Kenyas triathlon squad heads to Rwanda for Zone Five championship

Seven Kenyan athletes have been selected to represent the country in the newly introduced International Triathlon Union (ITU) Zone Five championship set to be held in Rwanda this weekend.

Triathlon is an exciting sport involving a continuous race over various distances in the three major disciplines of swimming, cycling and running.

The event will bring together six nations which include Kenya, Egypt, Burundi and Cameroon.

Others are neighbours Uganda and Rwanda.

Kenya Triathlon Association (KTA) picked the seven triathletes based on merit after the Mombasa Open International Triathlon games held Nyali Beach International Hotel in Mombasa on 7th July.

The duo of willian Nanjero and Ted Mwatha from Nairobi will team up with the reigning men champion Abdalla Mansoor and Soud Hassan of Mombasa in flying the national men’s flag in Rwanda. The women’s team is made up of top-ranked junior triathlete Jossete Njeri, Vivian Hiller both from Mombasa and Anisa Said from Nairobi.

Josset Njeri will be the centre of focus during the Rwanda event basing on her excellent track record painted with her latest triumph in National Watamu triathlon championships hosted at Turtle Bay Beach Hotel in Malindi in April.

KTA secretary Harison Mwangi said the aim of using the All Africa Games bound team was to expose them and enhance their fitness prior to the games. This is important since ITU is set to use the event for the ranking and development of triathlon sport in the country.

The selected are also the group that will be representing the country in the next month’s Africa Games expected to be held in Rabat, Morocco next month.

Meanwhile, France’s Martin Montbarbon and Stephanie Fernandez braved the hot whether to win the men and women Mombasa Open International Triathlon games events with Montbarbon clicking 1:13.26 seconds while Fernandez clocked 1:45.00 seconds for the women’s title.

Kenya’s Abdallah Mansoor finished on the second spot second after clocking 1:25.34 seconds.