A strong end to 2015 and a solid start to this season means Mari Rabie is the South African favourite for Sunday’s World Triathlon Cape Town.
Cape Town is the third stop on the 2016 World Triathlon Series after races in Abu Dhabi and Australia’s Gold Coast.
Rabie won two international races – Morocco and Hong Kong – at the end of 2015. This year, she started with a 13th-placed finish on the Gold Coast, a win at the All African Championships, a fourth place at New Plymouth World Cup and 16th place at the WTS Gold Coast.
This will be Rabie’s third time racing at the World Triathlon Cape Town and, while she still hasn’t reached the top of her game, she knows she can deliver an exciting performance. “Cape Town is the closest I will get to a ‘home’ race,” said the Stellenbosch local and training partner to Commonwealth Games champion Jodie Stimpson and Swede Lisa Norden.
“I’ve raced every World Triathlon Cape Town since its inception. The first was a comeback race after Oxford, the second a comeback after heart disease, and now this year, I’m not coming back from anything – I’m just coming to race my heart out in front of a home crowd.”
Rabie, Stimpson and Norden spent the summer in Stellenbosch training for Rio 2016. “Gold Coast didn’t go particularly well for any of us, though, so Cape Town will be a chance to complete another solid race while getting Olympic points in.”
Other South Africans in the women’s race are Carlyn Fischer, Anel Radford, Gillian Sanders and Vicky van der Merwe. Sanders came second at the All African Championships, behind Rabie, and is one of the most experienced triathletes in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Stimpson, who won the inaugural World Triathlon Cape Town in 2014 but missed out in 2015 due to an injury, is set for another good performance in the Mother City. Fellow Briton Vicky Holland won last year.
“It’s really good to be back in Cape Town. I have fallen in love with the place. So it’s lovely to be able to come back and race here.”
Stimpson did not qualify for a place in the British squad for this year’s Olympic Games as several of the world’s top triathletes come from that country. The World Triathlon Cape Town will be her first race since the final Olympic qualification earlier this month. “I don’t have expectations for Cape Town. I have just come off my Olympic qualification race and have not been successful, so it’s been an extremely hard few weeks for me. Now I am just focusing on trying to come through this and refocus for the year.”
There are many podium contenders for the race, including Flora Duffy of Bermuda, Holland, Swede Norden and Non Stanford, also British.
“It’s a World Triathlon Series race, which means the world’s best are here. Stanford and Holland will certainly be at the front and the USA athletes are always strong,” said Stimpson. “But local athletes always step up for a home race.
“Having been training with Mari Rabie, I know she is a gutsy racer so I would give her a mention as well!”
The women’s race is a sprint distance consisting of a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.
