Mark Brinkmann won the MTN Off Road Triathlon at the Friedenau Dam on Sunday in a new record time of 2:10:28, which was four minutes faster than the winning time in 2009.
Approximately 150 athletes participated in the event, which consisted of a 1.2km swim, 24.7 km bike ride and a difficult off-road run of 8.9km, for which a path was specifically cut out of the surrounding bush.
Patrick de Goede, a seasoned triathlete, who took overall second place in the race said, "The race was tight and tough. You were pushing yourself to catch the person in front of you and at the same time racing to get away from the people behind."
The 1.2 km swim saw Mark Brinkmann, currently in training for Iron Man SA, first out the water. Second out the water, was Jurie Badenhorst, followed by Andrew Rowles, Patrick De Goede and Andy Chase.
Chase, one of the firm favorites for the race, caught up with training partner, Brinkmann on the cycle leg. Andy Chase, Mark Brinkmann, Andrew Rowles, Patrick de Goede and Stefan van Doorn were all neck on neck for the cycle and came into transition on each others tails.
The running pace was fast with Andy Chase in the lead followed by Mark Brinkmann and Patrick De Goede. Unfortunately Chase suffered severe cramps and had to pull out of the race.
Mark Brinkmann then opened it up, pushing the pace on the run route to create a convincing two minute lead over De Goede.
Brinkmann went on to win the race in a time of 2:10:28, with Patrick de Goede coming second in 2:12:32, while Stefan van Doorn was third overall (and first in the Elite category) in a time of 2:12:34.
The first female across the line was Elke Jagau in a time of 2:30:43. Charmaine Shannon was second in 2:47:01, while Susanne Borg came third in 3:14:20.
The overall winner of the Rookie event, comprising of a 600m swim, 10km bike and 3km run, was 14 year old Martin Freyer, in an excellent time of 55.19. Martin was also winner of the Male U16 category.
First Rookie Female 40 plus years was former Miss Namibia, Anja Schroder in a time of 1:07. First Female U39 was Karen Munting in a time of 1:24:22. First Male U39 was Adrian de la Harp in a time of 59:06 with Ian Grassouw close behind in 59:16. The Male 40 plus category was won by Hendrie Scheun in a time of 1:21:25.
The U12 category was won by Herbert Pieters in a time of 39:55, in second place Luke Brinkmann in a time of 44:47, and in third place was Patrick Tietz in a time of 47:55.
The first team in the U12 category was St Pauls Saints with team members Alexander Skinner, Joshua van Tonder and Niel Swanepoel.
Otb Sport event organiser, Yvonne Brinkmann, said it was terrific to see many new faces in triathlon across a broad range of ages and levels.
"The sport has definitely found strong and stable support in the number of participants over the last few years. In fact we are seeing consistent large numbers across all the triathlon events in Namibia. We are also seeing a strong improvement in the quality of athletes and an improvement in times. In 2009 only one person (Tokkie Bombosch) beat the 2hr15 minute mark. This year all five of the top finishers were well below 2hr15min."
MTN Business representative, Ingram van Heerden also a triathlete and participant of the event said, “As a sponsor we will definitely continue to support this exciting and tough event. On a personal note it remains my favourite event both locally and in South Africa.”
This was the third year that MTN Business Namibia sponsored the Off-Road Triathlon. Manfred Engling of MTN Business said, "MTN’s commitment to support the business community in Namibia with the most reliable access to the world will always remain just as much as our commitment to support the Namibian sporting community like the past weekend. MTN is very proud to be associated with OTB sport and is looking forward to making this event even bigger and greater next year."