By Mark Etheridge

It wasn’t quite a golden day for South Africa’s triathletes at the weekend’s Gold Coast leg of the ITU World Triathlon Series, but there was a silver lining as Richard Murray raced to second spot.

It was a great day for the South African contingent with three top-10 finishes, and then Gillian Sanders came to the party too, when she made up for the disappointment of New Plymouth, New Zealand, last week with ninth spot.

The race was won by Spain’s Mario Mola in 52min 35sec for the 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.

Murray was only four seconds adrift, and not that far back were compatriots Henri Schoeman and Wian Sullwald in eighth and ninth respectively, in 53:08 and 53:11.

Murray, who won in New Plymouth last week (his third win in a  row at that event) is in a rich vein of form after also having won the gruelling Super League triathlon in Australia last month.

‘Yeah, it’s been a crazy last few weeks, but I’m very happy with my second spot,’ said Murray.  ‘It’s one of my best swims to date. I came out of the water 14th and I think that’s my quickest ever 750m non-wetsuit swim.

‘On the bike I felt in control, after the guys went off the front. We pulled them back after a lap and half and then on the run Mario just went for and I tried to respond, but it wasn’t enough.

‘Now I’m off to the United States for some wind tunnel testing at Specialized near San Francisco, and I’m looking forward to getting back on to a time trial bike. Then, in June I’m doing my first half-distance event in Slovakia in the first week of June.

‘I’m back in SA on 17 April. I’ve been away since the second week in February, so am looking forward to getting back home.’

Schoeman, South Africa’s bronze medallist at the Rio Olympics last year, is getting stronger and stronger after a few health scares in Abu Dhabi earlier this year.

‘After some weeks of health issues my body finally came around in the last week and felt strong and ready for racing. I tried breaking things up in the swim and in the early stages of the bike I was pushing hard, but the chase were just a little bit more motivated to close the gap.

‘I tried hanging on to the front guys in the run, but they were fresher off the bike and could run that little bit faster.

‘Considering that, I had another decent run finishing 8th in a 5000m run race. I’ve got a couple things still to tweak and I look forward to a mini break and getting stuck into some hard work again.’

Sullwald (pictured above, No24) was particularly pleased with his ninth spot, after yet more health issues had bogged him down at New Plymouth.

‘I’m satisfied with top 10 today and am just really relieved to get the trip done. I was really sick in New Plymouth. I underestimated that virus and it really had me down this week.

‘I still wasn’t firing on all cylinders today… there was still lots of mucus that I had to deal with.’

That wasn’t the only baggage Sullwald had to deal with though. ‘My bags never arrived here from New Zealand, so I was so busy sorting things out on my own. My bike arrived just three hours before the race. I quickly built it and headed off to race… my main bag only arrived after the race.

‘So conditions weren’t ideal, but I’m happy that I prevailed –  that’s what being a pro athlete is about.

‘But I’m happy to be 14th on the world rankings and it’s just such a pity about my crash in Abu Dhabi.  I would have been even higher… Now I’m heading home and looking forward to being back to my best in Yokohama, Japan.’

The women’s race was won by in-form Kiwi Andrea Hewitt in 58:03 with a four-second victory margin, as was the case in the men’s race, over Aussie Ashleigh Gentle.

Sanders was 34sec adrift, but was all smiles after her sluggish display in the cold and wet New Zealand conditions of last week .

‘That’s more like it,’ she said. ‘I swam strong to the first buoy, then got destroyed a bit around there and lost quite a few positions. I came out in the second pack, and then we worked well and caught the front pack after two laps. My legs felt sluggish on the first kilometre, but then came good and I just kept passing people.

‘It was just great to get a taste of the Commonwealth course for next year, and to perform well on exactly the same course as we’ll race on next year.

‘This is the result I should consistently be getting, and I’m still holding out for my first WTS podium. Fifth is my best finish to date, so I’d really love a podium. I must say it’s good to get a result this weekend that reflects the hard work I’ve been doing.’

Elaborating on the course for next year’s Commonwealth Games she said: ‘I think it definitely suits me. It is quite technical and there was a hectic head wind today, which also made it tough. It will be fast and furious.’

Next up for Sanders is the Yokohama leg of the WTS, but there’s also a chance she’ll be back on her home continent for the African Championships in Tunisia.

Pictures of Murray and Schoeman courtesy of ITU