An extreme hattrick

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KNYSNA SPORT NEWS - The third annual Knysna Extreme Triathlon (KET) wrapped up last weekend, with triathlete Manfred Wiehahn securing his third consecutive victory, completing a hattrick of titles in the KET while the women's race saw a new champion.

The KET was held on Saturday 21 November concurrently with the KET 0.5, a shortened version of what has been touted as Africa's toughest extreme triathlon race by its organisers.

Even though it's shorter than the full race, the KET 0.5 was by no means easy as it comprised 2.5km of swimming, 100km of cycling, and 30km of running with a total distance of 132.5km and an altitude gain of 1 700m.

The full KET nearly doubles these numbers, with 5km of swimming, 174km of cycling, and 50km of running with a total distance of 229km and 3 600m altitude gain.

The KET kicked off at 05:00 on Saturday from the jetty opposite Sirocco restaurant, and while the sun slowly crept out from its hiding place, the triathletes took on the chilly waters with the hope of good weather for the day.

Their hope would prove fruitful, as the race was blessed with clear skies from start to finish, with the early morning sunrise catching swimmer as they began exiting the lagoon at the Sanparks jetty. Once they completed their swim, they had to quickly don their cycling gear and transition into the second stage of the race – the cycle.

Photo gallery; Knysna Extreme Triathlon (KET)

Both sets of racers then set out along the N2 towards Wilderness for their cycling leg, with the KET 0.5 racers turning back at the Wilderness Hotel to return to the Sanparks jetty for their transition from cycle to run. The full KET racers however continued on past Wilderness, and followed the 7 Passes route before joining with the N12 and then N9, before concluding their 174km cycling journey in Avontuur from which they transitioned to running.

Both sets of runners would finish their races at the Diepwalle Forest Station, but would approach from opposite sides of the Prince Alfred Pass. In the KET 0.5, it would be Benjamin Janse van Rensburg that brought the 132.5km journey to an end first, in a time of 05:39:56, with first lady Taneal Otto completing her run in 06:34:35. In the full KET, Wiehahn continued his dominance, improving on his time from last year (12:52:15) by finishing his gruelling 229 km journey in an amazing 11:52:41, almost an entire hour faster.

The first lady wasn't far behind, as Magda Niewoudt did a phenomenal job of keeping Wiehahn on his toes, finishing second overall with a time of 12:04:58, also faster than Wiehahn's 2019 time.

There would be two more racers who improved on Wiehahn's 2019 time – Greg Laxton (12:15:54) and Kelvin Steyn (12:18:13).

In all, the racers did a phenomenal job of traversing a trully gruelling race, with many already saying they'll be back next year.