Modern Athlete, Author at Modern Athlete

Limping On for Now

3 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteFeaturesLeave a Comment

After years of running with a prosthetic blade, inspirational Eastern Cape ultra-marathoner Japie Greyvenstein is now struggling to complete races, and is looking for help to get a new running leg. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Life changed forever when Japie was just 21 and working on the railways in Queenstown. He was on night shift when he slipped and fell under a moving train, resulting in two amputation procedures on his right leg to just below the knee, and he also needed an iron pin with four screws in the left ankle. Having been a runner before the accident, it took Japie nearly 20 years to try running again, but it all started 13 years ago when he visited his sister in Plettenberg Bay and saw people running on the beach, so he decided to try running again.

“I started with fairly long runs on the beach sand, with my walking leg and in my Hi-Tec boots, and when I got back to Queenstown, I started running 12km morning and evening on the tar. A local runner then suggested I run the Bongola Half Marathon, and soon 21km was just not enough – I was not really tired by the end – so I tried a marathon, and I have done about 110 now.”

Geared Up
Japie originally ran on his walking leg, then received a sponsored running blade eight years ago, courtesy of the Sports Trust, and went on to run the Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra six times, finishing it officially twice, and he attempted the Comrades three times as well, making it as far as 71km one year. However, in recent years he has picked up problems with his legs. “I now I have to stop six or seven times in longer runs to massage my leg, because it goes lame. My stump has changed over the years and the blade’s socket had become a bit too long, so I ran lopsided and started picking up problems in my left knee, until I finally had the socket shortened, but the sleeve still hurts my stump and I now have to bandage it and change the sleeve several times during a long run.”

Now 53, Japie survives on a small disability pension from the railways and supplements that by doing painting and maintenance work around Queenstown. He is also caring for his sickly 77-year-old mother, and says life is just getting more costly. The railways pay for a new walking leg every five years, but he is unable to afford a new running leg, and while friends like Peet van der Walt and Janneke Du Preez have tried to help him find a sponsor for a new leg, they have not had much luck yet.

“I really love running, I’m pretty much addicted, and I still manage 10km in the morning and evening, with a 35km long run on weekends, but I have to stop all the time because of the leg. It is frustrating that I can’t finish longer races now, not because I am not fit enough or too tired, but because my leg is so sore. I want to try Comrades again in 2016, and I want to inspire people and show them that having a disability should not restrict you from doing what you love – but then I need a new running leg.”

If anybody is able to help Japie obtain a new running leg, or a multipurpose socket for both walking and running, they can contact Peet van der Walt on 079 231 1907.

Holiday Maintenance

3 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteRacingLeave a Comment

Going on holiday does not mean you have to stop training or lose your fitness, so use these handy tips and workouts to keep your legs ticking over this December, and then hit the road running in January. – BY RAY ORCHISON

Ah, the holidays. Images of dolphins playfully jumping in the waves, bronzed beach bodies and lazy afternoon naps, awe-filled early mornings as the sun rises majestically over the mountains, breathless moments as the big five make their way to the local watering hole… Holidays are a great time to rest, relax and recover from the months of long working hours and stress of the past year. They’re a great time to catch-up with friends and family. And unfortunately, they’re also a great time to get, well, unfit! (You thought I was going to say fat, didn’t you?)

The holiday season starts long before the actual days off work, with company functions and Christmas parties lasting late into the night. This rolls over into a three to four week break where our inner cookie-monster is unleashed and we end up consuming copious amounts of food, unhealthy snacks and far too many drinks. Before we blink an eye we find ourselves in January, five to ten kilograms heavier and feeling as unfit as we did the day we first started running. But the solution is simple: Keep an element of training in your holiday.

What, run on holiday?
Unless you’re going on holiday for three weeks in a submarine, there really is no excuse for letting yourself go completely during the holiday season. And even then I could argue that you could still get some form of training done. If you’ve had a long, hard training year and you have a big year ahead of you, then a little bit of additional rest will do you good, but I would strongly advise against doing absolutely nothing at all, as this simply puts you on the back foot coming into January.

For those who are planning to run an early year marathon or ultra (like the Old Mutual Two Oceans 56km), then the holiday period is a crucial part of your training and having a few extra hours in your day is great for getting some solid training done. Personally, I find it both exciting and motivating getting up early on my holiday to get my training done in new and unfamiliar surroundings. It’s also a little less selfish if your training is done before the rest of the family wakes up and you can then devote the balance of the day to them.

Surviving the holidays
Getting through the holidays without losing all that hard-earned fitness and keeping the bathroom scale from bleating is not as hard as it sounds. Here are five suggestions to keep both your family and your body happy:

1. Plan your day: Reduce your training volume and agree with your family when the best time will be for you to quickly fit your session in so that you don’t eat into valuable time together

2. Make it count: Where time is an issue and your training session has to be short, get the most bang for your buck. In other words, keep the intensity up. Just because it’s a shorter session than normal doesn’t mean you can’t get a lot out of it.

3. Be disciplined in your binges: If you’re really going to suffer a case of FOMO because you can’t eat biscuits, chocolates or your Gran’s shortbread, then allow yourself some indulgences. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to eat ALL the biscuits and ALL the chocolates and ALL the shortbread…

4. Eat less, enjoy more: You’re not a teenager, you don’t have to eat yourself out of house and home. One of the biggest problems with the holidays is not the type of food on offer – that is only a small element – but rather the amount of food we consume. For some reason we simply go overboard when it comes to the amount of food prepared over the Christmas season. Instead of eating until you pop, dish up smaller amounts of what’s on offer. This way, you still get to try everything and you still get to partake in the feast, and you will enjoy it far more than if you’re so full you feel sick for hours afterwards.

5. Allow yourself time to de-stress: This is probably the most important aspect of a holiday. Much of our year is spent stressing, so take time out, allow the cortisol levels in your body to return to normal, and give yourself the chance to dream and think about the exciting opportunities to come in the year ahead.

Maintaining fitness levels
Almost every runner has been forced to stop training completely at some point in their lives, either by choice or by injury, and the worst part of no training for three to four weeks or longer, is getting back into it. There’s nothing worse than trying to get back into your training when it feels like everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve has disappeared. You certainly don’t have to come into January race-ready, but you really want to start the new year having maintained a decent level of fitness so that you can continue to build into the 2016 running season. Three to four days per week during your holiday should be more than sufficient to keep things ticking over.

However, if you’re really pushed for time, here are three shorter training suggestions you can use to burn those extra calories and keep your fitness levels ticking over:

1. Take the stairs: Forget the elevator in your hotel and hit the stairs. Start with a short warm up and then run the stairs to the top floor and back a few times. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you build up a sweat and find yourself out of breath.

2. Do a quick session: Jog for 10 to 15 minutes to warm up, then do 10 reps of 30 seconds at a faster pace with one minute’s easy jogging in between each rep, and finish with five to 10 minutes’ easy cool-down jog. Total time: 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Jump-lunge repeats: Jog for 10 minutes, then do jumping jacks for 30 seconds, go straight to fast running on the spot for one minute, then do walking lunges for 20 metres there and back. Follow that with a minute’s rest and then perform another two sets, starting with the jumping jacks. Finish with a very easy five-minute cool-down jog. Total time: 25 minutes.

May you have a wonderful time of relaxation and catching up with friends and family this holiday, and recharge those batteries and come into the new year firing on all cylinders, ready to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself in 2016.

Ray Orchison is a Johannesburg-based USATF and NAASFP certified coach. Find him at www.runetics.com or [email protected].

Drinking Dilemma

3 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteFeaturesLeave a Comment

Alcohol is deeply entrenched in our culture as a way to have fun, relax, and be social, especially during the Festive Season and December holidays, but here’s how it affects your health and your waistline. – BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERES DIETICIAN

Most of us enjoy a drink, but the truth is that alcohol, when not consumed in moderation, has negative effects on weight-loss. An occasional drink can have a place in a healthy lifestyle – many experts even believe that consuming a single drink per day can be beneficial – but if you are exceeding one drink daily, you might be sabotaging your weight-loss plans. That’s because alcohol is metabolised differently than other foods and beverages.

First Priority
Under normal conditions, your body gets its energy from the calories in carbohydrates, fats and proteins, which are slowly digested and absorbed within the gastrointestinal system. However, this digestive process changes when alcohol is present. When you drink alcohol, it gets immediate attention, because it is viewed by the body as a toxin, and needs no digestion. On an empty stomach, the alcohol molecules diffuse through the stomach wall quickly and can reach the brain and liver in minutes.

This process is slower when you have food in your stomach, but as soon as that food enters the small intestine, the alcohol grabs first priority and is absorbed quickly into the bloodstream. As the alcohol reaches the liver for processing, the liver places all of its attention on the alcohol. If you drink very slowly, all the alcohol is collected by the liver and processed immediately, avoiding all other body systems. However, if you drink quickly, the liver cannot keep up with the processing needs and the alcohol continues to circulate in the body until the liver is available to process it. That's why drinking large amounts of alcohol, or drinking alcohol quickly, affects the brain centres involved with speech, vision, reasoning and judgment.

But wait, there’s more…
Alcohol is also a diuretic, meaning that it causes water-loss and dehydration. Along with this water-loss, you lose important minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium and zinc. These minerals are vital to the maintenance of fluid balance, chemical reactions, and muscle contraction and relaxation.

Added to that, when the body is focused on processing alcohol, it is not able to properly break down foods containing carbohydrates and fat. Therefore, these calories are converted into body fat. Alcohol contains seven calories per gram and offers no nutritional value. It only adds empty calories to your diet. So why not spend your calorie budget on something healthier? Also, skipping a meal to save your calories for drinks later is a bad idea. If you come to the bar hungry, you are even more likely to munch on unhealthy snacks, and drinking on an empty stomach enhances the negative effects of alcohol. If you're planning on drinking later, eat a healthy meal first. You'll feel fuller, which will stop you from over-drinking.

Alcohol affects your body in other negative ways:
1 Drinking may help induce sleep, but the sleep you get isn't very deep. As a result, you get less rest, which can trigger you to eat more calories the next day.
2 Alcohol can also increase the amount of acid that your stomach produces, causing your stomach lining to become inflamed.
3 Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to serious health problems, including stomach ulcers, liver disease and heart trouble.
4 Alcohol lowers your inhibitions, which is detrimental to your diet plans. Research shows that if you drink before or during a meal, both your inhibitions and willpower are reduced. In this state, you are more likely to overeat, especially greasy or fried foods, which can add to your waistline.
5 Alcohol actually stimulates your appetite.
6 Many foods that accompany drinking, like peanuts, pretzels and chips, are salty, which can make you thirsty, encouraging you to drink even more. To avoid over-drinking, sip on a glass of water in between each alcoholic beverage.

Moderation is key
In any weight-loss plan, there are three main components that should be priority: Diet, exercise and sleep. As stated, a moderate amount of alcohol can increase total calories, decrease your motivation for exercise and healthy eating, and negatively affect your sleep. Despite this, many people can enjoy a drink or two without throwing those three components completely out of whack.

On the other hand, drinking heavily can significantly derail energy levels, has a larger influence on dehydration, negatively impacts hormonal levels, and can significantly disrupt your sleep. Therefore, limit your overall levels of alcohol and put yourself in the best position to reap some of the benefits of alcohol consumption, while not derailing your overall progress. As with all things in life moderation is the key.

Holiday on the run!

3 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteColumnsLeave a Comment

Running while on holiday can be a pain… and even the most dedicated runners find it difficult sticking to a training programme during the Festive Period and time away from work – even us pro runners. It is tough to stay motivated to keep putting your running shoes on and hitting the road while the rest of the nation is in a laid back festive mood. – BY RENÉ KALMER

With the Olympic Games only nine months away, this December/January holiday won't be any different from all my previous ‘running holidays.’ Luckily I realised from a very young age that training during the holidays gave me the competitive advantage for the New Year's athletic season, and I have also been really lucky to have my sister Christine as my travelling training partner for many years. She grew up thinking that this is what we do on holidays… train, and train some more! (Whereas my brother Herman soon realised that there are better things to keep busy with while on holiday.) The Kalmer family are ‘happy campers’ and most holidays were planned making sure that there was enough good training terrain nearby. An athletics track close by was always an added bonus.

My main focus while on holiday is rather on maintaining my fitness, versus gaining fitness. I'm also very flexible about my approach to training on holiday, because there is no way that you are going to find a track to do speed sessions while on holiday in Zanzibar or Mozambique. Another handy hint is to remember to pack in your club kit and licence numbers, and check out the racing schedule for local races or parkruns at your holiday destination, as there may be some great organised runs you can participate in.

Getting it Done
First, you have to accept the fact that you have to keep training while on holiday, especially with the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon being almost a month earlier next year (26th of March, due to Easter moving each year) and its qualifying cut-off at the end of February. So, best you get up early and get your training done and dusted before breakfast. It might be a bit ‘traumatic’ for you to get up early while on holiday, especially if you are not a morning person, (like my hubby Andre), but I promise that you will feel great for the rest of the day. It is also a great idea to end your run close to the nearest water. Dipping in the pool or ocean is a great way to recover after a run.

A new environment, different climate or terrain can be some of the challenges we face while on holiday. I always try to see these ‘challenges’ as an adventure to be creative with my running. Combining running with sightseeing is the best way to explore a new city or holiday destination. Just remember that it is best to get some local advice in advance about possible running routes and which areas to avoid, for your safety. It is also important to focus on some markers on your run, as it can be a little disastrous when you get lost and have to find your way back, especially if in a foreign country where you don’t speak the local language… It is also a great time to experiment with different types of running, like hitting some trails in the mountains or forests. Personally, I stay away from running on the beach during holidays, as the unstable surface can sometimes lead to injuries.

Use Your Time Wisely
Even if you are staying home this holiday, you can use the extra hours you have at hand to boost your fitness. It is a great time to focus on the areas we may have neglected during the year, like cross-training and rehab exercises. You can even behave like a professional runner and work in some afternoon naps after a morning run! But if you only have a little time available this holiday for training, rather do shorter runs. Remember, something is better than nothing, so some running is better than no running!

Happy Holidays! Whether you run, race, rest or recover, make it count!

Double Shot of Athletic Expresso

2 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteColumnsLeave a Comment

There were two very familiar faces in the biathlon/duathlon event of the Freshpak Fitness Festival in Clanwilliam in October, as Expresso TV breakfast show hosts Ewan Strydom and Leigh-Anne Williams found some time in their crazily busy schedules for a bit of running and biking. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Things didn’t quite go to plan for well known TV celeb Leigh-Anne at the Freshpak Fitness Festival. While co-presenter and close friend Ewan had done many road runs before, as well as doing the biathlon race at the festival the year before, it was her first ever competitive race, having only walked a few 5km fun runs before, and she was feeling a bit nervous. “The training I had done was mostly in the gym, due to my hectic schedule, and I don’t think anything can really prepare you for running on the road, or for the heat,” says Leigh-Anne. “I thought I would do a lot better, but I’ll be honest, I was gassed in the first couple of minutes of running!”

“When I got to the cycling section, I thought I was going to be equally bad, but I actually made up a lot of time. However, I was supposed to be done after the bike leg and just jog around the corner from transition to the finish line… but when I asked the officials which way to go, they told me to continue straight, because they thought I was doing the duathlon. So they made me run the entire course again! But I’m happy I did it, and it has spurred me on to improve for the next one. I can’t deal with the fact that I struggled so much with the run!”

Ewan jumps in here: “I’m proud of Leigh-Anne, especially since she did an extra unplanned run and still looked so fresh when she came in. In fact, I’m proud of her just for rocking up for the race, because it can be daunting for somebody who’s never done something like that before. Being my second time at the Freshpak Fitness Festival, I think I was mentally better prepared, especially after the heat of last year, but I had done less training due to just coming off a boxing event training programme, and then work took over, plus I picked up a bad chest infection just before the race, so I was really surprised to finish fourth. Next year I’m going to go out for a place on the podium!”

Hectic Schedules
Fitting in training is a major challenge for these two celeb athletes. They are up at 3am on weekdays to drive to work and prepare for the daily television show, and that is then followed by other TV, radio and film work, voice-overs, presenting, emceeing and modelling, and they often only get home again around 8pm. And yet both still find time to train and work on their fitness.

“If something is important to you, you will find time to fit it into your life, especially things that make you feel good,” says Leigh-Anne. “Yes, we are required to look good and feel good, because we’re selling a feel-good show, and when people watch us it has to translate on screen, but training is also important to me because I like the way I feel when I’m healthy and fit. It’s about finding a gap in the day, and often I have to sneakily fit it in by creating a ‘meeting’ here and there, but if that doesn’t happen, I train after the radio show, from 7pm till 9pm. I find a way.”

Ewan immediately nods in agreement, saying, “Just like I need to fit in eating and sleeping, so training is part of my day, and if I can’t fit it in, I will make a plan, because it’s part of my lifestyle. It doesn’t matter where I am working or travelling, I will always pack my training goodies. If I can I train six days a week, and if I know in advance that I am going to be very busy for a few days, I try to put in the extra work before or afterwards, to make sure I don’t lose momentum. Sometimes that does bite into my already limited family time with my wife and two young kids, but I try to make it up on the weekends. And then some people tell me they don’t have time to train… You can do it if you put your mind to it.”

Star Qualities
Leigh-Anne comes from a radio background, having worked at Good Hope FM since 2006, and for the past four years she has also been on Expresso. Earlier this year she was one of the 10 celebrity contestants on the reality competition series Strictly Come Dancing, and she says that really raised her public profile. “At Expresso I was actually lucky to fly under the radar – people would recognise me, but would it would always be ‘There goes Expresso,’ I didn’t have a name – but then I did Strictly Come Dancing, and after that things were insane. Expresso has also grown so much this year, and I think people now think of us as part of their family.”

Ewan grew up in Gauteng and was a swimmer and sprinter at school, then relocated to Cape Town in 2001 for modelling work, where he took up road running to keep fit and explore the city. His appearance on the front cover of Men’s Health magazine in 2008 and participation in that year’s Men’s Health Look competition launched his TV career. He’s also a qualified personal fitness trainer who has made it his mission to motivate and inspire people to change their lifestyles and become healthier and fitter, and that’s why he and Leigh-Anne are working on their own sideline project to produce an online health and fitness programme.

“This is something that we’ve been wanting to do for a while, we just needed to find a gap,” says Ewan. “There’s so much information out there, but it can be overwhelming, so I think it is important for people to hear it from somebody like Leigh-Anne or myself, using our personal experiences to help them. People want to look good and feel good, especially looking at us and knowing our hectic lifestyles, and yet we still manage to lead healthy lives and look good. We live in a very fast-paced life, so naturally people are always looking for a quick-fix, but when it comes to achieving your goals, it’s not easy, you need to work for it – and that’s also why Leigh-Anne’s story is so important to our message.”

In October last year Leigh-Anne decided to get into shape ahead of going on the road for three months for the Presenter Search show, so she signed up with a personal trainer and lost 11 kilograms in five months. “It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but there was such a massive response from women across the country who said please can I help them do the same,” says Leigh-Anne. “Before embarking on this journey I think I was always hiding, not being true to myself and not living to my full capacity, and once the weight was gone I found who I really was. With it came confidence, and the courage to do things I had never done before, like Strictly Come Dancing, and the biathlon. I would never have done either of those before in a million years! That’s the gift that we want to give people with the new show.”

The Dischem Half Marathon and 5KM Dash Fun Run are becoming very popular. No wonder runners give it the thumbs up!

Are you up for Durban’s IRONMAN?

2 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteEvent Update!Leave a Comment

The hugely popular Standard Bank IRONMAN® 70.3® Durban triathlon will be back in 2016 and is set to take place on Sunday, 19 June, 2016 at SUNCOAST, Durban.

The Standard Bank IRONMAN 70.3 Durban triathlon debuted this year with a sell-out field of 3,000 athletes making it the biggest triathlon to ever take place in Durban. The warm climate, fantastic local spectator support and ideal venue make the race as a favourite for South African and international athletes. The June race date positions the event in the best possible time for favourable weather conditions.

Known as South Africa’s winter capital, Durban’s golden mile is famous for its beaches and warm weather. Durban plays host to a multitude of big events and was awarded the 2022 Commonwealth Games earlier this year.

“The Standard Bank IRONMAN 70.3 Durban has quickly become one of the most popular races in South Africa,” said Keith Bowler, Managing Director for IRONMAN South Africa. “Since this year’s inaugural event we have been inundated with queries about the 2016 race and we are pleased to able to announce the date. We look forward to another great race in South Africa’s winter capital.”

Entries to the Standard Bank IRONMAN 70.3 Durban will open 3 December at 2:00pm. After the success of the inaugural event, entries are expected to sell fast with an even larger local contingent from Durban.

For more information and to enter, visit www.ironman.com/durban70.3.

Crushing the Trails & Obstacles

2 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteFeaturesLeave a Comment

She has excelled in road running, cross-country, trail running and now obstacle course racing (OCR), including representing South Africa at the 2015 OCR World Champs in the USA, and still Trish Bahlmann says she is driven to achieve more. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Earlier this year, Trish Bahlmann was standing at Durban’s King Shaka Airport with boyfriend Claude Eksteen, about to board a Thursday flight to Cape Town for the three-day Pronutro AfricanX Trailrun, when her phone rang and she heard that her running partner for the event had just been involved in an accident and could no longer run. “My bags were already on the plane when I got the news, so I had to have them removed, but then Claude said I should change my ticket to Saturday morning and join him for the trip to the Impi in Gauteng, and I won it.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Trish focused on OCR for the rest of the year, going on to win the Cape Town Impi as well as taking line honours in one of the Jeep Warrior series races, and she came frustratingly close to adding several more Warrior titles. “The transition from trail running to OCR has taken me a while. You need more upper body and grip strength, so that you can hang on to ropes and rings with your full body mass. As runners we don’t really use our arms or hands, so it was a huge adaptation.”

“I’ve run ultras on the road and trails, but never been in such a mind-game as in OCR. In running you can still walk to the line if you blow, but if your arms blow, there is no way you can get over a tough obstacle. Where I often come short at Warrior races is the last big obstacle. Thanks to my running strength I am usually well in the lead, but then I sometimes get stuck and the other girls pass me. OCR can be one of the most frustrating things in the world, but mind you, I’ve only been in the game about 10 months, and I’m getting better all the time.”

World Champs
In spite of a few frustrating losses, Trish did enough to secure a spot on the Jeep-sponsored SA team selected for the OCR World Champs in Oregonia, Ohio on 17-18 October. “It was a huge honour to be selected to represent SA for the first time, and it was also my first time travelling overseas. I’m not a great flyer, though, so that was my first obstacle to get over. Next time somebody must just knock me out when we have to fly! But what an experience to compete against people who make OCR a profession, and the level of racing was unbelievable. At Impi and Warrior we normally do 15 to 18km with about 30 obstacles, but the World Champs course was 17km with 53 obstacles! Granted, the obstacles were generally easier than what we have back home, but the running was proper trail, either steep up or steep down – the only flat section was the finish line!”

The SA team also had to contend with freezing cold, rainy conditions, what Trish describes as “the worst conditions I’ve ever had to compete in, despite growing up in the Free State where it can get bitterly cold. It was zero degrees on the Saturday morning of the individual races, and we went straight into the water near the start, so we couldn’t even warm up. You know something is happening if you get handed a space blanket halfway through an event! It’s amazing what the cold can do to you – you think you’re strong and fit, but it’s horrible when your body is shutting down. It became a survival race for all of us, and took us hours after the race to stop shivering.”

In spite of the cold, Trish and Hanneke Dannhauser still did well in the open elite category race, which started first up at 8am, with Hanneke finishing sixth and Trish coming home 10th. Most of the other South Africans elected to run in specific age categories, which started an hour or two later in the day, when it was slightly warmer. “That made things a bit easier for them, in my opinion, because the ice was pretty much scraped off the obstacles by then. I went there thinking I can probably win my age category, but I wanted to compete against the best in the world, and I am really chuffed with 10th place, as I only started OCR this year.”

The second day of the Champs saw the team races take place, with Trish and Hanneke teaming up with Dominique De Oliveira for SA team 1. “I was the designated runner, so I went off first, with a few obstacles, then Hanneke did a strength section, and then it was back to me for another run section, followed by Dom doing a technical section. Hanneke then did another strength section, and then all three of us had to join up for the last section. It was hard because we got cold in between our sections, and Hanneke lost a few positions in the first strength section because of an issue with her ankle, but I pulled us back from eighth to fourth in my second run, and then we took third from the other SA women’s team on the last obstacle.”

Running Background
Trish is a divorcee with two young sons, Keegan (7) and Daniel (4-going-on-13), both of whom are showing a talent for running. She also excelled at track and field and cross country while growing up in the Free State, and says, “My love of running started when a friend asked me to come run with her because there were so few runners taking part in cross country, but I beat them all, so that friendship didn’t last…” Trish would go on to medal at the SA Cross Country Champs in 2012 and 2013, winning silver in the 30-34 age category and then silver for 35-39s, plus a team gold.

Her love of running also prompted her move into road running after school, and this eventually saw her to take on the Comrades Marathon for the first time in 2004 and 2005, both of which she says she just ran to finish in nine to 10 hours, but she returned in 2012 to post an awesome 7:31, narrowly missing out on a silver medal. She then ran 8:18 in the heat of 2013, followed by 7:40 in 2014. “I still have unfinished business with the Comrades, because I missed silver by less than two minutes, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” she says determinedly.

However, she adds that road running had started getting a bit boring, hence she went over to trail running in 2014, and instantly fell in love with it as she won the Lesotho Ultra Skyrun 50km, Golden Gate 3-day stage race, Mont-Aux Sources 50km and 1000 Hills Crazy Stores 35km, along with other podium finishes, but it also left her feeling tired by the end of the year. “I knew I needed a break, so I asked Claude how to take time off my legs but still benefit my running, and he suggested strength work and obstacle racing. That saw us launch our business in March this year, Adventure Obstacles Training, which focuses on strength training and coaching, and we have a lot of runners in our regular training groups. We also do a lot of corporate functions, team-building exercises and kids’ parties, so there is plenty going on.”

Looking Ahead
In terms of 2016, Trish says her focus will be a combination of OCR and trail running, and she is hoping to once again get to the OCR World Champs while also doing some of the big trail races, including the Otter as well as teaming up with Claude for the AfricanX and Southern Cross stage races. “I’m hoping that 2016 will be even more successful, and I’m now on a level where I can continue training for OCR, but still go do some awesome trail running. But next year the OCR World Champs are in Canada, which will probably be even colder, so we’ll have to train in freezers!”

Achieving goals isn’t easy

1 December 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteColumnsLeave a Comment

It is easy to set goals, but to achieve them can be a huge challenge.

This is why the 20-year-old Basson Engelbrecht (Tuks/HPC) has good reason to feel proud about what he has achieved this season as a triathlete.

“I set myself five goals and I have achieved four of them. If it had not been for the fact that I was bitten by a spider, it could have been five out of five. But I am not complaining. I have had my best year ever as a triathlete.”

Engelbrecht won the South African triathlon title. He is somewhat apologetic about his victory in East London, because Richard Murray (bronze medallist at the World Championships), as well as Henri Schoeman and Wian Sullwald were all absent. But Engelbrecht was the best of the competitors on the day and the title is his. According to an old saying, there is no ‘remarks’ column in sports.

He also finished third at the African Championships, won an African Cup event in Mauritius and participated in three World Series races.

The only goal he failed to accomplish was achieving a top-five finish in the under-23 race at the World Championships in Chicago, but that was not due to any fault of his.

The Tuks/HPC athlete was bitten by a spider while he was on a training run in Hungary. As luck would have it, the wound became septic after a few days and he was unable to train for quite a few weeks. This forced him to withdraw from the World Championships.

“The most important lesson I have learned this year was not to take anything for granted. I had a dream start to my season but it took one spider to get my season spiralling downwards at an alarming speed. I now realize how fragile the human body can be and why it is so important for a professional athlete to look after himself. Being an HPC athlete is a great help because it gives me immediate access to experts whenever I experience a crisis.”

Engelbrecht fully realizes that his best chance to represent South Africa at an Olympic Games will be in Tokyo in 2020, but this is not going to stop him from doing everything in his power in an effort to slip through the proverbial ‘backdoor’ for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

“I am planning to race as often as I can during the early part of the season in an effort to improve my international ranking sufficiently to perhaps qualify. But I fully realize that it will be a challenge against all odds. A more realistic goal would be to podium in the under-23 race at the World Championships.

“I will also target one World Cup race for a possible victory.”

Lindsey Parry (Tuks/HPC), who coaches Engelbrecht, reckons he is capable of achieving both goals.

“What makes Basson such a good triathlete is the fact that he is a racer in the real sense of the word. Even if he is not in the best of forms he has the race savvy to make sure he is at the right place at the right time. This means that he is always a contender.”

Walker named Athlete of the Year

30 November 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteNewsLeave a Comment

At the Central Gauteng Athletics Award ceremony at Monte Casino on Saturday night (28 November 2015), Lebogang Shange was honoured with the award of Athlete of the Year in the Senior Men category.

Shange has broken four South African records, won the All African Games in the Democratic Republic of Congo, won the IAAF race walking challenge in Dudince, Slovakia and came 11th in the IAAF world Championships in Beijing this year.

The records he has set this year include:

3000m in 11m 20s on the track at HPC in Pretoria at an Athletics Gauteng North league meeting
20km on the road in Lugano Switzerland at the IAAF race walking challenge he set the record at 1h 21m 61s , and then broke his own record in August Beijing 1h 21m 43s
5000m on the track at Cork City Athletics meetings in Ireland 18m 66s
20 000m on the track in Bedford, England at the English Athletics Championship in 1h 23m 00s

Shange, who is an orphan from Orange Farm, thanked his ‘family’; Brenda Wakfer, who introduced him to walking, coached him and helped him find sponsors, his coach, Chris Brits, the team at the Tuks High Performance Centre, and his sponsor Ivan Glasenberg.

2016 Comrades Entries Closed

30 November 201517 May 2019 Modern AthleteNewsLeave a Comment

Entries for the 2016 Comrades Marathon have officially closed. The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has announced that the entry cap of 20,000 was reached earlier this morning, necessitating the closure of the entry process.

Athletes that missed the entry cut-off will still be able to get a substitute entry during the Substitution window from 1 to 21 April 2016, if they can find an athlete that wishes to withdraw.

CMA Race Director, Rowyn James has thanked all Comrades entrants for getting their entries in on time, saying, “Our plans are that the 91st Comrades Marathon is a truly awesome experience for our athletes as well as our supporters and spectators.”

With entries closed, athletes must now officially qualify for the 2016 Comrades, with the qualification period running from 30 August 2015 till 2 May 2016, and runners are reminded that the 2015 Comrades Marathon will not be an automatic qualifier for next year’s race.

Next year’s ‘down-run’ will be run six months from now, on Sunday 29 May 2016, starting outside the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 5:30am and finishing 12 hours later at the Sahara Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban. The 91st edition of the iconic ultra-marathon is expected to once again boost the KwaZulu-Natal economy by a whopping 500-million Rand.

CMA General Manager, Chris Fisher says, “The Comrades Marathon contributes to the economic impact of the entire KwaZulu-Natal region due to the ever-increasing number of runners from the rest of Africa and internationally. This year we will be hosting athletes from some 70 countries around the world.”

Please visit www.comrades.com for more information.

SA’s Biggest Mag for the Modern Athlete

Author: Modern Athlete