Sunday, 15 May 2011 15:03
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Youth trumps experience (this time around)
The contrast between youth and experience was clearly highlighted in the world-class results at event three in the 2011 Momentum Health i-Flex National Duathlon Series.
Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth delivered a cold morning that gradually warmed up. The Weather Bureau could not confirm whether this was a direct result of the red-hot racing action on the flat road circuit, but rumours persist.
Men
In the men's race, World Junior Duathlon Champion Richard Murray, who had tweeted that he intended to run the opening 5km in under 15 minutes, found himself racing four other men with the same idea. The top four (Brand du Plessis, Michael Davidson, Johan Pretorius and Murray) went through the 2.5km first lap in 7:30 and were still together running into the bike transition, in a fast 15:10. They were in good company to set fast run times: Johan Pretorius was the winner of the 2003 World Student Games 1500m in South Korea with a blitzy 3:38. In 2003 and 2005 he went on to claim SA Senior 1500m titles.
Removing run shoes and getting kitted for the bike leg, both Murray and Brand du Plessis, the Series winner every year since its inception in 2008, made short work of the changeover. Both exited marginally ahead of Davidson and Pretorius. Assisted by a tailwind, the chasing three managed to make contact with the leaders. At around 10km, Ryan Peters could not keep the pace and dropped out of the back of the group. The remaining four worked as a group until a little hill the 18km point, just 2km from the turnaround for the 40km bike. Here Murray and du Plessis surged clear of their potential podium rivals. Davidson, in turn, playing the slight headwind to his cycling strength, ejected run danger man Pretorius with a jump of his own.
On their return into the bike-run transition, Murray's recent World Triathlon Series experience showed as he flashed out of transition a few metres ahead of du Plessis. This one-second advantage had grown to over five seconds over the first 250m and his run pedigree allowed him to grow it to 40-seconds by the finish. Seasoned racer Michael Davidson was one minute behind du Plessis and had a comfortable gap over Pretorius, who in turn was well clear of Terry Thornton in fifth.
Early group of five member Ryan Peters dropped back to an unconfirmed 20th overall.
Women
The women's race was also contested by four top athletes.
On paper, the top two in this group were Gauteng's Carlyn Fischer and Carla van Huyssteen, both of Team inov-8.
Fresh off the high of a win at event two in the National Duathlon Series and then the demoralising low of a DNS (did not start) due to illness at the World Cross Triathlon Champs in Spain two weekends ago, van Huyssteen (27) had something to prove. Could age trump youth?
Her teammate Fischer (20) is the new kid on the block, topped with an elite win at the SA Triathlon Championships. Her strong running arguably made her the favourite to win.
Normally, Durbanville's Alae Brand can run with the best of them over distances up to 21km, so losing 30 seconds to Fischer and van Huyssteen on the second lap of 2.5km was perhaps a little disappointing for the newcomer to multisport, especially with the bike, her weak discipline, ahead of her. In fourth, Lisa-Marie Bright did her best to limit her time losses and stay within range on the bike.
Once on the bike, the two leaders worked hard as a team to increase their margin on the 40km, especially with a noticeable headwind on the return journey. Commentator Marc Mundell reported that there was some controversy afterwards that some of the women behind the leaders had drafted male competitors as individuals and had closed the gap. This did not affect the final result for the top two and once they reached transition, the collaboration was over and it was each woman for herself.
Fischer gained a slight mental advantage with a quick transition, leaving the exit gate one second ahead of her older rival. This grew to 10 seconds after the first kilometre and increased to her final lead of 30 seconds.
Bright overtook Brand on the final run for third. The battle for fifth and sixth was decided by a sprint, with Kirsty Weir getting the benefit of her faster kick.
RESULTS
Men
- Richard Murray
- Brand du Plessis
- Michael Davidson
- Johan Pretorius
- Terry Thornton
Women
- Carlyn Fischer
- Carla van Huyssteen
- Lisa-Marie Bright
- Alae Brand
- Kirsty Weir
Teams men
- Marinus Johnson / Emile van Niekerk
- Mzolisi Makhanda / Deon Appollis
Teams women
- Andrea Steyn / Amy Katherine
For overall results see next page
