A capacity field of 2500 athletes descended on Durban for the third edition of the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban triathlon, which took place at Suncoast. The popular triathlon was completely sold out for the third consecutive year on Sunday and is fast becoming one of the signature competitive events on the South African Sports calendar. The race which featured a slightly different route to last year with a 1.9km sea swim, 90.1km bike and 21.1km run started at Snake Park Beach for the swim, exiting at Country Club Beach before cycling along the M4 highway to Zimbali and returning to Suncoast. The gruelling run took athletes along the promenade and finished at Suncoast.
With over 92% of the athlete field coming from outside of Durban, the city was abuzz with an influx of international and local visitors. The race was a big hit with Durban locals for the third year with thousands of spectators supporting and athletes at Suncoast and along the promenade. "We will be hosting the Ironman world championships next year, it will be held in Port Elizabeth, this is really the big one and is a major event for Ironman internationally," said Hazel Mbofana- Chimhandamba, head of sponsorship at Standard Bank
"For us at Standard Bank, Ironman is about uniting people from all works of life and using it as a platform to uplift the community", she said.
The triathlon boasted some amazing performances by the athletes, the male division was won by Olivier Godart of Luxembourg. When asked about the win he said, "I'm delighted, especially to do it here in South Africa in the city of Durban, I love South Africa, its a great place". Godart said he trains mostly indoors, "Sometimes the weather in Luxembourg doesn't allow for training outdoors, so I do a lot of indoor training on the treadmill," he says. Godart finished with a time of 4 hours, eight minutes and 40 seconds, when asked how he felt about his finish time he remarked, "I don't care about the time, I care about the rank, number one and that's it," he said. The top three was completed by two local athletes, Jerus Seegers and Chris Bruchhausen in second and third place respectively. Female winners saw a domination of South African athletes with local Jade Nicole winning the women's division at a time of 4 hours, 50 minutes and 35 seconds. The next Ironman races promises to be a spectacular.
"We're currently in talks to host another Ironman race in Durban, next year. Once that is finalised, athletes and spectators can expect a spectacular race come June 2018," said Mbofana- Chimhandamba.