MOSSEL BAY NEWS - It has been a day filled with excitement, sportsmanship and enthusiastic support from spectators but also tragedy at the Isuzu Ironman 70.3 Mossel Bay today, 16 November.
Spectators flocked to the Santos and De Bakke Beach area, many holding signs of support, others with cheeky messages cheering the athletes on.
The event started just before 07:00 this morning at Santos Beach where athletes took to the water to start a 1.9km swim.
Two male athletes, a 29-year-old and 58-year-old were retrieved from the water where the Ironman 70.3 participants were completing the swimming portion of the triathlon at about 07:40. They were later declared dead.
The first male athlete to cross the finish line was Dale Taylor, who completed the triathlon in four hours 10 minutes and 17 seconds.
In second place came Adrian Myburgh with a time of four hours 12 minutes and 56 seconds. The third man to cross the finish line was Manfred Lambrechts, just over two minutes behind Myburgh.
The first female athlete was Kristen Schut with a time of four hours 39 minutes and 42 seconds. Just over 13 minutes later, Vicky Van der Merwe came in second and Gemma Francis was third at five hours one minute and 26 seconds.
The triathlon saw about 2500 registered participants this year, compared to last year's 2400. Ironman said this year, 73% of the entries were men and 27% were women.
See the gallery below for a look at today's event, its athletes and the spectators.
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