Prominent South African media personalities take part in triathlon at Steyn City
Participants in the race at Steyn City included Drive with Rob and Roz on Jacaranda FM co-host, Rozanne McKenzie, and Carte Blanche presenter Macfarlane Moleli.
The second annual Auto & General Cross Triathlon proved a success with two athletes completing the race in record times.
Two-time winner of the triathlon, Shaun Wolfaardt finished with a time of 01:53.06. For the women, Nicolette Griffioen’s time was 02:11:08. Both beat a crowd of eager competitors to claim first place in the men’s and women’s races respectively.
Held at Steyn City, the event gathered massive interest from a community keen for more opportunities to put their skills to the test. This was most true for Gauteng triathletes as they often experience significant costs from traveling to other cities to take part in races like this.
Entrants in this year’s competition featured a number of celebrities. Aside from last year’s winners, national triathletes Wolfaardt and Hannah Newman, Carte Blanche presenter Macfarlane Moleli also entered in honour of a friend who died while cycling last year.
From this, he took part to raise awareness for the ‘A promise to Andre’ campaign.
Co-host of the Drive with Rob and Roz on Jacaranda FM, Rozanne ‘Roz’ McKenzie also took part in the day’s events.
“I feel so lucky to have done my first triathlon in the beautiful setting of Steyn City. I’m thankful to Auto & General for this incredible experience. I will definitely be back next year,” she said.
When race organisers, Advendurance, announced they were improving accessibility further by introducing half distances, interest increased significantly. The half distances included a 300m swim, 15km off-road cycle and 3,5km run. It created an opportunity not only for people to perfect their skills but also for families and corporates to enter.
Ricardo Coetzee, head of Auto & General Insurance said tickets for the event had been sold out within a couple of weeks.
“We tripled the ticket sales from last year, which is almost unheard of for an event that is only taking place for the second time. That demonstrates the demand for a new way of racing, as well as the fact that people want to have fun together,” he said.
CEO of Steyn City Properties, Steven Louw said it was an honour to host the triathlon for the second consecutive year.
“We believe that our parklands are the ideal location for an event of this nature, as they allow for training in all disciplines. This is made possible by facilities like Steyn City’s 300m lagoon, 50km MTB track and 45km running track,” he said.
“We are proud of the fact that our residents can train 365 days a year in these disciplines, whenever they like, in an environment that is completely traffic-free and perfectly safe, thanks to our extensive security measures and pedestrian network.”
Entrants who were not residents were able to train at Steyn City and make use of the lagoon, cycling and running tracks, during two training sessions.
Coetzee concluded that he is excited to see what next year’s triathlon brings and that it has been exciting witnessing the event’s growth.
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