GEORGE NEWS - Triathletes Tina van Wyk (61) and Bonga Nkqintiza (23) represented the Eden region well at the Ironman 70.3 competition in Durban on 2 June by taking first and second place in their age groups.
Van Wyk finished first in the women's 60- to 65-year group, a milestone she's been hoping to achieve for a while following multiple second-place finishes in her last couple of competitions. Nkqintiza finished second in the men's 25- to 29-year group.
Lindie Lotter from the Eden Triathlon Federation says these two athletes are among the best in the region and their accomplishments do a lot to promote the sport.
Over the past 20 years Van Wyk competed in about three half Ironmans per year, consisting of 1,9 km swimming, 21,1km jogging and 90km cycling.
Initially she was just a cyclist, but the triathlon bug bit her after she finished third in her first competition when she was about 40 years old.
At 45 she won her first full Ironman (3,8km swim, 180km cycle and 42,2km run) and to date she has completed 10 full and about 30 half Ironmans.
In August, Van Wyk plans to compete in the Ironman 70.3 in Rwanda, which will be a first for her. There she hopes to qualify in her age group for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships hosted in Spain in 2025.
Her final competition for this year will be the Ironman 70.3 in Mossel Bay where she'll hope to do as well as in 2023 when she finished second.
"I absolutely love this sport and at my age it keeps me fit and strong. We are a strong group of athletes in this age group and plan to push some barriers by still competing in the 70- to 75-year age group," says Van Wyk.
Nkqintiza discovered his passion for triathlon at the age of 20 while doing parkruns in Mossel Bay where he met a friend who competes in triathlons. At that time, he could neither swim nor cycle and had to learn these from scratch. With the help of coaches at Wellness World in George he learned to swim and got a bicycle with the help of the Pedal Power Association.
To date Nkqintiza has completed one full Ironman and five half Ironmans. His second place in Durban is his second podium after achieving second place in Mossel Bay in 2022. Nkqintiza says triathlon has helped him a lot in life.
Training has given him an opportunity to escape a toxic environment at home and with the help of friends met through the sport he is currently studying for a degree in sports science through ETA college in George.
He hopes to compete in as many world championships as he can and to one day qualify for national colours and represent South Africa.
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