TRIATHLON Zimbabwe is set to hold the second of their three- selection events for the Africa Championships at the Mt Pleasant Pool in Harare tomorrow.
The Africa Championships are scheduled for Egypt in June and after tomorrow’s event in Mt Pleasant, the Penhalonga race scheduled for next weekend at the Small Bridge Dam will conclude this year’s revised triathlon season.
TZ coach Pam Fulton however, said action will go ahead with duathlon events as a build-up to the Bonaqua Troutbeck Triathlon Africa Cup that has since been moved from the traditional February dates to September because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Penhalonga marks the end of our triathlon season. We will proceed with a duathlon series through winter in preparation for the Troutbeck event on September 25,” Fulton told EnterSportNews.
“It has been an extremely difficult season for our athletes due to coronavirus. With the season cut short with no races in January and February and no access to swimming pools during this time, it definitely has affected our athletes both physically and mentally.”
Despite the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, athletes continue to push hard for a slot to represent the country in the land of the Pharaohs.
“To date six athletes have qualified and hopefully more will in the next two events,” added Fulton.
“Matt Denslow has now moved into the elite U23 category, so it will be interesting to see how he fares in the longer distance. Andie Kuipers has been attending university in America and has raced exceptionally well at collegiate level. This will be her last year competing in the U19 category.”
Next weekend’s event at Penhalonga includes the supersprint off-road, standard and sprint AG as well as the juniors, supersprint AG and youth, trifit and trifun on Saturday. The next day will see athletes battle it out in open water swim 375, 750, 1 500 and 3 000m. Aquathlon and trisport will also be held on the last day of the weekend.
