![\"Rudolf](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-2-0-45080400-1334311208.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nAfrican U\/23 triathlon champion Rudolf Naud\u00e9 is aiming to make it a double continental title at the ATU Cross Triathlon African Championships at Hartbeespoort on Sunday. Photo: Supplied<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Naud\u00e9 (Team Future Life), last year\u2019s series winner, said his victory in Mauritius two weeks ago indicated an encouraging return to form following an Achilles tendon injury earlier this season.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, after this weekend, I can have a double African champ title to my name!\u201d<\/p>\n The standard distance off-road event takes place at The Islands Estate and will comprise a 1km swim, 26km mountain bike section and 7km trail run.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old said his current condition was good and that his legs felt strong for the run, but he expected tough competition from the two Team Inov8-Rebel athletes on the bike.<\/p>\n Blignaut, who claimed the SA cross triathlon title in Bloemfontein a fortnight ago, said Naud\u00e9 was \u201ca tough little guy\u201d and a \u201cfighter on the run\u201d but also expected a strong challenge from Van der Mescht.<\/p>\n Newly crowned South African cross triathlon champion Theo Blignaut will be vying for the continental title at the ATU Cross Triathlon African Championships at Hartbeespoort on Sunday. Photo: Supplied<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s an all-rounder, a very good racer and always a big threat.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he expected the three of them to lead the swim. \u201cBut I think the first big climb five kilometres into the bike will break up the group.\u201d<\/p>\n The 23-year-old said he planned to make his move there and then open up a gap on the technical descent.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been riding the course and know practically every rock out there. So I know what to expect and I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Blignaut, who is new to the off-road version of the sport, said he had found his niche and looked forward to specialising in it in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the road, if you\u2019re a fairly fast runner, you can do well. Off-road, it\u2019s a combination of power, strength, skill and speed.\u201d<\/p>\n Although his national title would have given him a psychological boost, Blignaut said over-confidence was dangerous.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a case of one foot in front of the other. I need to be in control of what I do and not focus on the others.\u201d<\/p>\n In the women\u2019s race, national XTERRA champion Carla van Huyssteen (Team Inov8-Rebel), who has won all three of this year\u2019s Sasol events, will face stiff competition from Sylvia van Tromp and Susan Sloane (Team Salomon).<\/p>\n Highlights will be screened on DStv\u2019s SuperSport 6 channel at 6.30pm on May 1.<\/p>\n Registration is from 3pm to 4pm on Saturday and late entries will be accepted from 6am on Sunday. Racing starts at 8am.<\/p>\n In conjunction with the main event, there will be a sprint distance race for 16 to 19-year-old ATU athletes and social participants. It consists of a 500m swim, 13.5km bike and 3.5km run.<\/p>\n The popular kids\u2019 duathlon event will also take place.<\/p>\n Registered ATU athletes can enter at www.triathlonsa.co.za<\/a> and all other competitors at www.cyclelab.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The stage is set for a storming showdown between three of the country\u2019s top off-road athletes at the ATU Cross Triathlon African Championships at Hartbeespoort outside Johannesburg on Sunday. Newly crowned national cross triathlon champion Theo Blignaut and U\/23 continental triathlon titleholder Rudolf Naud\u00e9 will go head to head with Pieter van der Mescht, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":53801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-22353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22353"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=22353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n