Reception honours top athletes and two-year countdown to Olympics

The four triathletes – Claude Eksteen, Erhard Wolfaadt, Wikus Weber and Richard Murray – have been training in Leeds this month with world triathlon champion, Dewsbury-born Alistair Brownlee, who lives in Leeds, as they prepare for Sunday's world championship series event in London. To mark their visit and also to recognise two years to the day until the start of the London 2012 Games, the quartet were special guests yesterday at a civic reception hosted by Lord Mayor of

Leeds Coun Jim McKenna at Civic Hall.

Two of the South African athletes – Eksteen and Wolfaadt – are currently ranked in the top 50 triathletes in the world while Weber and Murray, who have both been African under-23 triathlon champions, are expected to be stars of the South African team in London for 2012.

The group has been based at Leeds Metropolitan University for their training in the build-up to Sunday's event, working under the watchful eye of Jack Maitland, Leeds Met's triathlon coach, who guides world champion Alistair Brownlee'and his younger brother Jonathan.