Kent Horner and Andrea Steyn take 5150 Bela Bela Triathlon titles

The second edition of the 5150 Bela Bela Triathlon, the biggest Standard Distance Triathlon in South Africa, proved to be a heated affair with high temperatures and red-hot race action. The race saw Kent Horner win his first 5150 title with Andrea Steyn coming up trumps in the ladies’ race.
 
Kent Horner makes 5150 title his own
 
This year’s race saw record entries with over 700 starters on a hot and blustery day in Bela Bela.  The action kicked off at Forever Resorts Warmbaths’ ski dam at 12:00 with the PRO’s and Elite Age group athletes battling it out in the first wave. Young PRO athlete, Henri Schoeman blazed a trail in the water amassing an early lead. Schoeman is known to be an exceptional swimmer and proved it yet again completing the 1.5km swim in 00:15:45 to head into T1 first and get a head start on the bike.
 
Following him into T1 was Kent Horner and Gerhard de Bruin, who exited the water in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
 
Thereafter it was a battle on the bike as the athletes headed out onto the 40km bike course combating soaring temperatures and strong wind. The wind might have offered slight respite from the heat but posed a different problem for the athletes. Schoeman was caught on the bike by Kent Horner, Nico Sterk and Erhard Wolfaardt. Horner maintained his lead going into T2 with a bike split of 01:07:28 and was already looking good at that stage. Horner was followed onto the run by De Bruin, Sterk and Wolfaardt.
 
With Horner comfortably out in front, Brad Weiss was beginning to move up the leader board catching Sterk and Wolfaardt in the process. Horner eventually powered on in the heat to run to his first 5150 Bela Bela Triathlon title in a time of 02:02:09. Some 6 minutes behind, De Bruin and Weiss were almost neck and neck coming to the finish to provide an exciting sprint for second place which De Bruin edged out by 6 seconds.
 
Andrea Steyn takes the honours in the ladies’ race
 
Andrea Steyn dominated the ladies’ race in all aspects of the race barring the swim. After a solid swim, Sylvia Von Tromp exited the water first with a swim split of 00:18:51 followed by Lauren Dance and Corinne Berg. Steyn was fourth into T1 followed by Claire Horner.
 
Out on the bike was where most of the movement took place. Steyn, Dance and Horner all made a push as they moved up the positions. Riana de Lange and Rosalyn Laurens also managed to gain some ground on the bike. Steyn eventually cycled her way to the lead which she maintained going into T2 with a bike split of 00:19:21 followed by Dance and Claire Horner.
 
Heading out onto the run, Steyn never seemed in any trouble despite the sapping heat leading the entire way. Steyn ran to her first 5150 Bela Bela Triathlon title in an overall time of 02:12:38 winning comfortably by over 5 minutes. Last year’s runner up, Dance repeated the effort by coming in second place followed by Claire Horner.     
 
A great day of racing took place at the second edition of the 5150 Bela Bela Triathlon at Forever Resorts Warmbaths. The crowds came out in the sunshine to create a wonderful atmosphere at South Africa’s biggest Standard Distance Triathlon. After the success of the 2012 5150 Bela Bela Triathlon, this is one race that is ready to take off!
 
Provisional Results (Top 5)
 
Men:
 
1.) Kent Horner              02:12:09
2.) Gerhard De Bruin      02:08:09
3.) Bradley Weiss          02:08:15
4.) Erhard Wolfaardt      02:09:33
5.) Nico Sterk                02:10:15
 
Ladies
 
1) Andrea Steyn             02:12:38
2.) Lauren Dance           02:17:56
3.) Claire Horner            02:18:52
4.) Rosalyn Laurens       02:21:00
5.) Riana De Lange        02:22:24