The Torpedo SwimRun held their inaugural Waterfront KnockOut event last weekend, with exciting finishes from top athletes at Battery Park in the V&A Waterfront.
1 000M-LONG CIRCUIT
The 1 000-metre-long circuit was made up of 4 runs and 3 swims along the pathways and in the canals, with qualifying rounds, quarter-finals and semi-finals deciding the final round athletes by process of elimination.
Siblings Nick and Alexandra Quénet dominated in their 19-29 age categories as well as in the Open Category, beating top international triathletes to take the titles.
South African Olympian triathlete Richard Murray tried out the swimrun format for the first time, placing second in the 30-39 year age category to Philippe Drolet, and second overall to Nick Quénet.
Dutch triathlete Rachel Klamer won her 30-39 year age category and came second overall to Alexandra Quénet.
RELATIVELY NEW SPORT
Swimrun is a relatively new sport with swimming and running segments, with no transition between the swims and the runs; you swim in your running shoes and run in your wetsuit/costume.
The sport attracts top triathletes and the latest short-course ‘KnockOut’ format drew a wider range of contestants keen to try swimrun for the first time.
Torpedo SwimRun ‘Cape’, which takes place on Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard, was Africa’s first swimrun event held in January 2017, and now Torpedo SwimRun has developed into a series of races, ranging from the tough Cape event, to the ‘easier’ Val de Vie version that will take place again on January 31, 2021.
