Racing to his second ITU World Cup title of the season, South Africa’s Richard Murray has sent out another strong warning ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia, next month.
Murray yesterday won the ITU Mooloolaba World Cup, also in Australia, a week after compatriot Henri Schoeman won the World Triathlon Series (WTS) race in Abu Dhabi.
South Africa’s two top triathletes have been on fire so far this season, starting with the ITU World Cup in Cape Town in February where they earned a one-two podium finish.
Murray won the Cape Town event before being dogged by bad in Abu Dhabi where he slipped and crashed on a wet bicycle course.
He still finished in a creditable 10th place with Schoeman winning all three legs for only his second WTS victory.
Murray had no issues in Australia where a strong performance on the bike and a customary good run earned him the victory.
He fought off a strong challenge from Matt Hauser crossing the line in a time of 53 minutes and nine seconds with the Australian following four seconds behind him in 53:13 while American Matthew McElroy was third in 53:17.
“There was a lot of looking up and sitting around, and a couple of the guys tried to break away,” Murray told the ITU website.
“I tried to break away myself, not particularly sure why, but thought it would be good to get a hard ride in today.”
The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games bronze medallist did well to wipe out a 40-second disadvantage from the swim to feature among the lead bunch.
He turned in another characteristically strong run but had company from Hauser with the duo breaking away on the final leg of the race. “It came all together but I was really pushed on this one, Matt (Hauser) turned the gas on in those final laps,” Murray said.
In the women’s elite race SA’s Anel Radford finished in 18th position with a time of 62:19.