The 1st Camp Triathlon West Africa Championship hosted by Modern Pentathlon Association of Ghana ended on Saturday 21st July 2018 which saw Rauf Zakaria winning the gold medal and setting a historic record for the 2018 edition.
Rauf out ran his other competitors from the 7 West African Countries to emerge the winner made a time of 20min 39.15sec ahead of determined Sandoko Hamed from Ivory Coast who led in the 1st to 3rd rounds and was overtaken by Rauf in the 4th round with a thunderous speed in the 800 meter relay.
Sandoko was 2nd with a time of 20min 44. 77sec while Thomas Putier clinched the bronze for Ghana who also made a time of 21min 56.72sec.
Speaking to the winner of the 1st edition of the Triathlon West African Regional Championship, he expressed excitement and demonstrated how his last minute practice in one of the event was worthwhile.
“It was an amazing experience and as a multi sports person, this event which is not different from what I do on a regular basis, I still had to learn the shooting a day before the event” Rauf said.
He added that, he had competitive advantage over his peers with his abilities in two events as he utilized it at the final round.
“I knew my opponent was good in shooting which I just learnt it yesterday, and in competition of such nature, you need to master in at least two or more. In this case since it was just three selected event for now, I dwelt on my running and swimming abilities so I used that to my advantage “ he expressed.
He finally lauded the Modern Pentathlon Association of Ghana , the Organizers of the event, for supporting such initiatives and urged Government and other stakeholders support in such area.
“I thank the organizers for supporting such great initiatives. Even though such sports activities of this nature is new in Ghana, I urge the Government and other stakeholders to support such initiatives to develop more talents to represent the nation in Championships“ he noted.
Meanwhile, Laila Zangwio from Ghana won gold at the female category with a time of 25min 16.19sec and 15year Old Jacqueline Kukua Yawson also representing Ghana also placed 2nd second with a time of 30min 24.00sec whilst Tinta Shaida from Burkina Faso won the bronze with 33min 41. 25sec.
The 1st Camp Triathlon West Africa Championship 2018 opened doors for 7 African Countries namely; Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger , Benin , Ivory Coast and host nation Ghana. This year’s edition feature 3 disciplines which includes; shooting , swimming and 800meter running.
