Triathlon

Abrahm Louw established himself as one of Africa’s top triathletes when he won a silver medal at the All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique in September.

South Africa’s Erhard Wolfaardt won the gold medal after completing the 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run in 58 minutes 30 seconds. Louw came second, 43 seconds behind, while another South African Wian Sullwald came third in 1:01:46.

Paddy Murphy retained his title as overall winner of the FNB Ultra Desert Triathlon on Saturday 3 December, showing again why he is a world class athlete. He completed the ultra triathlon consisting of a 1.9km swim, 90 km cycle and 21.5km run, in a time of 5 hours 8 minutes 43 seconds. Elke Jagua was the overall female winner in a time of 6:43:52.

The weather conditions made the race extremely hard. The swiming conditions were aggravated by unusual choppy water in the Mole, as well as a slight rip.  

The Namibian coastal town of Swakopmund just south of the Skeleton Coast is for most of the year a sleepy, old colonial German town. 

But in December Swakopmund becomes a hive of activity as Namibian and foreign holidaymakers descend on the town. One of the highlights in a series of events that take place during this festive month is the challenging FNB Desert Triathlon which kicks off on 3 December.

FNB Namibia has shown their unconditional commitment towards the development of sport in Namibia with a generous sponsorship of N$40 000 for the staging of the FNB Desert Triathlon.  

Paddy Murphy and Charmaine Shannon were the overall winners of the 2011 Mariental Triathlon which took place at Hardap Dam outside Mariental on Saturday.

Despite being a master triathlete at the age of 50, Murphy showed his younger competitors a thing or two as he comfortably won the event in a total time of 2 hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds.

Willie van Zyl came second, more than 10 minutes behind in 2:34:45, while Philip Steyn came third in 2:41:36.

The triathlon, which took place for the 24th consecutive time, consisted of a 1,5km swim, a 40km cycle and a 10km run.

There will be no international athletes in the 24th edition of the Mariental Triathlon that will take place on Saturday.

Race organiser, Alphie Grobler said they were not expecting any international athletes to this year’s race because of two reasons.

“This year we are not expecting any international athletes like in the past because it is too expensive to fly to Mariental,” Grobler said.

Namibian triathlete Paddy Murphy came fourth in the 50 to 54 age group in the Hawaii XTERRA triathlon over the weekend.

Murphy finished all three legs of the race in a time of 3:11.46 behind David Maclean (3:02.36), Casey Fannin (3:04.19) and Bernd Sauter (3:07.06).

The Namibian was the second one out of the water when he finished the swimming leg in 25.25, behind Sauter (25.21).

Murphy then lost some time on the bike leg when he took 1:49.16 in fourth place.

Namibian triathlete, Abrahm Louw finished second in the elite category of the 2011 Singapore ITU Triathlon Asian Cup event, which was held over the weekend.

Louw finished the race with a time of 1:52.51, behind the overall winner Harunobu Sato from Japan who crossed the finish line in a time of 1:51.59. Bryce McMaster from Australia was third when he finished in 1:54.07.

Louw who is also the U23 African champion, finished the 1.5km swim second in 18.14 behind McMaster who got out of the water two seconds faster.

Namibian triathlete, Abrahm Louw won the U23 category of the African Triathlon Championships held recently in Maputo, Mozambique.

Louw, who broke away to go solo on the bike and built the daunting lead over the combined fields, comfortably won the U23 title but also finished third overall in the Elite Men's category.

Windy conditions forced the swim leg of the race to be shortened to 1 200m. Louw was in the pack that got out of the water first along with Moroccan Mehdi Essadiq, Jeff Norton from South Africa and Valery de Falbaire from Mauritius.

The 42-year-old veteran Patrick de Goede won the MTN Business Off Road Triathlon which was hosted by Otb Sport at the Friedenau Dam on Sunday. De Goede completed the main event, which consisted of a 1,2km swim, a 23,5km cycle and a 8,1km run in a time of 2:12:16.

Despite competition from the South Africans in this year’s event, Paddy Murphy retained his title as overall winner of the FNB Desert Ultra Triathlon.

He completed the Ultra distance triathlon (1.9km swim; 90km cycle; 21km run) in a time of four hours and 50 minutes taking eight minutes off his 2009 time. Second across the line was South African, Andre Pepler in a time of five hours. Pieter de Bruin, another South African was third.

Murphy said that he pushed the pace this year as he knew there could be competition from the South African competitors.