358 views
Rabie wins in Mauritius
Monday, 04 January 2010
Mari Rabie lead from start to finish at the Africa Cup in Mauritius on Sunday 20 December in warm and humid conditions.
Rabie climbed out the water first with a 90sec lead over Riana De Lange, Fabien St Louis (Mauritius), with Andrea Steyn a further 10seconds behind. De Lange, Steyn and St Louis were together on the bike, but were not able to catch the flying Rabie. De Lange suffered a mechanical on the bike and had to stop. On Thursday leading up to the Africa Cup, she crashed during a training ride and suffered a few bruises. But it was the bike that took the bigger damage after the hanger was bent. De Lange decided not to bend it back in case it broke and on race day at 7km it did just that.
Rabie went on to win, covering the 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run in 2:12;33 with Steyn crossing the line second (2:16;35) and local favourite Fabien St Louis third (2:18;25).
In the men’s race, Wikus Weber placed a creditable 2nd behind France’s David Hauss. The Frenchman had the fastest swim, the only athlete to go under 18 minutes in the water. Weber emerged in 18:26, then had a 1:05;56 fourty kilometer bike leg and finished the run in 37:40 – the fastest of the day, but Hauss’ lead was to big for him to catch him.
Final Results
Men
1. David Hauss FRA 1:59;29
2. Wikus Weber RSA 2:02;04
3. Daniel Rodríguez ESP 2:02;26
Ladies
1. Mari Rabie RSA 2:12;33
2. Andrea Steyn RSA 2:16;35
3. Fabien St Louis MRI 2:18;25
share this article: