On Sunday, the starting gun went off on the M’Diq African Cup. With one of the most cosmopolitan start lists of the year, M’Diq played host to a range of talents.
The athletes took on the Olympic distance around the Mediterranean town with many using the race as a tune-up for the upcoming WTCS Cagliari and European Championships.
Men’s race
Kevin Tarek Viñuela Gonzalez led the way in the water. While he gained a slight lead, a small cluster of men were able to mostly stay with him. Among the cluster were Matthew Wright and Panagiotis Bitados.
Viñuela was quick through T1 and dragged a small group to the front of the race. However, the field soon came back together on the bike as Tim Hellwig, Jawad Abdelmoula and Ayan Beisenbayev recouped minor losses from the swim. Hellwig and Abdelmoula had only lost around 15 seconds and were quick to make their way to the front.
Much of the field ended up in and around the front pack. As they whizzed through the Moroccan streets, the pace had occasional dips.
With a 10km run in 29 degrees (Celsius) to come, most athletes seemed content to hold something in reserve. Of the few surges that did come, most were the result of Hellwig and Abdelmoula nearing the front. As WTCS medallists from last season, the field knew well enough not to let them escape.
Onto run, a large string of men stretched along the road. Hellwig, Bitados and Wright were the first to pick up the pace and managed to earn a separation from the field. From the early stages, it was apparent that Abdelmoula did not have the legs for the run. He was coming off a training camp and so is still freshening up ahead of WTCS Cagliari. As a result, he paced his effort alongside his compatriot Badr Siwane amid the local support.
Gradually, Wright fell behind from the lead as Hellwig and Bitados pushed. Bitados too began to struggle but just about held on.
In the end, though, Hellwig had the final kick to break Bitados and win his first international race of the year. Hellwig clocked 29:45 on the run, representing a great performance given the conditions.
Iestyn Harrett finished 4th and Cedric Osterhold took 5th.
Women’s race
In a small field, a group of four women managed to make headway in the swim. Barbara De Koning, Márta Kropkó, Macarena Salazar and Sara Vilic seized control of the race in the water and made the most of their gap out of T1.
Anabel Knoll lost 33 seconds to De Koning in the water. Later she would unfortunately not finish on the bike.
The front four pulled clear on the bike. With only thirteen athletes starting, there were not enough athletes to form a classic chase pack. When Kim Van ‘t Verlaat also stopped on the bike, the chase thinned even further.
At the front, though, the lead quartet rode well and probably could have held off a much bigger group. Kropkó took some particularly enthusiastic turns setting the pace but all contributed towards building the lead. In the late stages of the bike, the pace dwindled a little as thoughts turned to the run. With such a healthy lead, the loss of pace did not affect much at all.
It did not take long for De Koning to stamp her authority on the race. Along with Vilic, she surged clear. Although Vilic tried to keep up, she too was eventually dropped as De Koning crushed a 34:42 10km. That was enough to earn the win by 26 seconds from Vilic.
Kropkó won the bronze medal after finishing 3 minutes 5 seconds behind Vilic.
View the full race results here.
