SeanMort Posted February 13, 2018 Share I competed in the sprint duathlon event with a blind partner, and we were one of two tandems on the cycle course at that point, the other tandem also with a blind participant as a stoker. Negotiating the Sea Point turn-around on a tandem was always going to be tight, but we had planned our strategy for this well beforehand - switch to a lighter gear approaching the turn-around, take it as wide as possible from the right-hand kerb around to the barrier, and then kick off again. On our first lap we had some persistent drafters on our wheel (saw so much of this happening between riders in spite of the limited drafting rules), and in the turn around bend ahead of us, one of them cut the apex and ended up clipping another riders wheel bringing three riders down almost in front of us. A paramedic then foolishly decided to run in front of the oncoming bikes to help them, almost compounding the current situation. We managed to get through and away fortunately, but from then on we had a group of riders sitting on our wheel for a free tow. Where I could, I rode the gutter at 40+ kph to drop them, but soon picked up others again. It's near impossible to police this limited drafting rule though. Approaching the end of our bike leg one of the riders on our wheel thanked us for the help ... ugottawonder ! This is my third year taking part in this event, and I think there will always be some aspect of this event that would be tricky to organise, given the available facilities, course layout and taking into consideration other activities taking place around a busy city. Well done to organisers though for keeping the event on the map, and in Cape Town. We had seven teams of visually-impaired (blind) participants, and they all achieved, some of them standing on the podium ! PARA-TRIATHLONAthlete: Cornelia Liebenberg Guide: Celia PienaarAthlete: Scott Field Guide: Alec van WykAthlete: David Jones Guide: Conrad StoltzAthlete: Gavin Kilpatrick Guide: Michael HarrisAthlete: Cindy Jacobsz Guide: Petro NeethlingPARA-DUATHLONAthlete: Francois Jacobs Guide: Hansie LouwAthlete: Kevin MurfittGuide: Sean Mortassagne shaper, breaker, Chris_ and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaBee Posted February 13, 2018 Share Well done Sean! Ja, there's always going to be peeps sitting on a tandem's wheel on a flat course. I was wondering about the "instant DQ" of male-female drafting that was so pointedly mentioned on a couple of occasions, esp when a girl worked herself right into the middle of our little group. This was just before we crashed and she came off very bad. It may actually have been my saving grace, since I was just moving out to beside her with that in mind thinking at least they won't be saying I'm drafting her - and then the pedestrian walked into the road. SeanMort 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mon-goose Posted February 13, 2018 Share well done all does anyone know where I can see the results of the non elite athletes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanMort Posted February 13, 2018 Share well done all does anyone know where I can see the results of the non elite athletes? Somewhere on this page I think - http://results.finishtime.co.za/startpage.aspx?CId=35 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Landy new life Posted February 13, 2018 Share Never saw any crashes, and had minimal near misses in the bunches I was part of.However on the first lap returning from the pools and just after the shell garage, 2 or 3 of us where almost the cause of one monumentus F-up, after a mashal insisted that we were on the wrong side of the road and directed us to cross over. Problem was there was no one in the oncoming lane for about 1km and when they did come it took us a while to realize where were in the wrong. Epic failure of note Ya, that was me next to you when we got swapped lanes and then decided other riders were in the wrong. Also saw a nasty crash with about three riders a little way after the pool turnaround hitting a pedestrian that seemed to have just stepped off the pavement in front of 40 km/h riders. Looked eina as they were in the ambulance by the next lap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaBee Posted February 14, 2018 Share Ya, that was me next to you when we got swapped lanes and then decided other riders were in the wrong. Also saw a nasty crash with about three riders a little way after the pool turnaround hitting a pedestrian that seemed to have just stepped off the pavement in front of 40 km/h riders. Looked eina as they were in the ambulance by the next lap.That was us... I was the lucky one that escaped, having just moved to the right of the lady. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Landy new life Posted February 18, 2018 Share Was there an official photographer on the route ? Saw Chris Hitchcock had a few snaps only but not many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaBee Posted February 19, 2018 Share Saw him and David, but official pics was done by marathon-photos.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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