DRIKUS Coetzee smashed the FNB Desert Ultra Triathlon record by more than 10 minutes in Swakopmund on Sunday with a new winning time of 4 hours 7 minutes 14 seconds.
Competing in perfect weather conditions, Namibian-born Coetzee, who currently resides in South Africa and Jean Paul Burger pushed each other all the way as both of these youngsters went on to break the record set by Gerhard de Bruin of South Africa in 2012.
The FNB Ultra distance involves a swim of 1,9km, cycle of 90km and a run of 21,1. km. Coetzee’s winning time smashed De Bruin’s record by more than 10 minutes, while Burger, who came second in 4:15:11, also broke the previous record by two minutes.
Surfer and local Swakopmunder Phillip Seidler again showed all and sundry that nobody knows this ocean better than he does. He was first out of the water, a good two and a half minutes faster than Coetzee and set a new record time of 23:31 for the swimming leg. Seidler was part of the mixed team Forever Young, which went on to win the Mixed Team category in the Ultra triathlon.
After the swim Burger was two minutes behind Coetzee and it looked as if he was slowly catching up during the first loop on the bike, but by the second loop Coetzee accelerated to increase his lead.
“This was the first time I did this race so I was not sure about my pacing. During the first lap I kept a steady and strong pace and by the second lap I still felt good so I really pushed and increased my pace significantly,” Coetzee said after the race.”
Coetzee pulled away from Burger and went on to finish the 90km cycle loop in 2 hours 18 minutes, to increase his lead on Burger by another seven minutes.
The only thing that would now alter the outcome was a total collapse by Coetzee on the running leg, which was not to be. Even though Burger gave it his all to finish the running leg in 1:21:58 – 36 seconds faster than Coetzee, it was not enough.
Coetzee is currently ranked 240 on the triathlon world rankings and will need to get into the top 140 in the world to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Next year he plans to return to Namibia to resume his training so that he can hopefully qualify for the Olympics.
Tyrone Kotze from Swakopmund came third in 4:48:54, followed by Anton Swart (5:27:02) and Petrus Laubscher (5:39:33).
The Elite female section was won by Adele De la Rey in 5:34:25, followed by Nicola Meintjies in 7:08:33.
In the older categories most of the prizes were swooped by the Zimbabwean and South African competitors.
The Veteran Female race was by won Michele Hogg followed by Anri Parker and Elna Fouche.
The Veteran Male category was won by David Gardner, with Marius Garbers coming second and Brad Harris third. Elke Jagau won the Female Masters category, while Neil Clark won the Male Master category in a very sold time of 5:09:48.
Namibian triathlete and junior champion Herbert Peters won the Elite Standard Triathlon (1km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run) in 2:08:47, followed by Sebastian Pahl (2:10:08) and Gerhard Fourie (2:20:12), while Julika Pahl won the Female Elite Standard category in 2:33:00, with Benita Kasch coming second in 2:34:30 and Nastassja Payne third in 2:57:46.
The Swakopmunders dominated the Veteran Women’s category, with Christiane Beulker (2:38:33) winning ahead of Anja Schroder (2:44:24) and Bobby Jo Bassingthwaighte (2:49:22).
Paul Brinkmann easily won the Veteran Male category in 2:14:53, followed by Stefan van Doorn (2:23:51) and Paul Munting (2:42:30).
Berrit Graf won the Female Masters category in 2:57:49, with Claire van Aardt second in 3:23:40, while Roelof Pahl won the Male Masters category 2:31:35, followed by Harald Preschel (3:02:36) and Johan Coetzee (3:08:53).
In the Sprint Triathlon (400m swim, 20km cycle, 4km run) it looked like it would be a clear win for Luke Brinkmann in the Open Male category, as he was first out of the water and maintained his lead during the bicycle section. But a slow transition cost him precious time and the u15 triathlete Schalk van der Merwe managed to catch up and took the lead with an excellent run.
Van der Merwe was the overall winner as well as u15 winner in 1:00:28, while Brinkmann came second in 1:00:57 and Calla Joone third in 1:06:55.
Sabrina Reichart won the Open Female category in 1:09:34, followed by Mariska Grobbelaar (1:11:30) and Ilanda Botha (1:18:07), while Tanya Mackensen won the u15 Female category in 1:09:22, followed by Hannah Murphy in 1:19:22.
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