Leading pan-African fast-food giant, Simbisa Brands Limited has become the latest inclusion into the list of sponsoring partners to the Bonaqua Africa Triathlon Cup in Troutbeck, Nyanga as preparations for this year’s edition hit the home stretch.
The 2023 Bonaqua Africa Triathlon Cup is set to take place on 1 April.
Simbisa joins other corporate sponsors supporting the event which includes Coca Cola, Schweppes, Cimas i-Go, CFAO Motor Group, Ecocash and Rooneys.
“We are very excited to have yet another blue-chip brand come on board for this event, now in its 15th consecutive year,” said Event Director Rick Fulton.
“We welcome Simbisa Brands on board and hope that this will be the start of a long relationship with the sport and the event. As with our entire Sponsor Group we value their loyalty and commitment to this event and we sincerely hope that they benefit exponentially from the branding, marketing and media exposure.”
Preparations for this year’s edition are well underway and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) are now starting to gear up for the build of the venue the week prior to race day.
In addition, the LOC are fine-tuning the various arrivals and departures of athletes from Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to Troutbeck Resort and return.
This exercise entails detailed planning for the Triathlon Zimbabwe “Meet-n-Greet” team to coordinate the incoming international and regional athletes that will compete in the Elite Men and Women’s categories and also the Junior Elite categories for Junior Men and Women.
This year will see a total of 16 Elite Men and 15 Elite Women from 18 countries taking part.
Athletes are travelling from a variety of European countries and as far afield as Mexico, Chile, Guam, Japan and Bermuda.
The 2023 edition also sees the return of two-time Troutbeck Elite Men’s gold medallist Ayan Beisenbayev from Kazakhstan who will be hoping for a hat-trick of victories at this tough event.
Returning athletes to Troutbeck include Dylan Nortje and Shaun Wolfaardt from South Africa. Wolfaardt won the 2022 Troutbeck Africa Triathlon Junior Cup and has now moved up to Under 23 level.
Also returning is Badr Siwane from Morocco, Martin Demuth from Austria, Michal Oliwa from Poland, Meirlan Iskakov from Kazakhstan and Laurent L’Entete from Mauritius.
Elite Women returnees are Shanae Williams who was the runner up in 2022, Bridget Theunissen and Jamie-Sue Vermaas all from South Africa. Athletes from other African nations also include Togo, Mauritius and Mozambique.
For the Africa Triathlon Junior Cup Troutbeck, so far 13 Junior Elite athletes have been registered.
Still to be added to are the Zimbabwean contingent of Anje Van As, Makanaka and Matipa Mawere, George Ascott, Nicole Madya, Duwan Botha and the Mthethwa twins, Mandlenkosi and Musawenkosi.
Junior athlete representation from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe will make up the Junior Elite field.
For the local athletes there is a full schedule of supporting events that offer participants a variety of events related to swimming, biking and running formats, plus the added spectacle of their families and supporters being able to watch the Elite and Junior athletes compete at this high level of international triathlon competition.
