Triathlete prepares her gear ahead of the Africa Cup tournament/ CHARLENE MALWA
The coastal town of Kilifi is set to host an international field this weekend as Kenya hosts the Africa Duathlon and Africa Triathlon Cup this weekend.
The event has drawn elite athletes from Japan, Germany, Venezuela, Mauritius, Morocco, Austria, Hungary, Israel, Tanzania and the Central African Republic, alongside entries from Singapore in the duathlon category.
The event, sanctioned by World Triathlon and the Africa Triathlon Confederation, marks another milestone for Kenya as it strengthens its footprint on the continental circuit. The Africa Duathlon Cup unfolds tomorrow, followed by the Africa Triathlon Cup on Sunday.
The event will feature sprints for the elite athletes, with the distances covered being 5km run, 20 km bike and the last run 2.5km for the duathlon. On Sunday, the main focus will be on the elite, with age groups covering the same distance.
Swimming will be the first (freestyle on open water) 750m, while cycling 20km, and a 5km run will follow. The youth category, also to feature in the Triathlon, will have Swimming (400m), bike (10km) and a 2.5km run. School kids will be given distances according to their ages, and this will be announced by the race director just before the event.
Leading the local charge is 23-year-old Carol Wambui, one of Kenya’s promising multi-sport athletes who will compete in both triathlon and duathlon. A certified Level One coach since August, Wambui’s journey began in Kibra, where she was selected for a development programme that trained a handful of athletes under coach Abdul Mnasoor in Mombasa. “I’ve been training alone since the programme ended,” she shared.
“Coach Abdul sends me weekly sets, and I follow them to the letter. I even competed at the Ironman 70.3 Rwanda, where I earned a slot for an event in Spain this November. My goal in Rwanda was to encourage more women to participate and prove that, despite our backgrounds, we can excel in sport.”
Despite limited support, Wambui said she remains focused and resilient.
“I’ve been training in Mombasa’s heat, so the weather in Kilifi won’t deter me,” she added.
“We used to train at Kasarani and KCB, and I’ve learned to hydrate well and adapt to any condition.”
Her teammate Lewis Pheneas, a former speed skater and runner, transitioned into duathlon through college competitions and has since represented Nairobi County.
In elites, triathlon has sprint, long-distance and Olympic distance, while in duathlon, there is a spread distance. The distances for the standards are 10km run for the first event covered are 40 km bike, and 5 km run.
Pheneas has only done a standard duathlon and is set to debut the sprint duathlon. His time was a personal best of 1:52 at Kasarani in May. In the Karen Triathlon, one of the local races, he clocked 1:58:36.
Duathlon has two. He's only done the longer version, which is the standard, and now he is going to attempt the sprint. The standard duathlon is a 10km run.
“My second duathlon at Kasarani was a good experience,” he said. “There are many technical rules to master, but it’s a sport that gives you purpose. I look up to Eliud Kipchoge for his mindset and Jonas Vingegaard for his resilience after setbacks, and this keeps me going even when sponsorship and funding are hard to come by.”
Head coach Camila Lydia, who leads both the triathlon and duathlon teams, believes the athletes are well-prepared. “We’ve had consistent training sessions, and the selection was based on performances from previous events,” she explained. “The exposure from competing against top-tier athletes from around the world will be invaluable for our team.”
Lydia emphasised that hosting such high-calibre competition provides local athletes with a platform to measure progress. “It’s not just about medals, it’s about growing the sport in Kenya and showing that our athletes can compete at the same level as global names,” she added.
As the countdown to race day narrows, Kenya’s contingent is ready to showcase determination, discipline, and endurance. “We may be a small team,” said Wambui, “but every race is a chance to show the world what we’re capable of in performance and resilience,” she concluded.
