Murray, Schoeman to duel in the Cape
ANOTHER brutal dual is heading for the Mother City next year when Henri Schoeman and Richard Murray continue their local rivalry at the Discovery Triathlon World Cup Cape Town on February 11.
South Africa’s two leading men’s triathletes have been confirmed for the opening race of the 2018 International Triathlon Union global calendar which means fireworks for the swim, cycle, run event.
This year’s race produced a climactic and historic finish as the country’s top three athletes claimed a clean sweep, spearheaded by Murray.
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Schoeman and former world junior champion Wian Sullwald shared the podium with Murray.
The stellar start to the season held immense promise for SA triathlon but it did not pan out quite as well as expected.
Murray still managed a topfive finish on the World Triathlon Series (WTS) rankings with Schoeman missing out on a place in the top 10.
Schoeman managed two second-place World Cup finishes and brought the curtain down in emphatic fashion by finishing third at the weekend’s lucrative Island House Invitational in the Bahamas.
“It has been an up and down year,” said Schoeman.
“It started off well at the Cape Town World Cup with a podium, but I maybe tried to add too many races this season which included German Bundesliga and French Grands Prix. I had a huge amount of races squeezed into one year where I wanted to try everything and I think it diluted my performances.
“Instead of going after the big ones and smashing those and making them great races, I added a few more which resulted in inconsistent results.”
The Olympic bronze medallist said the fight for the Cape Town title will not only be for local bragging rights but will also prepare SA triathletes for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
“The Games is relatively early in the year and Cape Town is ideal for that. It would be important to get a good result to make sure your form is where it should be because it is about a month away before you have to start tapering.”
Schoeman said the intense rivalry between South Africa’s top triathletes would benefit the sport and he was looking forward to the tussle with Sullwald and Murray.
“The rivalry is great, it is great for the sport, and it is great that we have it between South Africans, which is great for South African viewing,” Schoeman said.
“Cape Town should be great especially with Wian around as well as it keeps us all on our toes to beat each other and improve our racing.”
The depth in SA men’s triathlon bodes well for the country’s medal chances at the Commonwealth Games.
Murray won bronze at the 2014 Glasgow Games while he also won silver as a member of the mixed relay team with Schoeman, Gillian Sanders and Kate Roberts.
After switching allegiance from New Zealand, SA-born Simone Ackermann will boost the women’s ranks after Roberts and two-time Olympian Mari Rabie retired in the last two years.