Olympian Jamie Riddle led the South African challenge in the 2025 IRONMAN African Championships held in Gqeberha on Sunday.
The 24-year-old finished fifth overall in the gruelling competition, which took in a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km marathon.
Stiff wind
Riddle completed the event in 8:09:32, despite running into problems after the swim, losing 90 seconds and then having to ride 90km solo on the bike in a stiff wind.
The Ironman was won by Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev who started his 2025 season in style with a dominant victory.
The Dane had work to do after the swim but a trademark powerful biking display saw him destroy the course record and took him to the front – after which he was never threatened.
T100 World Champion Marten Van Riel (Belgium), in only his second full-distance race was second, with Germany’s Jonas Schomburg third.
A group of four – three with short-course speed in Van Riel, Schomburg and Riddle – along with the swim power of Britain’s Andrew Horsfall-Turner put distance between themselves and the rest.
Things were also challenging on the rolling bike course in the windy conditions.
Much of Riddle’s hard work was undone when he went the wrong way out of transition to lose 90 seconds in the process.
Then, to compound matters, he had to ride 90km in the wind.
Riddle had the second fastest time for the swim, was fourth fastest on the bike and completed the full marathon in 2:46:05.
Which of the three triathlon disciplines are you best at?
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