Author: Modern Athlete

1 EAT BREAKFAST EARLY
• Eating breakfast early kick starts your metabolism, boosts energy levels and helps control your appetite for the rest of your day.
• During sleep, your body processes the last meal you ate the evening before. Waking up with an empty stomach and continuing your daily activities may be a struggle without replenishing your energy. A healthy breakfast refuels the glycogen stores in the body that supply blood sugar.
• Starting with breakfast can also encourage your metabolism to work, thus expending calories. The key to any weight-loss goal is consuming fewer calories than your body can burn in a day.
• Eating breakfast first thing in the morning will reduce the likelihood that you will find yourself making poor choices at the vending machine at work. Moments of weakness occur when hunger is unbearable.

2 SWOP THE BAGEL FOR EGGS
According to the International Journal of Obesity, individuals who ate eggs for breakfast instead of bagels had a significantly greater reduction in body fat. The egg-eating group in this study also had a greater success rate in losing weight when the healthy breakfast was combined with a reduced-calorie diet throughout the day.

3 DON’T STARVE
Many people try starving themselves in order to cut calories and hopefully lose weight. Starving, however, results in the opposite happening. If you reduce your calories too much, or don’t eat for long periods of time, your body decreases its metabolism and stores fat, and this can lead to cravings.

4 BEWARE OF LIQUID CALORIES – THEY ADD UP
Liquids like fruit juice, sweetened fizzy cold drinks, and milky drinks (including coffee) can add significant amounts of calories to your daily intake. One can of a soft drink equates to about eight teaspoons of sugar. One mega cappuccino contains 12 grams fat, while one cup of fruit juice contains six teaspoons of sugar!

5 REPLACE FATTY RED MEAT WITH FAT-FREE PROTEIN-LIKE LEGUMES
Enjoy more meals made with beans, peas and lentils, such as baked beans in tomato sauce, vegetarian chili, bean burritos, three-bean salad or falafel. Add beans, peas or lentils to soups and salads.

6 CHECK THE FAT CONTENT
Read package labels and choose lower fat versions of salad dressings, frozen foods, cream soups, etc. To be called “low fat”, a food must contain less than three grams of fat per 100g/ml.

7 SPICE IT UP MINUS THE FAT
Flavour foods without adding fat by using lemon, salsa, mustard, ketchup, herbs and spice.

8 SWAP BREAD FOR TORTILLAS
One tortilla equates to the same amount of carbohydrate as a third of a slice of bread.

9 WATCH PORTION DISTORTION
A simple practical guideline to use for your dinner plate is:
• 1 fist or ? plate whole grain, unrefined carbohydrate.
• 1 fist or ? plate lean protein.
• 2 fists or half plate vegetables.
(Remember to count starchy vegetables as carbs rather than vegetables).

10 TRACK YOURSELF
Use handy tools like downloading applications on your cell phone to track your eating, exercise and progress. Check out Mynetdiary.com or Fatsecret.com.

Becoming a drug addict had nothing to do with my upbringing, family life or any other dysfunctional story that leads some people to do drugs. A lot of perfectly normal adults get caught up in this trap, simply by being too arrogant to recognise that it could happen to them! Well, after trying my first ecstasy tablet and having been told that it was so awesome, I spent the next year trying to experience that first high, which truth be told is nice. However, what they forget to tell the novice drug user is the down side of the drug, which at times wanted to drive me absolutely crazy with depression and a feeling of uselessness. I would, on an average weekend, take up to 20 pills, but the anticipated high never came. In fact, the more drugs I took, the lower and more depressed I felt.

After having taken ecstasy for about a year, I was offered a new drug called CAT. Again, I was told how great it was and again I foolishly went ahead and took it. Before snorting it, I looked at the line that was cut for me and I remember thinking to myself: “Walt, you are about to go on a rollercoaster ride that is going to get out of control!” But being an arrogant fool, I decided that I was smarter and in control of myself. That was the beginning of a three-year tornado that blasted through my life, and more importantly, through the lives of my family.

DESTRUCTION
Not only did it damage my health, drain my finances and alienate my clients, who lost faith in me, but sadly my ‘girls’ (wife and daughter) eventually asked me to get out of the house because they could no longer live with me and my erratic behaviour. You see, throughout 2004, the drug got a hold of me so tightly that I was taking up to 10 grams a day. I would go without sleep for days, would not eat, lost a lot of weight and became terribly paranoid. Eventually on 15 October 2004, my family left me at home during one of my neurotic outbursts and would not come home. My daughter didn’t even want to talk to me on the phone, let alone see me. She stayed at a friend’s house, refusing to come home.

I eventually convinced my wife to come back and when she came home, I took the stash that I had on me and flushed it down the drain in front of her. And so my self-rehabilitation started. Little did I know what was in store for me, but I eventually did it “cold turkey” with the love and support of my wife.

FIGHTING WITHDRAWAL
I spent the next three months fighting my withdrawal. I did not even have the courage to walk out of my room. I stayed in there and slept for days on end, only to wake up, eat and sleep. I was so disconnected from the world, that when the 2004 Tsunami in the Far East happened, I was oblivious to it until some time later. I also ate myself from the sickly, unhealthy 75kg frame to an overweight 100kg. One morning in early January 2005, I woke up from what seemed to be a deep sleep and as I opened my eyes, the world became clear of the glaze that I had had in my eyes for years. I felt that day that I had turned the corner.

I started the fight to get my mind and body healthy. You see, had I been in a rehabilitation centre they would’ve helped me with my mental state in conjunction with the physical. But I decided to pull myself together, be humble and address my problems one by one. Which I did!

STARTING OVER
I got myself back into a gym and what a struggle that was. One day, for some reason, I decided to climb on a treadmill and attempt to run a little. I did a 10-minute session and loved it. Soon I was pushing the sessions from 20 minutes through to one-hour sessions, and I always climbed off the treadmill feeling a high.

A few Comrades running friends of mine would see me on the treadmill and they would often invite me to go for a run on the road with them. My response was always the same: “Me on the road? No way!” One day while running on the treadmill, one of the personal trainers told me I should raise the inclination on the treadmill, as that would help me get fitter and stronger. So I did, and before long I was running my entire session on inclination and as fast as possible.

BECOMING A RUNNER
Early in 2006 friends invited me to go for a 6km run on the road and I finally accepted. I loved it, and that was the beginning of my new and now permanent high. I quickly joined Johannesburg Harriers and started training for my first race; the Tough One 32km. Little did I know that even though I was now doing something healthy, if I overdid it I would break down – and I did. Injuries plagued me continuously as the transition from soft treadmill to the hard road took its toll on me, and shin splints in particularly were a problem.

Nevertheless, I pressed on and did my first Tough One in 3:06. I was so happy that day. I could not believe that I had just finished that race and declared loudly to a friend that I wanted to run Comrades. He looked at me, this totally exhausted novice, and said, “Walt, Comrades is this race times three!” I said I didn’t care, I would do it!

I continued to run with shin splints until one morning while out on a run, I heard a bone make a funny noise. I had a stress fracture, and was forced to take three months off, but all the while I couldn’t wait to get back on the road again. I did eventually get back, but for the next three years I could never get myself ready enough for Comrades. All types of injuries plagued me continuously and my running was confined to a social type activity.

MEETING THE RIGHT COACH
In 2009 I decided to enter a marathon with the aim of finishing in sub-four hours. I eventually finished in 3:50 and thought that would be my qualifier for Comrades 2010. Then I met John Hamlett in September 2009 and he kindly agreed to coach me. I explained to him that I had been plagued with injuries and he famously said, “Don’t worry, I will take you to the mountains and fix you.” I thought I had just met a lunatic, but I also knew instantly that this is what I wanted for my running. John also put me on a special diet and within three months I lost 17kg. He trained me from a 3:50 to a 3:14 marathon, and I was full steam ahead for Comrades 2010.

Training camps with John consist of him taking his athletes to the mountains of Dullstroom in Mpumalanga. Average runners like myself get to train with professional Comrades gold medallist athletes and gain experience of running with them. Running in Dullstroom is a feeling of absolute bliss; it is out in the countryside where you can run for hours on end with no site of a car, or even people at times. (Just watch out not to tramp on a snake though!)

PUSHING MY LIMITS
Over Easter 2009, we were in Dullstroom on a training camp. I’d been running for some two hours on my own – the pro’s had left me for dust! – when I saw John riding his bike towards me. I thought he was coming back to keep me company. Well, he did keep me company, but he also told me to pick up the pace! After having already run for some five hours that day, my pace was suddenly pushed from 5min/km to 4min/km and he kept me at that pace for a good 30-minute stretch.

After that session, John told me – knowing that I’d been a heavy addict – that he wanted to show me what our bodies are capable of doing when we treat them well. After that training camp, I also realised what he had meant about “fixing my injuries in the mountains.” You see, my injuries are gone. That’s not to say they won’t ever come back, but I’ve learnt how to look out for the injuries and avoid them for most part.

MY FIRST COMRADES
One day while out running with some friends, we came across some guys who we considered to be great runners, as they had finished Comrades in about 8:30. Back then I thought I’d be happy with a 10-hour first Comrades finish, but to my surprise I ran my first Comrades in 8:21. All I can say is “Thank you, John Hamlett!” I would love to run a silver at Comrades within the next five years, and after seeing what I can achieve with the right preparation, I fully expect to do so in 2012, with a sub-7:00 within five years.

This year I didn’t run Comrades due to work constraints, which meant I could not put in the training required. I have promised myself never to line up at Comrades unless I’ve trained properly, and I knew that I wasn’t trained properly this year. So for now I’m focusing on running a sub-3:00 marathon and building towards Comrades 2012.

NEW LIFE
Coming into the Comrades finish in Durban last year, experiencing the crowd literally sucking you into the stadium, and seeing my wife as I ran into the stadium, I realised that without a doubt in my mind, there is no high like a runners high! I therefore now have a new outlook on life, and I want to say to all ‘would-be’ and current addicts: “If you want a real high, try some running. Enter a small race and experience that for a high.”

To my friends Mario Nunes, Ivor Biddlecombe and Steve Hugo, who helped me so much when I started running – THANK YOU!

Boost Juice Bars has grown from Janine’s kitchen in Melbourne, Australia in 2000, to over 260 stores on five continents, producing one million smoothies every day. They arrived in South Africa for the first time in 2007 and are still expanding at the moment. It has been an incredible journey for Janine and her ‘Boosties,’ but she says it has not been smooth sailing all the way, and they will never reach the finish line.

Janine grew up just outside Melbourne, left school at the age of 16 and dabbled with a range of different careers before she ended up as owner of Boost. She worked in various positions in the media, at gyms, in nightclubs, on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea and in cinemas in Asia, amongst others. Along the way there were many failures and many successes, but it was her drive to succeed that kept her pushing forward, and ultimately pushed her to the top. “I believe all experiences offer you a chance to learn something, regardless of it being a positive or negative outcome, and I’ve constantly looked for my next opportunity to push forward, armed with the knowledge from a previous experience. I think Boost has been so successful because even though we do a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong, we are really quick learners. We know our faults and we constantly think of things we can improve on. What you can take out of the Boost story is that your education and background does not matter, opportunities are out there, you just need to find them.”

PASSION AND BELIEF
On a recent visit to South Africa, Janine spoke about the road to success and it is clear that her belief in herself and her concept helped her build a fledgling business into a highly successful chain. “I think it has been tenacity, common sense, advice, great support and on the job experience that got me where I am today. Although my qualifications are not traditional, I never believe that should get in the way of a strong work ethic, a curious mind always willing to learn, and a desire to constantly do better.”

She admits that the passion for her business has made it easier to spend so much energy on growing Boost, and believes it is this passion that also contributes to the success of the brand. “I am fortunate that I was able to build a career around values and a lifestyle that I believe in. Like everything, being passionate does not mean life is without its challenges, although without that spark, it would be very hard to have the sustainable level of energy Boost has required over the years.”

“My husband, Jeff and I took really big personal gambles early on when we launched the business in 2001. We sold our home and put every free dollar into financing our business. It paid off when we were the seventh fastest growing business in Australia three years later, but then instead of relaxing, we decided to open another 70 stores in one year in 2005. My point is, pressure is stressful and challenging, but I continue to push myself and enjoy rising to a challenge. I could have been satisfied with less pressure and regaining the security in my home, but for me the pressure continues to motivate and drive me to meet my next challenge.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE
Janine is the first to admit that it was and still is extremely difficult to balance her work, family and active life. She says she often works 100-hour weeks and for the past 10 years she has had to put her life on hold as Boost was her priority, with her children and husband second and third in line. With more experience, however, she has realised the importance of being more balanced. “I have four great children, and have learnt it is important for me to take some time for myself at the end of the day, so I can continue to give my best to my family and my work. I am most proud that I have been able to be both a mother and businesswoman, and didn’t have to give up one dream for the other. It was by no means easy, but I do consider that as my greatest achievement.”

But true to form, Janine isn’t planning on slowing down and has plans for further expansion of the Boost brand as well as developing new brands. “It is important to continually keep challenging yourself and your team to do better. You simply have to continue to move forward and keep your foot on the accelerator. When I first opened Boost, I couldn’t see us operating in South Africa; however I also don’t believe in creating your own limitations. I love to win and business can be very much like a game, so when the game board kept getting bigger, it wasn’t so much the wow factor that kept me going. I simply continued working and kept rolling the dice.”

BOOST YOUR RUNNING
So when you go for your next run, whether it is a training run or a race and whether you run a PB or drag your legs to the finish, remember these lessons:
• Learn from experience, whether it’s success or failure, and use this knowledge the next time you run.
• Believe in yourself and be passionate enough to take a gamble.
• Use this passion to stay driven and always improve.
• Stay balanced. As passionate as you are about running and your next goal, a balanced life will ultimately help you run better.

Paul Kaye is a man who has seen it all: Elation as weary athletes reach the finish line to become Ironmen and women, sorrow as the last athletes wearily try to drag their bodies across the finish line before missing the cut-off time, and those unique moments, such as the marriage proposals and the ecstasy of pro’s setting new world records on home soil!

Not a bad job at all, you would think. But though it all sounds pretty glamorous and fun, it takes hard work and a special type of person to announce at gruelling distance events that takes many hours, such as Ironman, Two Oceans and Comrades, all races where Paul has left his mark on many an athlete.

THE ‘FACE’ OF IRONMAN
There are probably few athletes in South Africa who have done the Ironman and who don’t know Paul Kaye. Because as any Ironman will tell you, when you reach that red carpet, Paul doesn’t just make you feel like a hero, he makes you feel that the whole finish line was set up just for you, and that he personally has waited for you all those hours. And while he welcomes you home, he makes sure the spectators get involved. Ask any Ironman, it is one of the greatest feelings you will ever experience!

Paul has been involved with Ironman 70.3 and Ironman South Africa since 2006, and in the last two years has increasingly become in demand at international triathlons worldwide. So how does he do it? “I see myself as a thief who gets to steal energy and a little bit of everyone’s emotions. That’s what keeps me going.”

But Paul’s job involves more than just announcing; at most events he also runs the complete entertainment schedule, which means he hires the other announcers and DJs, chooses the music and creates the schedule of events. “The hardest thing about announcing is how do you say the same thing all day long, but in different words? I tend to watch body language and I watch the spectators. Of course, I also understand there is a holy trinity: Firstly you must make sure the event sponsors are happy, then you have to make sure the athlete feels like a hero and thirdly you need to make sure that the spectators enjoy themselves and are engaged, making them feel what the athletes are feeling. You run it almost like a radio show. The more you plan, the more structure you create and the more you free your brain for the magic.”

Ironman events have a special place in Paul’s heart. “Comrades also has amazing emotion at the finish line, but to me the finish line of any Ironman is more personal. You have people coming through one or two at a time. It’s a narrow finish line and you can see the look in their eyes. Any athlete finishing needs that moment of recognition and often athletes stop and say to me: ‘Say it!’ Until I call out: You are an Ironman!”

BACKGROUND
Paul started in radio at the tender age of 18 as DJ for his campus radio station. At the age of 20, he got a job at the former Radio Good Hope and that is when the radio bug bit; he quit varsity and on 28 April 1990 started working full time at Good Hope, making him the youngest DJ on FM Stereo in the country at the time. Soon he was doing commentating as well. “I met a guy who thought I had a good attitude and asked me to announce at boat races. At the first race that I announced, former Springbok rugby player Rob Louw got hit by a boat and nearly died! What a start!”

From there Paul’s announcing career took off, and he also did some TV presenting for the former Junior Top Sport on SABC, announcing at waterki events, the Cape Town Marathon and the former 5FM Energade Triathlon Series. “That was 1994 and my first exposure to triathlons, which eventually led to me participating in tri’s!”

BECOMING AN IRONMAN
In 2000 Paul was invited to Mauritius for a triathlon. “All the pro’s were there and they were all saying I was a big mouth, but have never done a triathlon myself! That’s when I realised my waistline was expanding and I can’t live forever. My son was about to be born and I realised I needed to get fit if I wanted to be an active, participating father.”

He did his first triathlon in a Speedo and Energade event T-shirt! “I had to swim breaststroke most of the way before getting out the water second-last. I got on my mountain bike with its bent frame and again got off second-last. Eventually the only person that finished behind me was a woman.”

In between announcing, Paul started participating in more tri’s. To cope with the stress of divorce in 2005, Paul decided to train even harder. “In 2006 my wife advised me she will be leaving the country with our two kids. Announcing at Ironman in 2007 was extremely hard and emotional for me, as I saw athletes crossing the finish line with their kids. I set myself a goal to also finish Ironman with my kids.”

Paul got an invitation to race the 10th anniversary of Ironman Austria and reaching the finish line, his dream came true. His kids were waiting for him. “My daughter was 15 at the time and I thought she would be way to cool to finish with me. But there she was in an Ironman T-shirt next to my son, who even gelled his hair for the occasion. My pain was gone and I crossed the finish line holding my two kids’ hands.”

In 2009 Paul met the love of his life, Kelly, at a Ken and Barbie Valentine’s Party for singles. “Every Ken had to bring a Barbie and every Barbie had to bring a Ken they were unattached to.” Paul and Kelly, who met the day before, decided to go together. After ending up in the party’s kissing booth, they were inseparable. Kelly, who worked as a stewardess on a luxury yacht, decided to work one more contract on the boat before settling, which meant Paul needed another distraction! He started training for Ironman Austria and in 2009 became a double Ironman, with Kelly cheering him on.

THE UPS AND DOWNS
As in any job, there are ups and downs, like the time when Paul had to announce at Ironman Nice after finding out that morning that his mom had passed away. “I had to fake it. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done.”

When announcing Paul allows the energy of the event to inspire him. “I try to look into people’s eyes, see their emotions and watch their body language. That has often inspired me to do things and say things. I don’t go to the finish line with a script, it just happens.”

Are the emotions of elites and Average Joe’s any different? “For the elites, they make a living out of it. The age groupers are ordinary people achieving something extraordinary. When I entered Ironman, I did so to test my limits, I wanted to know if I could sink to depths that I thought were impossible and then come out the other side? Ironman taught me all of that. Everybody that does Ironman learns something about themselves. Ordinary people all have a story.”

Paul believes triathlon is a growing sport in South African and that more runners are converting. “I go to all the sporting expos and from a mile away I see how many runners are converting to triathlons. Runners will try swimming and cycling, but it seems as if cyclists are very set in their ways, while runners are more open to change and adventure.”

FOCUS ON THE FINISH LINE
Paul and his wife recently started a company recently called Focus.on.the.Finish.Line, providing a total solution for runners travelling to different races. This includes bike transport, hotel accommodation, restaurant reservations, tours etc. “I came across this idea after spending so much money on equipment that had to be replaced because my bike was damaged in transportation. One day I said to Kelly, if only we could provide a solution to athletes which allows them to only focus on the finish line. And that is where the name for our business came from. Kelly comes from a hospitality background, so she knows how to deliver a level of service that is beyond excellent.”

Paul’s two big dreams now include putting together a race package for South Africans to travel to and participate in Ironman Austria. “It is one of the best Ironman events on the planet and I would love to share that with others.” His second dream is to become to triathlon what Phil Liggett has become to cycling. “I would love to one day announce at the finish line of the Ironman World Champs in Kona. I want to be one of those great South African exports.”

So, you want to become a top level professional athlete and make it on the world stage, go to the Olympics and World Champs, tour the world, get lucrative endorsement contracts, and get rich along the way as well, but you’re not exactly the world’s best runner… Not to worry, say some experts, because if you (just) put in 10 000 hours of training, you WILL reach the top and achieve your dream. So, all it will take is two to three hours of training a day for eight to 10 years, and a belief that you can be something special. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

But it isn’t that simple, says renowned sport scientist Dr Ross Tucker, who is based at the Sport Science Institute of South Africa in Cape Town. “Several books and articles have recently been published that quote the 10 000 hour theory, which has its origins in a 1993 study by Anders Ericsson, where he looked at the performance ability of violinists, and showed that their playing ability was determined by the cumulative hours of training up to the age of 20. The best expert players had accumulated the magic number of 10 000 hours whereas those classified as merely good or least accomplished were found to have done only 8 000 or 5 000 hours of practice, respectively.”

“However, if the theory is that 10 000 hours of practice are needed, then you should not find a single person who has succeeded having done fewer than 10 000 hours, and nor should anyone fail having done their 10 000 hours. But it’s conceivable that there is a person in the least accomplished group who does 10 000 hours without cracking that performance level, and a person who does less but succeeds.” Here Ross quotes the example of Gobet and Campitelli’s study of chess players, where they looked at the time taken to reach the Master level. They found that one player did so on 3,000 hours, another took almost 24 000 hours, and some kept practicing but not succeeding. “That’s a 21 000-hour difference, which is two entire practice lifetimes according to Ericson’s model of practice. It seems pretty clear that practice, while important, is not sufficient for some, while for others, it’s not even necessary.”

BUT WHAT ABOUT SPORT?
Now these studies focussed on skill-based activities, but does their theory also hold for sport, not just the skills-based ones but also pure endurance-based codes? Ross can quote many examples of young athletes reaching elite competitive levels within a short period of time of starting a sport, including American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic medallist ever. These quick learners rarely need 10 000 hours to get there – one netball player from Australia made the international stage on a mere 600 hours of play. “My question is, how does one athlete become a world champion at 16, with relatively little training, whereas thousands of others, who train more over a longer period, will never even make the national team, let alone become a world champion? The answer is genetics and innate talent.”

“Of course, practice is vital for success, especially when you have a competitive sport where many are vying for the same medal. In that situation, the person who succeeds must train hard. But their ability to get more out of training, and also to start off from a higher ‘baseline,’ is just as important, and those are factors influenced by genes. The 10 000 hour concept is a nice motivational tool, a way to encourage more training, to inspire people to improve. The idea for elite performance is that the right person hears this and believes, and then does the training. But to attribute success to 10 000 hours of training, and to dismiss that genetics play a significant role, is not only grossly over-simplified, it’s wrong.”

As Ross puts it, producing champions is incredibly complex. The success of Kenya at distance running, or of Jamaica in sprinting, is due to hundreds of different factors, all interacting with one another, including not only socio-economic conditions and local culture, but also genetic factors. Therefore, if you take 100 aspirant athletes in Kenya, and 100 aspirant athletes in the USA, and expose them to the same training, you will not see anything like the same success rate – Many more Kenyan athletes will reach a higher performance level. And that is due to complex genetic differences.

ELUSIVE CHAMPION GENES
The problem is that genetic influence on exercise performance is dizzyingly complex, says Ross, which is why, despite the best efforts of scientists to identify definitive ‘performance genes,’ they have failed. This has been interpreted in some quarters to mean that these genes don’t exist, and therefore that training counts for everything, but the reality is simply that the contributing genetic factors to sporting success are too numerous, with too small an individual influence, and too complex to find… for now. “There is no such thing as a single gene that makes one person tall and another short. Instead, there are hundreds of thousands of different gene variants, and these variations change the phenotype, the effect of the gene, so that you and a friend may have the same gene, but you have different traits or characteristics. Now if we can’t identify a single gene that determines height, imagine how complex it is trying to find a gene that determines athletic performance!”

“Height is almost certainly simpler than something as complex as athletic performance, yet it requires almost 300 000 different genetic variants, and that helps us explain only 45% of it! How many more gene variants or DNA sequence variations might it take to explain sprint or endurance performance? This is why those genetic tests that supposedly tell eager parents whether little Timmy is going to be a sprinter or a distance runner are so over-rated. These tests screen for several genes, including perhaps the most famous performance gene, ACTN3, which is supposedly linked to elite sprinting performance. The problem is, the studies comparing Jamaican sprinters and east African distance runners find no differences for that particular gene. So critics are quick to point out that since the performance gene can’t be found, then it clearly doesn’t exist.”

CONCLUSION
However, Ross says he can still appreciate the value of Ericsson’s model, because it reinforces that we must better manage our entire sports environment to ensure that more potentially successful athletes are exposed to good coaching, good diet, competition, etc. This has implications all the way up to government level, where policies around sport are determined. “For example, in South Africa, sport is less accessible than it should be, partly because of the removal of sport from our school curriculum. We also have a dearth of coaches, and few facilities – and these factors combine to greatly reduce the chance that we’ll produce a great distance runner, regardless of the talent we have. It also has implications for parenthood, in terms of understanding whether a child should specialise early or be encouraged to be as diverse as possible with their sport choices.”

Ross concludes that it all starts with genetic potential. In high performance sport, there is no such thing as alchemy – you cannot make gold out of other metals. If you want to produce a champion, a gold medallist, then you must start out with the right raw materials. “Everyone will improve as a result of training. The lucky few will start out at a level that is higher than the rest, and will improve more rapidly through training. That this is linked to genes is unquestionable. Therefore, to become an Olympic champion, the very best of the best, you need to tick all the boxes. Genes is without a doubt one of those boxes, but so too are training opportunities. And so, is success genetics or training? It’s both. In fact, it’s 100% genetic, and 100% training.”

Early in June this year, Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced the first ever South African team to participate in the IAU (International Association of Ultra Runners) Trail World Championships, taking place in Ireland on 9 July. Given the relatively unstructured nature of trail running in this country, selecting a team of three men and three women to take on the tough 71km course proved quite a difficult task. Thus the selectors went for a blend of “athletes who regularly feature in the top five positions on the local trail running circuit, but also athletes who are known as ‘hard’ athletes in their fields.”

Included in the women’s line-up was Jeannie Bomford, whose recent win in the 2011 Pronutro AfricanX three-day trail race (with partner Sarah Grey) and winning last year’s Otter Trail Marathon, in a course record time, on her way to winning the gruelling nine-race Southern Storm title, secured her selection. Other notable trail running highlights in her career include winning the Pick n Pay Knysna Forest Marathon in 2005, the 35km Crazy Store Table Mountain Challenge in 2007, and the 36km Hansa Hout Bay Trail Challenge in 2008.

NOT 100% FIT
Jeannie herself admits that she wasn’t really ready for the World Champs. “I was surprised to be selected, and we only found out a month before the race that we were going, so our preparation time was way too short for a 70km event. Unfortunately, I also had a sick little boy at home and was not feeling so hot myself on race day, and I ended up having to bail at 28 kays. That was doubly disappointing, because I had heard about the monster climb just after 28km, where you had to use your hands to pull yourself up, and I never got to experience it.”

Bruce Arnett was South Africa’s highest placed finisher in 36th, finishing in 7h49m, followed by William Robinson’s 68th in 8:48, despite a heavy fall. Su Don-Wauchope came 77th in 9:02, finishing 13th out of 25 women, while Katya Soggot bravely limped home 104th in 10:42 after her knee gave out at 35km. Like Jeannie, Iain Don-Wauchope was suffering from flu and had to bail after 40km, having been second overall through the 28km aid station.

As Katya wrote in a post-race report, “None of us were close to being suitably trained to tackle it at our best, but well aware of our position, ASA’s main agenda was commendably to put SA on the World Trail Champs map and gain experience to help with preparing for next time.” Although disappointed not to have finished, Jeannie agrees that they gave it their best shot. “All things considered, our team raced phenomenally well, and it laid a good foundation for the next World Champs in 2013, where I’m sure we’ll do better.”

ATHLETIC PEDIGREE
This was actually the third time Jeannie has represented her country, although it was the first time as part of an official SA team. In 2004 she finished second in the SA XTERRA off-road triathlon champs and qualified for the XTERRA World Champs in Hawaii, where she finished 12th, and in 2008 she won the Triple Challenge off-road triathlon in KwaZulu-Natal and won a spot in the Coast to Coast Challenge in New Zealand, the unofficial world off-road multi-sport champs, where she finished fifth.

Now 31, Jeannie was born in Somerset West and grew up on the family apple farm, the youngest of three children. She was always a sporty child, and says her mom loves telling the story of her first ever race at school. “I apparently came home from playschool, saying I ran a race today and won, and beat all the boys!” In high school, she participated in all the ‘normal’ school sports, including running, netball, hockey, and swimming. After school her parents moved to Stellenbosch, where she attended university after a gap year overseas, eventually completing an Honours degree in Sports Science. The running bug really bit at varsity when she joined her siblings in a social running group and began doing races – although she was still fairly relaxed about her running… “I had a helluva good time being a student runner. I remember one time getting home from the pub at 5am and then being picked up at 6am to drive to the intervarsity meet in Pietersburg!”

MAKING NEW FRIENDS
Through various friends she was introduced to other sports, but says she was doing them more for fun and not focussing on them – and thus winning the SA Duathlon Champs title in 2002 came as a bit of a surprise. “It was great just to meet different people and try different sports. For example, my friend Tim Ziehl got me into mountain biking and adventure racing, and I did my first ABSA Cape Epic with him in 2005. A year later I rode my second Epic, this time with Geddon Ruddock, and we finished second in the mixed team category.”

Getting into multisport events also led to her meeting her future husband, although she didn’t know it at the time. “I was doing a triathlon near Stellenbosch in 2001, and was lying second in the women’s race in the run leg. I passed two guys and the one decided to stick with me and help me try to catch the first girl. I remember he gave me a little push on my bum and said, ‘Come on, catch that girl in front.’ I didn’t know who he was until after the race, when my boyfriend at the time told me it was Martin Dreyer, multiple winner of the Duzi Canoe Marathon. A few months later, Martin invited me to do a sprint adventure race with him, which we won thanks to him pushing me all the way, but then I didn’t hear from him again till 2007, when he invited me to do the Swazi Challenge adventure race with his team. Since then we’ve been inseparable.”

Married today, Jeannie and Martin have a young son named Callum, born in February 2010, and live near Pietermaritzburg, where Martin has established a sports academy for the kids in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, focused initially on canoeing, but now including running, mountain biking and multisport. “There are some incredible athletes with huge potential in this area, and I love training with them, because they just get such a kick out of all the sports they can now do,” says Jeannie. “Over the next three years we plan to extend the programme to all 70 rural schools in the corridor between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, to expose as many kids as possible to the opportunity to participate in sport.”

Jeannie says that being a mother has changed her priorities, but training as a pro athlete remains important to her. “You have to make a plan to still get your exercise in, or you become grumpy – and a grumpy baby plus a grumpy mother is not a good combination! Luckily for me, Martin is a magic dad and loves spending time with Callum, so I do get time to myself. But I can’t wait to have another baby. I would love to have a little girl, so we can do creative arty and cooking things together.”

OTTER DEFENCE
At the time of writing, Jeannie was preparing to defend her title in the Otter Trail Run at the end of September. “It’s an incredible race, with a lot more running than I expected – I thought it would mostly be rocky, gnarly sections, because we run a route in one day that people normally hike in five days. It would be nice to do it casually one day to really take in the beauty, but my goal this year is go faster than last year and hopefully win it again.”

Jeannie, who competes in the colours of her sponsors USN and Hi-Tec, says that running remains her favourite discipline. “Trail running is the easiest, because I have no worries about equipment, but I go through phases when I’m tired of running and loving mountain biking, and vice-versa. I really enjoy multisport events, where I can put them all together.” For that reason, she says her favourite event is the gruelling seven-discipline Totalsports Challenge, where she has won the women’s individual title four times.

Still, she has to think for a long time when asked what the highlight of her career has been… “I have so many great memories, and feel lucky that I can do so many things. I love that I don’t have to be selective, and can take part in whatever I choose.”

UP THE CREEK
Unsurprisingly, being married to the Duzi King saw Jeannie getting into paddling as well, and she has fond memories of being heavily pregnant and still winning the mixed doubles category with Martin in a few races. “It was a bit of a cheat for me, really, being treated to the backseat behind the Duzi King!” Fortunately, Jeannie says she her paddling skills have improved since her early attempts, when she still found it hard to control the one-seater… “Mart went overseas for an event and while he was gone I took part in a local race and proceeded to wrap the boat around every rock in the river. I had the boat repaired before he got back, but he noticed it immediately the first time he picked it up, because it was two kilograms heavier!”