Continental success for local triathletes

IT was a moment for savour for two North Durban triathletes who put in some exceptional results at the ATU Triathlon African Championships in Rabat, Morocco recently. Mount Edgecombe’s Ben De La Porte and Prestondale’s Tegan Gore finished first and fourth in their respective junior men’s and women’s races.

For De La Porte, the result was a repeat of the 2016 African Championships.

“It was really tough last year balancing my matric year and training and competing. So to be able to pull off a win at the champs was a fantastic achievement which I’m extremely proud of. The conditions weren’t ideal as the water was very cold on the swim and due to recent rains, the roads were a bit slippery. What was pleasing was to see Team South Africa do so well, we occupied the top five positions in the men’s and women’s (junior) divisions so it was extremely pleasing,” he said.

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De La Porte will now be competing in the Junior European Circuit and hopes to represent the country at the world champs in Australia later this year which precedes the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

Fellow teammate, Tegan Gore, who finished fourth in the junior women’s race expressed her disappointment at the result.

“I finished third at the African champs in Tunisia last year so this was a disappointing end for me. What compounded my result was I fell off my bike on a turn in the race so it was difficult to regain lost time. I was annoyed with myself but I’m determined to do better at the European champs and try and better my results and do the north and my country proud,” she said.

At the champs, Team South Africa’s Jamie Riddle and Travis Saunders finished in the top three in the junior men and Amber Schlebusch and Bridget Theunissen finished first and second in the junior women’s race.

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