Josette Njeri, the top-ranked Kenyan female junior triathlete and compatriot John Paul overcame a strong challenge in the choppy waters at Watamu Beach front to win the Africa Zone 2 and 4 Triathlon Championship held on Saturday.
Watamu is Kenya’s sports tourism capital, a name that it lived up to after hosting a successful double-zonal continental event, a first of a kind in Kenya.
20-kilometer cycling section
The event that was held at the Turtle Bay Beach Resort attracted 22 participants.
The athletes battled a tough 750 meters of choppy waters and strong wind, on the 20-kilometer cycling section.
It’s on the run, with a relatively flat route, that was kind to the athletes, who battles to recover the lost time amidst cheers from a passionate crowd the graced the championship.
Among the participants was Soud Hassan. Just two weeks ago Soud cheated death, on a grisly car accident but he still managed to grab a podium finish with a third-place finish behind Paul and Joseph Okal.
Soud who is targeting a place in Team’ Kenya to the 2022 Commonwealth Games was by a car while training for the event but he never lost hope despite sustaining serious injuries on his neck and knees.
“Swimming was the biggest challenge for me because today I still have fresh wounds. I couldn’t push hard enough,” said Soud who was using the event as part of his preparation for the Commonwealth Games in 2020.
“I recently had an accident during one of the cycling races. I was thrown in the air after being hit by the car. I sustained a serious neck injury, bruises on the knees and shoulder so it wasn’t easy for me today, especially in the swim, but I’m grateful I finished the race.”
Quite an experience
Njeri who started racing professionally three years ago has also her eyes at the 2028 Olympics.
“This place is challenging. The Sea here is choppy and there was a lot of head and tailwind in the cycling. It was quite an experience because this is my first competitive race since June,” added Josette who took part at the Africa Triathlon Championship in Egypt last month.
She was followed by 15-year old Vivian Hillier of Mombasa and Gloria Kisiangani who was representing Nairobi, for positions two and three in that order.
John Paul beat his closest challenger by almost 500 meters in a race where most of the participants made amends in the 5-kilometer run. Kisumu-based Joseph Okal came second.
The event was organised by the Kenya Triathlon Federation under the watchful eyes of the World Triathlon Instructor Retief Freysen of South Africa.