A holddown assembly is provided for axially securing a pump in a wellbore. The assembly has a mandrel having at least one resilient holding element and at least one resilient sealing element. The holding elements are made of a durable material and configured to require a pre-determined seating force to seat the assembly in a seating tubular, and a pre-determined unseating force to unseat the assembly. The holding elements are configured to elastically deform when seated, such that the pre-determined seating and unseating force does not change significantly even over many seating/unseating cycles. The sealing elements are configured to sealingly engage with the seating tubular to prevent wellbore fluid from flowing thereby. As the sealing elements are only used for forming a fluid seal, and not for securing the pump, damage to the sealing elements as a result of repeated seatings and unseatings is mitigated.