With the cancelling of the Triathlon event due to the Sardines, Sunday saw Durban’s the biggest duathlon in over 8 years, with over 270 athletes entering the prestigious Compendium Multisport event. Athletes from JHB, Cape Town and Bloemfontain flocked to Durban’s beachfront for the second event in the exciting Compendium Multisport Series. Although Durban’s weather didn’t play its part, the Athletes were greeted with a mid wind and cloudy weather. However it wasn’t to keep them cool for long, as the Rookie event set off on their n1.25km run route, followed by a 5km cycle and then a 700m run. The Tyler O’Conner was the race winner, with Donavan Wewege claiming third and Sizwe Mazibuko clinching a well deserved 3rd place. The Rookie ladies were not far behind and Sasha-Lee Nordengen claimed 1st place, beating Klara Hartman and Julia ford by one minute.

The Pro/Am Duathlon provided a race within a race from the start gun, with long time buddies and rivals, Donavan Van Gelder from the highway area and international duathlete Jason Spong from Ballito, battling it out over the first 5km beachfront run route. With the new extensions to the Durban promenade, it provided the perfect venue for the duathlon, with athletes loving the new flat running route. Jason Spong blitzed the first 5km run with an amazing time of 15min 27sec. Donavan van Gelder was close behind in a time of 16min 03 seconds. Van Gelder managed to close the gap on the first lap of the bike and finally overtake Spong, to get a 1 minute lead onto the second 2.5km run outré. The lead was too much for Spong and Van Gelder romped home in a time of 57min 36sec, closely chased by Jason Spong in a time of 57min 51 seconds. Johnny Dinominicis was always close at hand and finished in a brilliant 3rd place, with a time of 58min 55sec, rounding off the top 3 men.

The Ladies race was hotly contested with 2 top Joburg ladies, Lauren Dance and Samantha Ferreira, taking on local girls Kim Watchurst, Samantha Spong, Gillian Curr and Tayla Glover. But it was the strength of Curr that saw the girls grapping for positions on the 20km bike course. Curr managed to hold off a strong 5 woman chase pack and clinched victory in a time of 1hr03min12sec. Second over the line was Tayla Glover in 1hr03min30seconds, followed by Kim Watchurst in 1hr03min47sec.

The next event in the exciting series will see the return of the Triathlon event and takes place on the 3rd of October at Suncoast.

Pic of Men’s winner – Donavan van Gelder