SA hopeful takes spoils at Uplands Duathlon

It came as no surprise that Roger Mortlock emerged victorious in the Uplands Challenge Duathlon on Saturday, given that he is on his way to compete in the national triathlon championships.

The inaugural event attracted a total of 328 participants who lined up for the trail run and mountain-bike event at the school.

Organiser and Uplands Prep PTA chairman, Carolyn Holland, said the school aimed to make this an annual fixture on the sporting calendar.

“We started it to promote a healthy lifestyle. It was the ideal opportunity to make use of the lovely bicycle tracks on the school grounds.”

Holland explained the event raised money for the PTA, which will utilise the funds for the school and Uplands’ outreach programme.

It was a fun event with families and small children encouraged to participate. Distances ranged from a 1,5-kilometre run and four-kilometre bike ride for the juniors, a five-kilometre run and 16-kilometre cycle for adults, and a 10-kilometre run and 38-kilometre ride for seniors. Teams could also participate in senior, junior and family events.

Holland says the youngest participant was a three-year-old, as well as serious athletes such as Mortlock.
The winner of the full individual event is a former paddler who took up triathlon about a year ago.

To date he has a couple of first-place finishes to show for his efforts, and on March 20 he will be representing Gauteng, as Mpumalanga does not have a team at the national triathlon championships in East London.

Mortlock told Lowvelder he was happy with his time of 02:11,12 on Saturday, adding it was a great event, very well organised and enjoyable. “I am just not used to running first (as participants did) but cycling first and then running.”

The latter is his strongest event and went a long way towards his overall winning time.

It was more than three and a half minutes before his closest competitor, Bester Burger who finished in a total time of 02:14,39. James Murray took third in 02:22,30.

Among the individual women competing in the full event, Emily Clarke finished first in a time of 02:55,22. Debbie Hawley came in second in 03:05,17 and Tracey Rundle third in 03:21,45.

Mike Odendaal finished first among the individual men competing in the half event in a time of 01:09,13. Nico Potgieter came in second in 01:16,05 followed by JP Hugo in 01:19,24.

In the women’s event Angelique du Plessis’ 01:28,05 was enough to earn her first place. Hot on her heels was Tammy Hawley who took second in a time of 01:28,57, with Lisa Slabbert rounding off the top three finishers with 01:30,42.

In the junior individual events Zanke Moller was the fastest boy in a time of 24:02 and Kerry-Lee Christensen the first girl in 31:47.

• View more pictures: Family fun at Uplands Duathlon 2016