Cream of the crop show mettle at Uplands Duathlon

The Rudamans and Husqvarna Off-road Duathlon was bigger and better than ever this Saturday.

October 24, 2017

Mireille de Villiers 1 minute read

The event, held at Uplands, was welcomed by participants. Once again it attracted a range of athletes, from the very young to the serious and dedicated.

The full event was also tough, especially for on-road specialists, and caused an upset when local celebrity, Roger Mortlock, managed only third place.

He was beaten to the pole by professional mountain biker Ben Swanepoel of Garmin in the full race, which consisted of two four-kilometre runs on either side of a 35-kilometre cycle.

Swanepoel won in a time of 1:47:54, followed by Werner Bosman in 1:50:36.

Mike Odendaal was the first u/18 to finish, overall fourth, in 1:56:58.

A number of teams showed their mettle in the full and half-distance events, too.

Laurens Kritzinger and Alex Bezuidenhout won the male-team category in 2:03:56.

Swanepoel’s teammate in Team Garmin MTB, Yolandi du Toit, teamed up with Elne Lourens to be the first female team home in 2:05:51.

Trevor Chibaya and Leana Pieterse in 2:23:01 won the mixed-team full event.

The half-duathlon was a run of two kilometres either side of a 15-kilometre cycle. The fun race saw little ones and their parents run 750 metres either side of a five-kilometre cycle.

The duathlon aimed to encourage the entire family to be active and adopt healthy lifestyle choices, and is also attractive for less-serious sportsmen and women.

Fun stalls, snacks and a great supportive spirit, as well as awesome prizes for the podium finishers, ensured the event was a great success, and the athletes and families are bound to return for more next year.