2011 Africa Champs Maputo Race report

Maputo, Mozambique was the venue for the 2011 African Triathlon Championships and it was the first time that a triathlon was held in this beautiful country. The Mozambicans did not know know what these skinny athletes were doing swimming, riding and running around in these funny tight suits

We stayed at the Southern Sun host hotel which was a really nice place and when inside it was hard to imagine that a busy African city was just outside the door. It was good to meet up with my old friend Richard Murray who has been racing all over the world trying to pick up some ITU points, his most recent victory being at the European Cup in Brasschaat.

The day before the race the weather was amazing, no wind and some nice warm sun – perfect weather for racing. I checked out the race route and thought about how I would race. The bike course was a very hilly and bumpy one, on some bad road surface and there was a mean hill on each lap which we would have to do 8 times in total.

Race day

The race was starting unusually early at 7:30 and so we needed to be up at 5:30. This is normal for me but for the other athletes it was crazy early. After waking up I had a look out the window to see that a big wind was up and the sea was going crazy! Richard and I have a theory that if the weather is good the day before the race then race day is definitely not going to be good! Warm up went well and we were ready to go. As we were being called up they were still struggling to keep the buoys in place. As they put the first one in it took off and headed north to Inhambane! That should give you some indication as to how crazy the sea was. They managed to get one buoy to stay still and had to make it an out and back swim that would only be 1200m.

We were off and I had no idea where I was, I was just swinging my arms and looking for other athletes. Only once I had finished the swim did I realise that I was in the front pack. I rocketed through transition with what felt like half an ocean in my stomach, onto my bike and headed to the hill. I was definitely the fattest in the pack because every time we went up the hill I was huffing and puffing like a bufflo running up a hill! But coming down the hill was a different story and I flew past the guys like a bird gone crazy, or maybe it was just my MTB skills kicking in. Abrahm Louw from Namibia was racing like a true champ. He had a gap coming out of the swim and he stayed away the whole bike. Amazing performance from him – well done!

On the last lap of the bike Richard attacked and all of us went with him. I was 3rd out of T2 just behind Richard and Hendrik de Villiers. The gazelles quickly pulled away from me, while I was struggling to get into a rythmn.

I ran as hard as I could and it was good enough for 2nd place in u23 elite. I was really happy with that result. I wanted to win, but it was not what God had planned for me for this race. My time will come. Praise God for my second place.

Now it’s time to knuckle down with World Champs, in September in China, in mind

‎​After the race we went to a pub to enjoy the local beer, 2M. This is the only beer in the whole world that I will drink.

We triathletes just can’t sit still and relax, we always have to do something! So we played some darts. Good fun!

You know you can’t come to Mozambique and not have some seafood. It was so fresh and tasty. But the 2M beer didn’t go so well with it……..:(

There you have- it my trip to Maputo was a lot of fun. God has blessed Africa!!!

Here is a slide show I made of the trip.

10 out of 10 to ATU and TSA for hosting the event. You guys did a great job. Hope to see a World Champs in Africa soon.

Untill I blog again.

Keep on

World Triathlon Champs

Hello All

After a lot of travelling and racing around the whole of Europe we are back into heavy training and preparation for World Champs. My legs were pretty broken after all this and they were sore in training, but I bounced back after a couple of days .

So far training has been very good and I can feel that all 3 disciplines are moving forwards and upwards – that makes me very happy.
A good tool to measure my progress is my CycleOps Power Tap. It has made a huge difference in my training. I feel very controlled and smooth on the bike. A big thanks to CycleOps for this fantastic gadget.

My running has been going well, but I still have a lot off work to do and this is going to take time.
I have been doing some killer track sessins, which is really good for triathlon because when you get off the bike you need to run with broken legs for 10km. It takes a lot of concentration and I think this is one thing that I am lacking.
I struggle to concentrate in class for 50min and all I had to do was sit there and my heart rate was not 180 beats per minute – unless there was a pretty girl in the class:) haha
We’ve had fantastic weather the entire time that we have been here, then all of a sudden, over night the cold has descended on us and it is now freezing here.
The mountains around us were white with snow – very beautiful, but very cold.
The morning after it snowed we did a hard cycle session. It was so icy cold and the temperature was as low as 5 degrees. The mountain on which we did our repeats was totally covered in thick mist and we couldn’t see 5m in front of us.
Here is a picture of the mountains close to were we are:

Freezing

I have been very happy with my performances while I have been here in Europe as it is only my first time really competing against the best triathletes.
Our qualifier for World Champs was Africa Champs and you might remember that I was stung by blue bottles and passed out on the second lap of the run due to having an allergic reaction to the blue bottles. This meant that I didn’t get a slot to race u23 Elite at World Champs and I was going to have to race in my age category at Worlds.
TSA applied for a wild card for me and I waited- and waited.
I was so chilled about it, “rustig” is the best way to describe it, because I knew that God was in control of everything and hHe will do what He knows is best for me.
Then last week Emma got an email for ITU and I got a wild card!
I was so extremely happy, totally over the moon.
The lesson that I learnt from this is that God keeps His Word and He is Good. Like it says in PSALMS 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Man! That is so pwerful.
I don’t know about you, but the first time that I read that it blew my mind. So yes, God is good and He gives you what your heart desires, but first you must obey him. He is just and He will save you like He saved me.
My heart is on fire for Him. If you are not on the Jesus train then I invite you to get on and I promise you that you will never regret it. The best thing is that it is FREE, so come, get on and enjoy the ride.

One week to go to the biggest race of the year. This is the race where you work so hard that you throw up when you are done. You take the pain and you grit your teeth because this is the dream that you have worked so hard for.
So now I just need to pull everything together and learn from all my experiences and put it into practice.
The most important thing is to trust God and praise him all the way.

I have learnt so much being overseas these past couple of weeks. I have absolutely loved every moment of it.
Thank you to TSA for the opportunity that you gave me to represent my country. I will be proud to put on my SA kit next week.

I must say that when World Champs are over I sure am going to be looking forward to getting back to South Africa. That is where my roots are and where the big five are that is where I call home. The best place in the world- South Africa.

Keep on trusting in God and keep the faith because God’s glory is only a prayer away.

Always keep on