Category: Features

The 2018 Track and Field Season is going to be a busy one for South African athletes, and one in which there is plenty of opportunity for both established athletes to further their reputations and for those who have not yet quite hit “the big time” to do so. – BY MANFRED SEIDLER

If you’re a track and field fan, there is so much to look forward to in 2018, including the Commonwealth Games, World Indoor Championships, World Junior Championships, African Championships, SA Senior and Junior Championships, the recently announced Athletix Grand Prix Series, and of course the Diamond League Season, which stretches from May to end August. It looks set to be an exciting season, all the more so because there is a renewed appetite for the sport amongst fans thanks to the incredible performances of our athletes on the world stage in recent years, as evidenced by the #FillUpPotch Campaign driven by the athletes on social media ahead of the 2017 National Senior Championships. Already some of the athletes are calling to #FillUpPretoria, the venue for the 2018 Senior Championships.

Traditionally, the track and field season culminates with a global event in the second half of the year, be it an Olympics or a World Championships, but the 2018 season will be very different due to the fact that the 2018 Commonwealth Games will be taking place on the Gold Coast in Australia this year, and as with South Africa, the summer sports take place in the first four months of the year. The athletics component of the Games take place from 8 to 15 April, and Team South Africa will once again be looking to track and field to pick up the bulk of its medals.

That said, even with the stars that Team South Africa has at its disposal now, it will be a challenge to equal the 14 medals from 2006 or nine from 2014. Still, medals are expected to come from the likes of Akani Simbine and Anaso Jobodwane (sprints), Luvo Manyonga and Ruswahl Samaai (long jump), Caster Semenya (800m – it is not yet clear if she will be competing in the 1500m as well), and Sunette Viljoen in the javelin. Those are considered “banked medals” by many, and one would hope that a men’s 4x100m relay team will be included in the squad, as many believe this is another virtually guaranteed medal. Another athlete with high expectations will be the evergreen LJ van Zyl, who will be chasing yet another accolade in the 400m hurdles in what is probably his final Commonwealth Games.

ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
The first big event for SA athletics in 2018 will be the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham from 2-4 March. This could be quite a successful outing for Team South Africa, with the provisional team listing such superstars as Luvo (he has to be the favourite to win) and Ruswahl (5th at the 2016 World Indoors), as well as Dominique Scott-Efurd (1500m/3000m), Carina Horn (60m), Henricho Bruintjies, Emile Erasmus (both 60m sprints), Zarck Visser (long jump) and Orazio Cremona (shot put).

Should these athletes make the final team, they could potentially have a very busy March. The 1st sees the first of three Athletix Grand Prix Meets in Roodeport, with the second meet in Pretoria at Tuks (8 March) with the final on 22 March in Paarl at the renovated Dal Josefat Stadium, and nestled in between the second and third GP Meets are the Senior National Championships from 15-17 March at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria. March will therefore be a particularly big month for those athletes going to the Commonwealth Games in April, to sharpen up and be in top shape for Australia, but you probably won’t see our best athletes competing at all of these events, as that would simply be an overload.

Still, you can expect some brilliant performances at the National Champs, where South Africa’s best will want to put on a good show in front of their home crowd, as they did in 2017. For starters, Folavio Sehole and Jerry Motsau are calling each other out on social media as they both chase the 1500m crown. Both have incorporated the date of the 1500m final in their Twitter handles – that’s how important this title is to them! Meanwhile, the likes of Akani, Anaso and Henricho will be lighting up the track in the sprints and sub-10-second times should be expected again in the 100m, and possibly sub-20 in the 200m. Sadly, there will be some athletes missing. Wayde van Niekerk will still be undergoing rehabilitation after knee surgery, while Thando Roto, who clocked 9.95 in 2017 to become the second-fastest South African of all time, is at the time of writing nursing an injury, as is junior sprint sensation Tlotliso Gift Leotlela.

THE NEXT GENERATION
While the focus will naturally be on the seniors this year, especially around the Commonwealth Games, keep in mind that South Africa finished top of the medal table at the World Under-18 (Youth) Championships in 2017, and it’s certainly an exciting time for the younger generation. Inspired by the seniors, we saw some scintillating performances last year, with the standouts being hurdler Zazini ‘Soks’ Sokwakhana and high jumper Breyton Poole. Soks clocked 48.84 seconds for a World Under-18 Record in the 400m hurdles, and then went on to win the World Under-18 Championships title in Nairobi, while Breyton also won gold with a 2.24m. In November he cleared 2.25m to top the under-18 world rankings for the year, a height that already placed him joint fifth in the under-20 world rankings of 2017.

Our youngsters will be competing at schools’ events as well, to hone the skills and chase their selection first for the SA U18 and U20 Championships, in the Boland from 5-7 April, and then the World Under-20 Championships in Finland from 10-15 July. Athletics South Africa has been setting high qualification standards and criteria for international selection on the basis that they want the country to be placed close to the top of the medal table at global competitions, and while the merits of this policy have been hotly debated, one cannot deny that the under-18s were top of the medal table in Nairobi in 2017 at the World Youth Championships. Therefore, the standards to be included in the team to the World Under-20 Championships will likely not be easy to meet either.

Another fantastic opportunity for the youngsters is the expanded Puma School of Speed Series that take place throughout the country from January to March. While the focus is squarely on the sprints – hence the name School of Speed – there are also opportunities in events on the track up to 1500m, and as of 2018 in the long and high jumps as well.

LONG SEASON AHEAD
After the Commonwealth Games, there will be time for the seniors to take a short break before getting ready for the second half of the year, including the Diamond Leagues and the Africa Championships. Akani, Luvo, Ruswahl and Caster are expected to continue to set the bar throughout 2018, and Wayde will hopefully be back in action in the second half of the year at a few Diamond League events. Anaso and Henricho are also due for another big year – both are former national record holders, but have not been at their best in the last two seasons, for various reasons. Cornel Fredericks has also been dogged by bad luck in the last two seasons, and we can expect something big from him as well this year.

With all of that said, a cautionary note nevertheless needs to be thrown in. While there is a buzz around the sport of athletics in South Africa at present, the country still struggles to unearth and develop female athletes of world class standard. Evidence of that is the fact that only two women are in the squad for the World Indoors, and just five in the squad (at the time of writing) for the Commonwealth Games. Another area of ongoing concern is that we seem to have pockets of excellence, in particular in the men’s sprints and jumps, but do not seem to have the same depth across the sport that the talent of this country says we should have. Hopefully the results of the current crop of seniors as well as the youngsters coming through the ranks will continue to inspire, and will spark a resurgence of the sport in all areas of the country.

2018 Track & Field Dates to Diarise
20 January – Puma School of Speed #1, Potchefstroom
31 January – Puma School of Speed #2, Johannesburg
3 February – Puma School of Speed #3, Durban
26 February – Puma School of Speed #4, Paarl
1 March – Athletix Grand Prix #1, Roodepoort
3 March – Puma School of Speed #5, Pretoria
2-4 March – World Indoor Championships, Birmingham, UK
8 March – Athletix Grand Prix #2, Pretoria
15-17 March – National Senior Championships, Pretoria
22 March – Athletix Grand Prix #3, Paarl
5-7 April – SA U18/20 Championships, Paarl
8-15 April – Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia
4 May – IAAF Diamond League Doha, Qatar
12 May – IAAF Diamond League Shanghai, China
26 May – IAAF Diamond League Eugene, USA
31 May – IAAF Diamond League Golden Gala, Rome, Italy
7 June – IAAF Diamond League Bislet Games, Oslo, Norway
10 June – IAAF Diamond League Bauhaus Galan, Stockholm, Sweden
30 June – IAAF Diamond League Paris, France
5 July – IAAF Diamond League Athletissma, Lausanne, Switzerland
13 July – IAAF Diamond League Rabat, Morocco
10-15 July – World U20 Championships, Tampere, Finland
20 July – IAAF Diamond League Herculis Zepter, Monaco
1-5 August – Africa Championships, Asaba, Nigeria
18 August – IAAF Diamond League Birmingham, UK
30 August – IAAF Diamond League Weltklasse, Zurich, Switzerland
31 August – IAAF Diamond League Memorial van Damme, Brussels, Belgium

Images: Roger Sedres/ImageSA

In October SA’s Bradley Weiss earned the title of Off Road Triathlon World Champ after winning the XTERRA World Championship final in Kapalua, Maui, in Hawaii. We caught up with him to ask him about his big win as well as his plans for 2018.

MA: Congrats on the win in Maui! After a hugely successful year on the XTERRA circuit, were you confident that you would claim the title?
BW: It is difficult to go into a World Championship event feeling 100% confident that you are going to win, but my preparation was perfect, and after a very successful season, I believed I could win if I executed to my ability. Most importantly, I didn’t lose any time on the swim, which was unbelievable! My swim has been letting me down all these years, and last year I came out the water more than two minutes behind the leaders, so when I stood up out of the water and saw the leaders right there, I thought, “Game on!” I think mentally I won the race there. I was just so confident.

MA: You still had to race hard for the win, though…
BW: Definitely. I got on the bike and I knew Ruben Ruzafa and Josiah Middaugh would be coming, and I knew I had to put a gap on Mauricio Mendez, because he’s proven time and again that he can put in the fastest run splits. I lost the lead to Ruben on the bike leg, but I put in a charge early in the run to take back the lead. The guys brought out the best in me and I had to dig deep, but the Maui gods definitely looked after me.

MA: You seem to be enjoying the pro life?
BW: I competed in 13 XTERRA Championship races across Asia, Europe and America in 2017, and the opportunity to travel and experience cultures all around the world is incredibly appealing and fulfilling. Living my 20s while travelling to remote corners of the world to compete in a sport I love, has been a blessing, a privilege, and one I never take for granted.

MA: So what’s on the cards for the coming year?
BW: 2017 was an emotional rollercoaster and left me a little spent – and craving home – so I took the time to not only thank but also celebrate alongside all those who played their part in my fairytale. Luckily my home town Stellenbosch provided plenty of fine wine to keep us going late into the night! I just wanted to get lost in the moment, because these moments of elation are rare in sport, and only a lucky few get to experience them.

Looking ahead, the new season is here and I’m up for it. I’m still young and enjoying what I do, but I don’t see myself beating up a tired body in my late 30s. Once my passion begins to shift, new and exciting opportunities will present themselves. I am just looking forward to making a living some time in the future without my heart rate at 200 beats per minute!

MA: You currently divide your time between SA and the USA? What are the benefits of the mix?
BW: For the majority of the year I am based in Stellenbosch, which is pretty much the perfect location. I am able to train with the strong swimming squad at Stellenbosch University, my running squad is also based there, and it’s important to have access to good trails to keep refining technical off-road skills on both the mountain bike and run, so having the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve so close to home is a massive asset.

However, all the travelling really broke me last year, so in 2017 I chose to base myself closer to the international races, and chose Boulder in Colorado. Altitude is incredibly beneficial to improving aerobic athletic ability, and Boulder not only sits at 1600m above sea level, on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, but many quality athletes train there, and having World Champions and Olympians as training partners was a massive part of my success.

MA: You’re sponsored by PUMA, amongst others. How has your partnership with PUMA benefited you?
BW: I started with PUMA as an enthusiastic youngster with a dream back in 2012. I was already running in the brand as it worked so well with my biomechanics, but PUMA clearly saw potential and I couldn’t be more thankful to the crew for always having my back. The people who have made this happen will never understand the impact they have made on my life.

MA: You’re also quite active on socials media…
BW: I like to share my life experiences, both good and bad, with a little humour for good measure, because I try not to take life too seriously. I love the opportunity to connect with so many people globally – from updating my Gran back home, to a fan in the Philippines, it can all be done in a simple Tweet or Instagram update.

Images: Jesse Peters/XTERRA Planet & courtesy PUMA

Known for always running races with a big smile, and still often finishing on the podium, Candyce Hall is also a driving force behind the fast-growing Carbineers Running Club of Cape Town, and recently took over running Western Province Cross Country as well… but it all started in Pietermaritzburg. – BY SEAN FALCONER

It’s no real surprise that Candyce (33) took up running. After all, her grandfather Ray Karg ran the Comrades Marathon 15 times, and both her parents not only ran it, but continue to serve as CMA volunteers. “I grew up in Pietermaritzburg, where running the Comrades is just the thing to do,” says Candyce. “My grandfather only ran his first Comrades at 45, in 1968, and he even ran in 1976, after being diagnosed with cancer the previous year. Funny story, that was when my dad jokingly said ‘Old Fart, the next time you run Comrades, I’ll run it with you.’ Well, the next year he had to line up with my grandfather!”

Candyce’s dad John went on to run the race 12 times, while her mom Eileen ran 10 to earn her permanent number, using her father’s same race number 388. Candyce continued that family tradition by taking over her father’s number 2247 and she now has 14 medals to her name. John, meanwhile, turned his focus to race organising, and today the Maritzburg City Marathon and Capitol Classic are his “babies,” as Candyce puts it, and her parents help organise a host of other events as well.

SIMPLE BEGINNINGS
Given her family’s running history, Candyce ran her first 10km race aged eight, but says she was very slow. “Later, I ran my first half marathon at 16, and finished stone last in 2:32, with the ambulance driving just behind me!” She only started running seriously while studying BA Human Kinetics and Ergonomics in Grahamanstown, but she says she came to love running far more than her academics. “Admittedly, I was not a great student… I would run in the early mornings, fall asleep in lectures, and then run in the afternoons again. It turns out you can absorb quite a lot when asleep, because somehow I still passed.”

She says her running was very simple back then. “I had one pair of shoes per year that my parents bought for me, and I used Sole-Saver to rebuild them regularly, so that they would last. We didn’t have physios or foam rollers for injuries, no Facebook for advice or info, and no GPS watches or cell phones. I just had an old analogue watch my grandfather gave me, and I would use the hands on the watch to work out the time of my runs, then use a ruler and a map that I bought for 50 cents at the Grahamstown City Hall to work out my running routes and distance. But I still won the 2005 KZN Marathon Champs back home in Maritzburg, with those worn out shoes and that old watch!”

From Grahamstown Candyce moved to Cape Town to do an Honours in Exercise Science and Biokinetics at UCT, driven in part by her chequered history of running injuries. “When I started running in 2003 I picked up a knee injury and no-one knew what to do about it, so I ended up studying that. Today I can fix that kind of problem in one treatment session!” In fact, her reputation for being good with injuries has seen Candyce establish a thriving biokinetics and personal training business, based in Hout Bay.

FAMILY VIBE
In 2008 she married Martin Bongers, who has turned into quite a runner thanks to the relationship. “He actually started running so I would go out with him, and for our first race together, he gave me a lift to the Transnet 10km in Bellville. I told him not to try chase me, as I was going to race, but he still tried. I finished in 42 minutes, he finished about 10 minutes later, and he said he now understood. He ran the Comrades in 2009 and had a shocker, then ran again in 2013, because he thought it was going to be my last one, and said never again. But I found out recently that he secretly entered for 2018, because a friend from Australia is running, so he’s in training again.”

These days, Candyce still regularly podiums in races, but she says she actually rarely races hard any more. “I did about 1500 to 1600km in races last year, but of that, the only one that was actually racing hard was the Cape Town Marathon – and even there I actually only raced to 30km, because there were no toilets along the N1 stretch for a much-needed ‘Candyce Stop.’ My body decrees how well I will run on the day, and nowadays I prefer to just run with friends and for the club vibe. That’s why running my last four Comrades slowly and socially are amongst my running highlights. I got to spend time with running friends, while running the whole day!”

This is where the vibrant Carbineers Western Province club comes into the picture. Candyce and her clubmates are often seen running together, even stopping mid-race for a one-footed Carbs pose pic. That entails everybody standing on one leg, with the other leg slightly lifted and knee bent at 90 degrees. “It’s just incredible that we can still balance on one leg after a big climb,” jokes Candyce. “It originally started with the Red Sock Community, and we just carried on doing it at Carbs. It’s become our thing, and all part of the incredible family vibe of our club, where everybody knows if a Carb at the back ran a PB, and that’s as valuable as the guy up front winning a race. That’s how it should be.”

FOR CLUB AND PROVINCE
There is also an interesting story behind the Carbs WP club, given that it shares a name with the Natal Carbineers club of Pietermaritzburg. Candyce explains that in 2013 the guys doing the Unogwaja ride from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg wanted to then run the Comrades in Carbs colours, because the original Unogwaja, Phil Masterton-Smith, had run in Carbs colours in 1931 when he won the race, before moving to the Cape and cycling to the race in 1933.

“You’d think it would be possible, as the Unogwajas were going to be running for 12 hours and doing it for a good cause, but Comrades and the provincial bodies said the domicile rule meant they had to run in the colours of a Western Province club, so my Dad said, fine, let’s create a Carbs club in Western Province! We only had 13 members at the end of that first year, but year on year we’ve been the fastest-growing club in the province, relatively speaking, and at the end of 2017 we were 220-strong, and could soon reach 350 judging by the enquiries I have received this year!”

Meanwhile, Candyce was recently voted in as new Chair of the Western Province Cross Country Committee, and has been tasked with rejuvenating the discipline. “The people running it did a solid job, but I think it can be transformed into something even bigger and better. For starters, we’ve moved a lot of the league meets to Sunday afternoons, as Saturdays clashed with both road races and school sports. There was some push-back, but we argued that Sunday is a family day, so why not bring the whole family to cross country, as we’ll even have a food truck there. I realise you don’t change these things overnight, but it’s about being proactive to change things for the better, and I’m very excited to see what we can achieve.”

Images: Jetline Action Photo & Courtesy Candyce Hall

From deciding to get back into shape, a journey of four years has seen friends Zoe Riley and Audrey Hattingh discover the joys of running, make new friends, get to see new places and challenge themselves, and along the way they have inspired many others to start running as well. – BY MANFRED SEIDLER

Running has a way of getting into the heart and soul, because not only is it healthy and good for you, but it’s also great fun. That’s what Zoe Riley and Audrey Hattingh, two long-time friends from Johannesburg, have found since they took up running in 2014, but while their own personal bests and race finishes have given them great satisfaction, their biggest achievement is undoubtedly having inspired many others to take up running as well. Zoe’s husband Rob and Audrey’s husband Gareth are now running, and their friend Jacqui Carr and her husband James are running, plus the various kids, and other friends and family, and work colleagues…

Not only that, but it also ties in with Zoe’s work. She is a financial broker specialising in medical aid schemes, and part of her portfolio is to encourage people to sign up for packages that reward them for being healthy. Having worked with Discovery for many years, she says the Vitality packages just made sense to her, to the extent that she wanted to buy into it herself. “I always felt that if I am going to sell the product, I need to be able to believe in it, so I decided to try out the Vitality programme myself. That led to the two of us starting to exercise together, then do our first parkrun, and eventually to start running races.”

ON THE RUN
It all started eight months after the birth of Zoe’s second child, when she felt she needed to get back into shape and started going to the gym, with Audrey agreeing to join her. “We just felt that it was time to do something again. Work, family, kids had all been the priorities, but once things had settled a bit, we felt it was time to do something for ourselves, so we headed off to gym. It was great because not only were we training, but we were also able to share quality time with each other.” However, soon gym workouts were no longer enough…

Parkruns have taken South Africa by storm since being introduced in November 2011. They offer a safe, free and fun way for the whole family to exercise and socialise, and today there are more than 120 parkruns taking place every weekend all over South Africa, with the total number of registered participants numbering nearly 450,000. Being based in the Bedfordview area of Johannesburg, the closest parkrun for the girls back then was at Modderfontein, about 15km up the highway, and that’s where the girls headed to start their New Year’s running resolution.

“Our first parkrun was on the fourth of January in 2014, and it was so much fun,” says Audrey. “We loved every minute of it,” echoes Zoe. “Our families came out, we had coffee afterwards, it was just a really pleasant way to spend the morning, and we got in our training!” That day proved a life-changing experience, and for the next year, every Saturday without fail, Zoe and Audrey would be on the Modderfontein start line. Later, however, merely showing up every weekend at the parkrun was not enough… They wanted to become more involved, so they put their names down to become part of the volunteer programme.

“After 20 runs, Event Director Wayde Morsink encourages participants to help out and marshal on run day, so we contacted him and put our names down, but then heard nothing for a long time,” says Zoe. “Then one Friday evening, at around 10pm, I received an SMS asking if we could help the following day. It just so happened that Audrey was with me at the time and we immediately agreed. The following day we helped with the marshalling, but afterwards I went to Wayde and had a chat with him. I told him that sending SMS’s out at 10pm the night before clearly meant that he needed some administrative help, so I ended up becoming the volunteer coordinator for the next two years. During that time we hit the biggest field ever assembled at a South African parkrun, with over 1800 people participating!”

STEPPING UP
As with all training, the girls eventually hit a plateau in their running, but help was at hand. The Modderfontein parkrun is close to the Bedfordview Running Club, and many club members regularly take part in the parkruns. With time spent together at the parkrun, it was natural that friendships were formed. “They were so helpful and had good advice on how to improve our running, so we ended up training more. Instead of only doing twice a week gym sessions and the weekly parkrun, we now did more runs in the week, too,” says Zoe.

“We started going to the Bedfordview Time Trial and ran the 4km loop every week. This led to our first 10km race, the Sarens 10km in March 2015,” says Audrey. “But we really wanted to do a half marathon,” adds Zoe, “and we wanted it to be a different kind of half, so we decided on Knynsa in July of 2015. We loved the fresh air, the run through the forest, the whole atmosphere, and we finished in 2:41. That’s when we decided to look for half marathons that were different to the ones that lie on our doorstep, especially after doing the Dis-Chem Half in January 2016. Dis-Chem was great fun, but it was literally on our doorstep, and we wanted something different out of our races, so we decided to do the Peninsula Half Marathon in Cape Town that March.”

The Peninsula Half includes the scenic coast road from Muizenburg to the finish at the Naval Grounds in Simonstown, but if the south-easterly wind is blowing, it can be a tough run into a strong headwind. “Running along that beachfront was simply amazing, but the wind was something to behold!” recalls Zoe. “That was tough, really tough, but we still enjoyed it. We were hoping to break our PB’s there, as the route is almost flat, but with that wind, it was not to be.”

GOOD TIMES
In sticking with their philosophy of running out of town half marathons, Zoe and Audrey gave the 2017 Kaapsehoop Half Marathon a go this past November, and there they did succeed in smashing those PBs, taking 12 minutes off their previous best. “The last 4km were tough and we had to ‘talk nicely’ to ourselves to get there,” says Audrey. “When we set out on this journey, all we wanted to do was break 2:30 for the half marathon, so when we ran in at 2:24, we were ecstatic! We have no ambitions to run anything beyond 21 kays, but would dearly love to run an international race, and Berlin looks to be the one we will look at first. And hopefully we will keep inspiring others to join us for a run.”

Images: Jetline Action Photo

Many of us drink alcohol to have fun, relax and be social, especially during the December holidays, but here’s how it affects your health and your waistline. – BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERED DIETICIAN

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 you drink alcohol, because it is viewed by the body as a toxin and thus gets immediate attention.

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 and the alcohol continues to circulate in the body until the liver is available to process it. That’s why drinking large amounts, or drinking 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, causing the loss of 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. Meanwhile, alcohol contains seven calories per gram and offers no nutritional value. It only adds empty calories to your diet. 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, which are often salty, making you thirsty and leading to more drinking. Rather eat a healthy meal first, and sip water between drinks – 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, 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, so you are more likely to overeat, especially greasy or fried foods, which can add to your waistline.
5 Alcohol actually stimulates your appetite.

Moderation is key
In any weight-loss plan, there are three main components: 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 intake of alcohol and you will reap some of the enjoyment of alcohol consumption, while not derailing your overall progress. As with all things in life, moderation is the key.

Image: Fotolia

Finishing 13th at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and only missing the final by one position established Rynardt van Rensburg as one of the world’s top 800m runners, so missing out on selection for SA’s 2017 World Champs team was a massive disappointment, but the man from the Free State is ready to try again. – BY REGGIE HUFKIE

The 2017 IAAF World Championships in London marked Team South Africa’s most successful champs, with six medals, but the lead-up to the meet left a bitter taste as many athletes had to deal with a controversial ASA selection policy that saw a number of athletes who had qualified according to IAAF standards left at home. One of those left out of the team was University of Free State student Rynardt van Rensburg, who had won the SA Champs title for the first time earlier this year and run a season’s best of 1:45.73, thus meeting the IAAF standard of 1:45.90, but not good enough to meet the ASA standard of 1:44.84.

“At the 2016 Olympic Games I finished 13th in the world, and my goal was to make the final at the 2017 London World Champs. My drive, my motivation, my planning, training and everything was towards London. Not being able to compete at the World Champs broke my heart. I ran 1:45.73, which was faster than my time heading into Rio!” says Rynardt. “The fact is that I train to peak at championship events, as I did in 2016. It’s a pity, but I have to accept it and move forward.”

Time for Plan B
In spite of the disappointment over London, Rynardt decided to focus on the Summer Universiade (World Student Games) in Taipei, also in August, but then another blow followed… “I picked up a hamstring tendon injury just three weeks before the World Student Games, and it was worse than what we initially thought.” He was advised to sit out the Games, but after the disappointment of London, he says he simply couldn’t turn down the opportunity to represent his country.

“I believe in chances, giving people a shot. We athletes work extremely hard in order to be amongst the best in the world, and we do not get paid well at all, and the day you take away the opportunities to compete, is the day you will see a lot of talent giving up. I am not ready to give up.” That spirit saw him go to Taipei, do enough to finish third in a tactical first round heat, clocking 1:55.00 and automatically qualifying for the semi-final round, where he won his heat in 1:48.97. However, his legs simply didn’t have enough power in the final, due to the injury, and he finished a disappointed eighth in 1:49.70.

“Things did not turn out the way I planned or the way I wanted them to, but I’m thankful for every opportunity and I will surely rise again. It was my first year as the South African Champion and I still managed a 1:45.73, which shows we did things right. It was also my third year ending as the fastest 800m athlete in South Africa, and I’m grateful for all the small victories, in spite of the big disappointments this season. 2018 will be another year, with new opportunities.”

Back to the Drawing Board
Currently on a strict rehabilitation programme, Rynardt believes he will bounce back in time for the start of the 2018 season. “Due to the injury, my training will only start at the end of November, but if I can get in shape early, I will attempt two or three indoor races in February in order to attempt to qualify for the World Indoor Champs. However, my main goal is to defend my SA title, and then I would like to have a chance at the Commonwealth Games. Once again my hopes will be on ASA and SASCOC to select me after December into the preliminary team for the Games.”

Meanwhile, the Kovsies student has decided to put his B.Sc. Psychology degree on hold and focus on his secondary studies. “I’ve been doing two or three modules of Marketing as well, and in order to focus as much as I can on my Athletics, I will first finish Marketing in 2018 and then I hope to finish my other degree after that.” In between that, he will still make time for other interests. “I do part-time work as a photographer for Spektor in Bloemfontein. I have a massive passion for photography and I love capturing sport photos, plus I also write training programmes and coach.”

Coaching youngsters also ties in with Rynardt’s passion for the sport: “I believe athletics can become as popular as rugby and football if we can get some powerful people to join the sport. And selecting as many athletes as possible to be seen competing on TV on the big stages like the World Champs and Olympics will also help grow the popularity of the sport.”

Images: Courtesy Rynardt van Rensburg

The Ironman World Champs race in Kona, Hawaii, is considered one of the toughest sporting events, and when blind triathlete Helen Webb crossed the Kona finish line this October, she added yet another chapter to an already impressive and inspiring story. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Born with just 10% vision caused by albinism, a congenital disorder characterised by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes, Helen Webb has spent her whole life trying to change perceptions of people with disabilities. “I was bullied at school and told that I was a monster, and even though that stopped when I reached my 20s, I still felt I was not good enough,” she says. However, that all began to change when she set out to show what she could do, both academically (she has a Ph.D. in chemistry) and physically. “Prior to running and triathlon, I felt like I was not really achieving much in life – it was just about how I viewed myself – but triathlon has helped me see myself as an extraordinary visually impaired person, and I hope my story will inspire others to do the same.”

Helen (37) was born in London, spent 10 years in the USA and then moved to SA at age 11. Growing up in Johannesburg, she says she was not at all sporty. “I was actually not allowed to participate in sport, because I had a severe lack of eye-hand co-ordination, on top of albinism, which meant I couldn’t spend that much time in the sun. Then in my early 20s a friend took me for a 5km run, and to my surprise, I didn’t die, so I began running, up to half marathon distance. I found that my eyesight was not an issue, but I’m not particularly fast, because I’m only in control of about 1.5m in front of me. On the track I can bang out four minutes a kay easily, but on the road I’m lucky to do seven minutes a kay.”

Next Challenge, Please
At 31 Helen felt she needed a bigger challenge. “I decided to run the Comrades, because that’s what you do in SA… I did lots of marathons, but for two years I couldn’t get any faster to qualify. Then in 2012 I began doing speed training, and got my marathon down to 4:30. Starting my first Comrades was a big thing for me, but by 20km I felt exhausted and overwhelmed. I couldn’t overtake people because I have no depth perception, and then just before halfway I tripped on a cat’s eye and fell. I was covered in blood and my knee was really sore, but I carried on till Cato Ridge at 68km, where I eventually dropped out. It was only afterwards that I realised I had a broken bone in my hand and torn ligaments in my knee!”

“I went back in 2014 and finished the race, but again the start was difficult and I couldn’t cut across other runners to get water, so I did 30 to 40km without water. I ran it again 2016, but by then I had already decided I wanted to do Ironman, even though I was terrified of the water.” In fact, Helen says just trying to swim in the pool left her literally unable to breathe from anxiety, but she still went to the Ironman in PE to help as a volunteer and see what the race was like. “I heard people say look at the swimmers at the buoys. I couldn’t even see the water’s edge, let alone the buoys… and the people were doing 60 kays an hour or more on the bikes. I thought I could literally kill somebody if I did the wrong thing at that kind of speed!

Down, But Not Out
Feeling devastated, the PE trip made Helen realise she would need help if she wanted to achieve her Ironman goal. “From a young age I had been told I would never be independent, or live by myself, but I had gained a lot of independence through running. It was therefore a huge thing to accept that I would need a guide and a tandem bike to do Ironman. That’s when I contacted Derick Marcisz, as I had several friends who had been part of his Dare to Tri programme. He very kindly offered to fetch me in the mornings and guide me in pack runs, and helped me find a borrowed tandem to ride.”

“Now the challenge was to find a female guide, as per the ITU rules, and I needed somebody who could deal with my panic in the water, and also put up with my slow speed on the bike and run. In the end, we made a desperate plea on social media late in 2016 and found Desi Dickinson, an elite age grouper who said she wanted to give back to the sport. From the end of October 2016, she dedicated her training time to me for Ironman 70.3 East London, and then Ironman Port Elizabeth. I had never expected to find somebody of her calibre willing to give up everything for me!”

When Helen went to East London in January, she was still panicking about the swim, and to make matters worse, the sea was so rough in the days leading up to the race that she and Desi could only do one short sea swim. “I did that first swim in a panicked state, feeling like I was going to drown. I was actually incredibly lucky that Desi had lifesaving skills, because after just 300 metres I had physically given up and she had to pull me back in. Once back on the beach I collapsed from shock. That evening at supper I told Derick I didn’t think I could get back in there tomorrow, but he just said he wasn’t going to entertain my doubts, and that he knew I could do it… so I thought, why not.”

Fortunately, race day brought calm seas and Helen says the swim was actually amazing. Despite tough bike and run legs, she came home to claim her medal, ecstatic to have conquered her fear. She and Desi then went on to finish the Full Ironman in PE, but Helen says that really took it out of her. “After PE, I was broken psychologically, because in the middle of preparing for the race I had left my job under difficult circumstances, and had no income for four months, so I didn’t even know if I was going to make it to PE. The day before the race, Desi asked if I was scared, and I told her no, because it hurt much more getting there.”

Surprise Entry
Then in May Helen found out she had won a slot for Kona in the lottery, but given her state of mind, and finances, she thought she would have turn it down. “I didn’t think I could do another six months of this, and I would need to ask my guide to go at her own cost, and for no reward, since guides are not considered official entrants. But then I thought this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I phoned Desi, even though I knew she had her own commitments and goals. I was already amazed that she had given me two races and six months, so I wasn’t surprised when she said no, and I will remain forever grateful for all that she did for me.”

Fortunately, Helen soon found a replacement. “One name that kept coming up was Caroline Gaynor, from the USA. She had already guided some 20 athletes in about 40 races, including eight full Ironmans, making her probably the most experienced female guide in the world, so I asked her and she said yes. I continued training with various guides in SA, then went over to Kona five weeks before the race, and was incredibly lucky that the whole tri community got together to look after me. Caroline arrived the Monday before the race weekend, and when my tandem arrived on the Tuesday, we rode together for the first time. Thanks to all her experience, she knew exactly how to guide me right from the start.”

Come race day and Helen says the swim was actually easy, but the bike leg was much harder. “We did a lot of climbing into a headwind, but the worst was the heat radiating off the road and lava fields. With albinism, I am sensitive to heat and sun, and by the time we got to 120km, my head was sweating profusely, my jaw locked, and I felt like I was going to black out. I couldn’t talk, but Caroline quickly realised I was developing heat stroke, so she stopped at an aid station and told the volunteers to put ice in my tri suit. I wasn’t even ‘there’ at that stage, but once my core temperature dropped I was fine again, so we said let’s get this race done.”

Another problem hit them about 15km into the run, as night fell. “We had lights in our special needs bags, but they were only at 28km, and it was pitch black out on the highway, so now neither of us could see much. We had to walk a long section while trying not to collide with other runners, and when we eventually got to the finish in 16:27, Caroline was in tears, whereas I was fine. I think the emotional stress of the day got to her, whereas I had my nervous breakdown three days after the race, when I realised there was no more need for training, or finding a guide, or dealing with logistics. I just balled and balled and balled!”

True Bravery
After her remarkable journey to the finish at Kona, Helen has received many messages of congratulations, but she quickly downplays her achievement. “People say I am so brave to race Ironman, but race days are actually easy, as I have somebody to guide me, and do things for me. I think leaving my house and going to work every day is my true bravery, and some of my hardest moments are just going to the shop and trying to buy a tin of tuna, because I can’t see the shelves, or the people, or the till. I don’t want to take anything away from people who finish Comrades or Ironman, but my day-to-day struggles are much bigger than that, so I hope my story will inspire others, and hopefully one day we will see a hundred visually impaired athletes doing Ironman.”

Images: Finisherpix & courtesy Helen Webb

When event organisers send out their final instructions for ultra-events, especially for those happening in the mountains, take note and don’t fob off the compulsory kit items, because they may just save your life, or someone else’s life. – BY ALISON CHADWICK

With glorious weather to see us off, 61 enthusiastic trail runners set off at the start of the Mighty Mutter 65km or Mutter 37km trail run on 7 October. Run in the Southern Drakensberg, both events are self-navigating, and this was my third Mutter. The first 13km up to Thule Beacon at 2537m was tough going, and thanks to the great weather, we wished we’d worn our short Funky Pants rather than long leggings. However, once on top of the ridge, the temperature immediately dropped and we could see the rain approaching, and we soon pulled on an extra layer and rain jacket. Just 10 minutes later the rain started and it got very cold, and actually quite unpleasant.

We continued in these conditions for the next 10km, and I could see that one of the women in our group, Fiona Dawson, looked like she was struggling – not fitness-wise, but with the cold and rain. She did not have the correct gear, notably a waterproof jacket, nor did she have gloves. Another factor when it is raining is that no one wants to stop to eat or take a drink from the streams, and on this particular day everyone was too cold to stop, so we just kept going, and unless your food is easy to reach, you’re not going to stop to eat.

We reached our third and last checkpoint at “The Pig,” about 23km into the race, and at this point I knew I had to help Fiona, as she was shivering and shaking uncontrollably. I could see that the early signs of hypothermia were perhaps setting in, and luckily I had a dry long-sleeve thermal top, a windbreaker and a spare pair of gloves for her, and we used my poncho space blanket as her outer layer. I also insisted that she eat something, even though her hands were shaking too much. (She doesn’t eat ham, but she said she didn’t care at that stage!)

A FRIEND IN NEED
In situations like this, you just know you have to do something to help someone who is struggling, and both Fiona and her daughter Sarah said I saved her life. I think that is perhaps a bit overly dramatic, but I am grateful I had the extra kit… and to be honest, I was actually excited to finally use my space blanket, which I’ve carried with me for about seven years!

Conditions in the mountains can change in an instant. When the mist moves into the mountains, it becomes another ball-game altogether, and you have to rely solely on your tracking device to find your way. Even when I was packing the night before, I threw in a spare set of batteries and my partner said to me, “You’re not going to need those,” and I replied that maybe I won’t need them, but someone else may…

I need to point out that the women’s winner did the 37km course in 4 hours 44 minutes, but us slower runners took nine hours or more, so you can see that the compulsory kit it even more relevant for the backmarkers, as we spend a lot more time out there. At prize-giving, I found out that the event organiser, Malcolm Millar, had witnessed what had happened up on the mountain, and I was awarded the “Lighthouse in a Storm” award. More importantly, I think we all learnt from this experience. It was a tough lesson to learn, especially for Fiona our frozen runner, but also a lesson I’m sure she will never forget, and a few weeks after Mutter I received a lovely gift and card from her to say how much she appreciated my help, and that we’ll always share this special bond.

Images: Courtesy Alison Chadwick

In January 2004, caffeine was taken off the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of banned substances used in competitive sports, but earlier this year it was placed back on the WADA monitoring list, and may be put back on the list in 2018, once studies have been done this year. – BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERED DIETICIAN

Caffeine is the best known member of a family of naturally occurring stimulants found in leaves, nuts and seeds in over 60 plants, and dietary sources include tea, coffee, chocolate, soft drinks and energy drinks. Typically, these provide 20 to 200mg of caffeine per serving. The main source of caffeine in sports drinks, gels and supplements is guarana.

It's well-known that caffeine makes us more alert and delays sleep, and it's also popular among athletes, since it can improve performance in some sports. Caffeine has a complex range of actions on the body which have been extensively researched. It has several effects on skeletal muscle, and through some of these actions, caffeine may stimulate fat metabolism during aerobic exercise, ‘sparing’ glycogen stores and thus delaying fatigue.

However, other studies have found this effect to be short-lived and confined to certain individuals only. Caffeine has also been found to have other effects on the body that may influence athletic performance: It may affect the central nervous system, such as reduced perception of effort and enhanced recruitment of motor units, which may give athletes a ‘buzz’ and mask fatigue.

Caffeine Dose
Caffeine is rapidly absorbed, reaching peak concentrations in the blood within an hour after ingestion, and studies point to smaller amounts taken in throughout exercise being beneficial for performance, rather than one larger dose one hour prior to a bout of exercise. It’s also thought that as an athlete fatigues during exercise, they become more sensitive to small doses of caffeine. Looking at various studies, it seems that beneficial effects from caffeine occur at very modest levels of intakes (1 to 3mg/kg body mass or 70 to 150mg caffeine), when taken prior to or during exercise. (One cup of coffee can contain anywhere between 25 and 214mg caffeine.)

It is important to remember, however, that caffeine-loading is not good for all athletes. Like any drug, caffeine affects everyone differently. Some athletes will respond and receive a pronounced performance boost, whereas some athletes are non-responders, or may even experience disadvantageous side-effects that are detrimental to performance, such as tremors, increased heart rate, headaches and impaired sleep. However, contrary to popular opinion, caffeinated drinks do not dehydrate us, especially if we are used to caffeine.

In terms of long-term health, people often ask whether caffeine is safe. Right now, it appears that a moderate caffeine intake does not increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis or cancer, but as with most things, the most important thing to remember is everything in moderation! For the average healthy adult, moderate caffeine intakes pose no health risk, especially if we eat a balanced diet and enjoy regular physical activity.

About the Author
Christine is a registered dietician based in the Johannesburg area.

He’s just 20 and currently focusing on his studies, but Nicholas Quenet is already considered a star of South African triathlon, and it appears to be just a matter of time before this young man starts making a real name for himself on the world tri stage. – BY TRACEY FALCONER, WITH SEAN FALCONER

Clanwilliam obviously agrees with Nick Quenet. The 20-year-old Maties student has driven the 230-odd kays from Stellenbosch to the small northern Cape Town to participate in the Freshpak Fitness Festival triathlon the last four years, and every time he has come back with a podium position. In 2014 he finished fourth overall and first junior, then came home second overall in 2015, while his older sister Alexandra won the women’s race that year. Last year he went one better and took the men’s title, which he successfully defended this year, coming out of the water first and maintaining his lead through the bike leg, then blitzing the run for a dominant win. However, he admits he didn’t expect to win, and really thought the chasing pack would catch him on the bike leg. “Winning again was a surprise, because with my studies getting busier, I don’t have a huge amount of saddle training time available,” he says.

Currently in his second year at Stellenbosch University, studying towards a Bachelor of Accounting degree, Nick has made the decision to focus on his studies. When asked if he would consider putting his studies on the backburner, or even on hold, if offered a pro racing contract or more opportunities to compete overseas, Nick says that will have to wait. “I have thought about that, but I’ll stick to my degree! I’m definitely a numbers man and I don’t think one can operate in this country without a degree, so my aims are to get my degree and then do an Honours here at Maties, and then try to take triathlon to the next level.”

In fact, he already turned down an offer last year to race in Europe, but having just started his studies, says he couldn’t go. “It was sad to turn the offer down, but while I’m studying, I’m biding my time and focusing on the individual aspects of triathlon, doing running and biking races, and swimming galas, so I’m stronger when I graduate. Then I hope to base myself in Europe in the hopes of getting a contract with one of the French teams and race the grand prix’s. I’ve put my mind to it to work for four years – after that I can do what I want, and hopefully by then the triathlon doors will be open.”

Great Sporting Genes
Nick grew up in Worcester, where his family owns a pharmacy. Both he and Alexandra showed huge sporting talent in primary school, so when Nick was in Grade 8, the family moved temporarily to Stellenbosch, so that the kids could benefit from the more established school sports structures on offer in the town. “We lived here with my mom while we were in school, and my dad commuted regularly, but they are now both back in Worcester, while my sister and I still live here while we’re studying,” says Nick.

While at school, Nick focused on competitive swimming, while Alexandra focused on running, but about three years ago they both changed to triathlon. That was no surprise, really, given that their father was an elite triathlete in his younger days, racing in France in the early 80s and only just missing out on the World Champs in 1986 after falling off his bike and breaking his collarbone. “He later took up running, doing the Two Oceans Marathon, and is still doing trail runs, but these days it’s more about ticking things off his bucket list,” says Nick. “He really wants to go run the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in France.”

Of course, Nick’s swimming ability often gives him an upper hand in triathlon events. “I have the advantage of being able to lead from the start, and countless hours in the pool is now paying dividends, especially as there is so much technique involved in swimming. It’s an advantage not to have to learn how to swim, so I can just maintain my strongest discipline. I also did biathlon in school, so my running was already quite strong, but cycling was completely new to me. Still, I’ve achieved massive growth in a short space of time and am getting stronger, even though the training takes the longest, and I’ve also worked hard on my running this season. I did my first road running race at the Sanlam Cape Town 10km and clocked 31:40. I am pleased with my time, but still want to go faster, because if you look at the results on the world triathlon circuit, I believe it all comes down to the run, with the fastest racers all winning the foot race.”

Making His Name
While Nick is very understated about his success in triathlon, a quick look at his track record shows why he is already considered a star in the sport. In 2015 he won the Junior title at the SA Champs in Buffalo City, then added the African Champs junior title in Egypt a few months later. In 2016, he was second junior at the African Champs, then added a sixth place and an eighth place in ETU Junior European Cup events in Hungary and the Netherlands, but things didn’t go as well at the 2016 World Triathlon Grand Final in Mexico. “I got a bit of heat stroke due to the 100% humidity and did not finish the event, but getting to the World Champs is still one of the highlights of my tri career so far.”

Nick’s great results have also seen him pick up a few endorsement and product sponsorships, including one from Skechers shoes, and that, in turn, saw him get invited to Los Angeles earlier this year for the LA Marathon, which is sponsored by Skechers. “It was such an incredible experience! I actually started with the elite guys at the front, but stopped at the halfway mark, as planned, to avoid overdoing things at such a young age. But it was only once I stopped and saw 35,000 people coming past that I realised just how many people there were in the race! My dad ran the full marathon and we got to make a holiday out of the trip, including seeing the incredible Golden Gate Bridge. It was all just absolutely amazing.”

Future Goals
While his academics are his priority at the moment, Nick says he still makes time for some racing, with the Clanwilliam weekend being a must-do, as well as the Slanghoek Triathlon in November near his hometown, Worcester. “The races continue, so I do the academic work throughout the year to take the pressure of at the end of the year, and then it’s down to our holiday house in Hermanus to relax. It’s a brilliant place to keep training!” Then, looking ahead, he says he has a few goals for 2018 that he wants to chase down.

“If the SA Tri Champs are at sea level, I might have a crack at the Under-23 title, and then hopefully get to African Champs as well. Everyone says third year in my course gets harder, so I’ll have to see about Europe, if the opportunity comes up, and I’d also like to go after a 30-minute 10km, bring down my time for swimming 1.5km, and do a few cycling and track races.” Beyond that, he says his main aim will be the 2019 World Champs, and at the back of his mind are the 2022 Commonwealth Games. “I’ll see how those pan out and then plan the rest.”