Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 55, February 2014 | Page 39

Race Report

The XTERRA series of off-road
triathlons always delivers excellent
racing amongst the elites and
a terrific entry-level event for
newcomers to the sport, and the
2014 Buffelspoort leg was another
humdinger! – BY SEAN FALCONER

T

he Buffelspoort Dam near Rustenburg once
again played host to the XTERRA series in January,
with the XTERRA FULL taking place on the
Saturday, followed by the XTERRA LITE as well as
the New Balance Trail Run presented by Isuzu on
the Sunday. Top South African XTERRA Warriors

Dan Hugo and Carla Van Huyssteen claimed
victory in the longer race (1.5km swim,
26.5km MTB, 12.8km run), clocking 2:31:00
And 2:58:02 respectively. The men’s podium
was rounded off by Nico Sterk and Bradley
Weiss, with four-time XTERRA World Champion
Conrad Stoltz unfortunately having to retire
with mechanical problems during the bike leg.
Flora Duffy of Bermuda and Nicolette Griffioen
were next home in the women’s race.
Rising star Ruan Van Zyl and triathlon novice
Carmen Bassingthwaighte emerged as
individual men’s and women’s champions in
the LITE (400m swim, 19km MTB, 6km run),
with Ruan coming home in 1:20:27, followed
by Michael Ferreira and Jeffrey Neethling, and
Carmen clocking in at 1:47:22, with Yzette
Oelofse second and Denine van Heerden third.
A combined field of just over 400 runners lined
up for the 13km and 6km trail run, and line
honours in the long race went to Edwin Sesipi
in 50:19 and Leilani Scheffer in 1:02:10. The
shorter race went to Duane Venter (29:56) and
Mine Van Zyl (35:52).

Image: Jetline Action Photo

Totalsports XTERRA
Buffelspoort presented by
REHIDRAT® SPORT, North
West, 25-26 January

Advertorial

ALLOW
T 70.3
SW
AND
ACT A
OUBLE
NNAMA
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CU

Cunnama’s Maiden
African Title
With 4km to go in the 21.1km run leg of
Ironman 70.3 SA, local favourite James
Cunnama moved up into the lead, but
with just 1.5km to go he still had Britain’s
Will Clarke right on his shoulder. Then he
kicked for home and streaked away from
the Brit, coming home in 4:05:01 to claim
his first Ironman title on African soil, 23
seconds ahead of Clarke, and a further
minute ahead of Frenchman Romain
Guillaume. Fresh from his fourth place
finish at the Ironman World Champs
in Hawaii late last year, Cunnama had
emerged from the 1.9km swim leg in
the second group, but was lying a close
second to Frenchman Romain Guillaume

by the end of the 90km bike leg. His
superior running speed then proved the
deciding factor as he claimed a popular
local win.

Four in a Row for
Swallow
In the women’s race, Jodie Swallow
led from the start as she claimed her
fourth consecutive IRONMAN 70.3 SA
title, to be greeted by boyfriend and
fellow SA Champ Cunnama. The former
world champion was the first woman
and fourth overall to exit the water,
with a 47-second lead over SA-based
Czech Lucie Reed. This had grown to a
three-minute gap by the end of the bike
leg, and then the Brit showed her class
as she stretched the lead by a further
minute during the run leg, and broke
the tape in 4:37:01, with Reed finishing
in 4:40:48 And Simone Brandli third in
4:42:40.

Image: Chrus Hitchcock

The victory celebrations at the
2014 IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa
in Buffalo City on 26 January were
‘kept in the family’ as SA’s James
Cunnama and British girlfriend
Jodie Swallow claimed the men’s
and women’s titles respectively. –
BY JULIE PUGHE-PARRY

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