. The bike run was also quite tough with one way having a strong headwind.
“I was then caught by Bridget, and we managed to work together to keep the pack away from us. It came down to a running race, and I managed to find my running legs today, and that was really good.”
Photo: THE HERALD
