Triathlon: Leila, Zakaria win Kempinski-Cowbell Race Series

Ghana’s rising triathlete Leila Werburi Zangwio won the female category of the 6th Kempinski-Cowbell Race Series held at the University of Ghana Swimming Pool yesterday.

Leila, 23, defended the title she won at the same venue early this year, as she finished tops in the 600m swimming, 18.9km biking and 5.6km run in a time of 1:24:49 hours, an improvement over her personal best of 1:26:59 hours.

The final year student of the University of Ghana Business School shrugged off competition from French Ann Besancon and Tracy Gerber of South Africa who took the second and third positions after completing in a time of 1:28:54 hours and 1:46:37 hours respectively. 

“It feels very great to win again. This edition is a lot more challenging because we had a lot of females from other countries taking part and these are people who have been triathletes all their lives and they really know the sport. But I was able to come out first from the pool, on the bike, as well as in the running. I am very excited that I was able to make a two minutes drop of my time”, Leila told the Graphic Sports after her victory.

In the male division, triathlete Zakaria Abdul-Rauf came tops after recording a time of 1:07:40 hours, defeating American Sam Papai and Pierre Kervennal of France, who finished in a time of 1:08:15 hours and 1:14:39 hours respectively.

“This competition is quite okay for me compared with previous ones. We competed in three events – swimming, biking and running and the swimming was my biggest challenge but I was able to sail through it. For the next event, I will work so hard to reduce my time,” said an elated Zakaria.

The teams’ event saw GH Dolphins trio of Kow Jackson (swimmer), Isaac Sackey (biker) and Kassim Mohammed (runner) finishing tops and setting a new record time of 0:57:41 minutes to claim medals and souvenirs from sponsors.

At the closing ceremony, Mr Bawa Fuseini, president of the Ghana Triathlon Federation, said their main target was to see Ghana qualify to the next Olympic Games in Tokyo adding the dream is achievable considering the success of the competition

In all, seven relay teams and 56 athletes registered to compete in the event which was sponsored by Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel, Promasidor Ghana Limited, producers of Cowbell and the University of Ghana. The next round of races is scheduled for November 12.