Edgar Wins in Troutbeck
James Edgar has secured a career best International win at the 2023 Africa Triathlon Cup Troutbeck. This weekend’s success signals the end of a solid four race block for James in which he has been on the podium three times.
Earning bronze at both Maselspoort and Nelson Mandela Bay, James’ bid for three podiums in a row was halted last week at Swakopmund African Cup when he was forced to pull up due to a foot injury.
Topping the Podium
The Troutbeck African Cup takes place at 2000m altitude on a tough and hilly sprint distance course.
After putting in a strong swim and bike combination James Edgar sealed his gold medal with a blistering 15:43 for five kilometres, the only athlete to go sub 16 minutes for the run split. Dylan Nortje (RSA) and Jorge Alarcon Familiar (MEX) were second and third respectively.
James describes how his race unfolded and the feeling of his first international win;
“It’s a great result to get leading into the Olympic year and after the two podiums earlier in the month sets me up really well for the rest of the year.
James’ race got off to a good start with a small breakaway group out of the swim;
“The swim was super fast from the start which helped to spread out the field and left us with a 40 second gap to the next group out of the water. I spent the majority of the bike at the front pushing the hills to keep the gap as big as possible. I didn’t find the altitude of 2100m to be as big of a problem as most as we’ve been living at altitude for the majority of the last eight weeks.”
“I had a strong T2 to lead out onto the run and had to push hard in the initial stages of the incredibly hilly run to establish a gap to second place and just kept pushing onto the finish on a run that was just up and down four steep hills of 19%.”
“Incredibly happy to take my first international victory and hopefully first of many.”
The string of three results will see James progress up the World Rankings, something that is all important during the current Olympic qualification period and ahead of the European Championships this summer. Of James’ win, Performance Director Gordon Crawford said;
“What a great way to finish an excellent training camp in Africa. James has had a great camp and delivered the best racing of his career to date. Great to see James move up the ranking and position himself for the championship races in June.”
The Weekend Wrap
The women’s event at Troutbeck was won by Shanae Williams (RSA) in 1:08:48, Barbara De Koning (NED) second and Romana Gajdošová (SVK) in third. Erin McConnell and Shannon Kelly completed in ninth and tenth position respectively, crossing the line with just three seconds between them. For full results see triathlon.org.
Domestic racing was at the Old Head of Kinsale Duathlon, round nine of the Duathlon National Series. Read the race report and view the picture gallery.
