Murray enjoying himself as he targets Super League title

Richard Murray celebrates after winning the 2017 Discovery Triathlon World Cup event, Cape Town. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

Richard Murray celebrates after winning the 2017 Discovery Triathlon World Cup event, Cape Town. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

Published Sep 22, 2017

Share

JOHANNESBURG - Missing out on an overall podium place in the world series was no train smash for Richard Murray as he looks to claim his second Super League Triathlon title on Jersey Island over the weekend.

The South African triathlon ace won the inaugural Super League title in Hamilton in February which is raced over three stages in two days.

Last weekend Murray finished sixth place at the WTS Grand Finale in Rotterdam, slipping from third place overall to fourth, after Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt clinched the bronze.

“During the season I was just having a bit of fun, it became a bit more serious, it was not the plan to finish so high up on the WTS rankings this year,” Murray said.

“I’m pretty happy with how I ended up and it was a great season which has been 15 odd races since the start in Cape Town.”

The Super League consist of three super sprint triathlons of 400m swim, 10km cycle, and 2.5km run which will be mixed up with the first stage consisting of a swim-bike-run, a run-bike-swim on the second before concluding with a bike-swim-run.

On the second day the slowest athletes will be eliminated with only the top-15 racing stage two while only the remaining 10 will race in the third and final stage.

“I am looking forward to it, it is a different take on triathlon, I quite enjoy it, it is high paced,” Murray said.

The Athletes got to discover Jersey today. Thank you @VisitJerseyCI #THEISLABDBREAK What a beautiful place! #IAMSUPERLEAGUE pic.twitter.com/Q2lg8bS3VR

— SuperLeagueTriathlon (@SuperLeagueTri) September 21, 2017

Murray did a fair bit of racing in 2017 which included his maiden Half Ironman in Slovakia while he also raced a marathon distance in the Wings for Life race in the Netherlands.

“Maybe not training so much and doing more races has kept me fresher, happier and feeling excited about racing,” Murray said about all the mileage he has done in racing this year.

“That is sometimes the key, just enjoying the racing and having fun, so there was a different approach.”

He will bring his season to an end at the Island House Triathlon Invitational in the Bahamas in November.

Murray said he will take a more serious approach to his 2018 season as he starts building towards the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The Star

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Related Topics: