The annual Swakop Half Iron triathlon takes place on Saturday, December 8 in Swakopmund at the Mole.
Namibiaâ??s top triathletes, Paddy Murphy and Cordula Moller will participate in the individual category, but Murphy can expect strong competition from South Africaâ??s Nico Sterk, who won the event last year.
â??It was in Swakopmund where it all started for me. I did my first triathlon in Swakopmund more than eight years ago and therefore Iâ??ll always come back to support triathlon in Swakopmund. This year I want to improve on my performance and will come down to the coast a week before the event to prepare,â? he said.
The team competition will be tough with many of Namibiaâ??s top athletes in action.
Reinholdt Iita will be running for the Prowealth team with Nick du Plessis as the cyclist.
Top marathon runner Beata Naigambo and All Africa Games swimmer Corinna Wahl will team up, while Otb Sport will sponsor the team of swimmer Doris Kleynhans, cyclist Heiko Redecker and athlete Frans Hosea.
The focus on teams and the new â??flexible team conceptâ? has encourages recreational athletes to participate and has allowed individuals more freedom to choose his or her distances.
The triathlon will be sponsored by FNB Namibia, together with Pupkewitz, Puma and OTB Sport.
FNB and Pupkewitz have jointly committed N$22 345, while Puma sponsored trophies, medals and vouchers to the tune of N$15000 with OTB Sport as the outstanding event organizer of the popular and traditional Swakop Triathlon.
The Swakop Triathlon will start at The Mole at 07:00 on Saturday, December 8, while registration takes place the previous day from 17h00 to 18h30 behind Café Treff.
The format of the Swakop Half Iron consists of the traditional three-in-one sport package such as the 1.9km sea-swim, 90km cycle and 21km run. The smart partnership between FNB, Pupkewitz, Puma and OTB Sport offers an extraordinary sport package coinciding with the Festive Season for the lesser gung-ho athlete to create an opportunity to encourage the less seasoned athlete to participation in this sport bonanza.
The flexible team concept
Interested athletes can enter a team of up to four people. Team members can be substituted as often as they wish as long as it is at a transition point or loop. Yvonne Brinkmann of OTB Sport said that one can choose his/her own distance and code
Each code [swimming, cycling and running] consists of three loops. The 1.9km swim has three loops of about 600m, cycling three loops of 30km, while the 21km run is made up of three 7km loops along the sea. At the end of each loop at the transition point, athletes may substitute team members.
â??If your team has three members, each could do one loop of 600m swim, cycle [30km] and run [7km]. Alternatively, if your team consists of four members, one can also do the entire swim and the run, while the cycle code can be divided amongst the other three team-mates,â? Yvonne Brinkmann of OTB Sport said. She added that the Triathlon was flexible in allowing the teams to choose their distance and code.