Category: Features

In June, after several years of turmoil, infighting, false starts, hirings and firings, court cases and intervention by national and international sporting bodies, Athletics South Africa appointed a new board under the leadership of President Aleck Skhosana, tasked with the job of getting the ship sailing in the right direction again – and the President believes that is exactly what is slowly but surely happening.

MA: We’ve seen our track and field athletes doing very well at the recent Commonwealth Games and African Champs, bringing home a number of medals and national records as well. You must be excited about this success, despite the past few years of turmoil at boardroom level?

It’s not only about me being excited, it’s about the country being excited, and our children who will come into the sport after this. Also, I am sure government is excited that ASA is doing what it is supposed to be doing. But we should give credit where it is due: Whilst there was turmoil in the sport, our coaches and athletes remained focused. They did not stop going to the track to train, or setting their targets, and the proof is in their results.

We sent 13 athletes to the Commonwealth Games and brought home nine medals, a national record. We said we wanted to reclaim our position as the powerhouse of African athletics at the African Senior Champs, and many people said it will take 10 years, but look, we won 19 medals, including 10 golds, with a squad of just 34 athletes, while Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria had squads of 60 to 70 each. We achieved what we set out to do, and the giant that is South African athletics, which had been sleeping, has been awoken.

MA: However, there was much criticism about the selection of the SA teams for these two meets, especially the middle-distance athletes being left out and total numbers cut by half to the African Champs, reportedly due to ASA being cash-strapped.

When we came in as the new board, I said that ASA would only work with people that know what they are doing, so we got in the most experienced coaches as selectors. They selected about 70 athletes that qualified for the African Championships, but there was not enough money to take all 70 athletes plus officials to Morocco – it was going to cost R2 million – so we requested the selectors to develop a new criteria that will speak to what we have. To cut the numbers down, they recommended that we select only those athletes ranked in the top three in Africa, and we were left with 35 athletes, but then there was an issue of no middle-distance athletes making the team. So we said let us first see how they perform at the Commonwealth Games, and fortunately Andre Olivier and Johan Cronje did very well in Glasgow, finishing third and fourth, so the selectors’ recommendation was to include them. It was transparent and based on current form.

MA: How is the current relationship between ASA and SASCOC, given that not very long ago SASCOC expelled ASA, which meant that our athletes could not be selected for World Games, nor receive Operation Excellence (OPEX) funding. Since then ASA has been reinstated, athletes went to the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics, but there were stories about athletes not being paid their full OPEX grants…

The relationship is good, our focus and targets are the same, to assist our athletes to shine where it matters most, at the Olympic Games. We have been meeting with SASCOC to plot the way forward, and SASCOC President, Mr Gideon Sam, even phoned from Glasgow to say, “Right, now we’ve got something to work with for 2016!” When we were elected, we said we are suspending all wars, external and internal, for the benefit of our athletes and coaches, and the integrity and image of the sport. We don’t have time to fight any more.

Now, I have not seen any complaints brought in by athletes that they have not been paid fully by SASCOC. In fact, we have said to SASCOC that we want to add more athletes to OPEX, but they said wait until after the Commonwealth Games, because we first need to set up new criteria and decide how many athletes we are taking for the 2016 plan, and there are also junior athletes coming through, like this young girl who won gold at the Youth Olympics, Gezelle Magerman. We have to think of all these young athletes, to prepare them for the World Junior Championships, and the different competitions around the world.

MA: When you were elected, you said that your key priorities are to fast-track development and transformation, and to restore the dented image of ASA. After four months in the job, do you think you are succeeding in this?

We came in with a two-year mandate to remove ASA from the bad news, and instead make the focus Cornel Fredericks winning three gold medals, or that young girl at the Youth Olympics. Now to fix a dent in a car takes some time, but to fix a dent in an image takes much longer, because people always remember the bad things. That said, the image of ASA in the continent is different to what you and I know… When we recently had the congress in Morocco, they said now Africa is back, because South Africa is back.

MA: Another of your earliest comments after election was that the sport needs business-minded people to run it, and that politicians are not good at doing that. In light of this, why has a CEO or business manager not yet been appointed?

The ASA Constitution is very clear: The staff are full-time, the President and Board are just volunteers. The position that I was appointed to is that of a politician in athletics, so there are things that I cannot do, which need to be done by an administrator. I have even refused to sign a new sponsorship deal, because I am not the CEO, and that sponsor is going to report to the office, not to me. We are talking about corporate governance and protocol, the Board must separate ourselves from the daily management. When you let politicians get into daily operations, things do not work.

So, we have appointed an interim manager in the office, Mr Pieter De Jager, since we do not have a CEO yet, and he is a technical person who understands the sport. This is because appointing a CEO is part of the challenges we still need to work through: Two former employees were employed as General Manager or CEO, one left last year, the other was suspended, and we have inherited those issues, so we have to study the contracts, and the CCMA, Labour Court and High Court rulings, so that when we do appoint a person, he or she will not be hit by a letter from the courts saying this job belongs to somebody else. We are first clearing the playing field, to ensure that when we do move, we move forward. Also, we don’t want a situation where the next Board takes over two years from now and says they don’t want the CEO we appointed, so we need to give our candidate an 18-month interim contract.

MA: Much has been said or written about the financial situation of the sport, largely centred on claims about financial mismanagement by previous employees or board members. Can you give us an update on the finances and tell us what plans are in place to improve the situation?

ASA was engulfed in a war with itself, and it went to the extent of the high courts. The remnants of that are still with us, and all we can do is manage that situation. The sport is slowly busy cleansing itself, which is making the investors and sponsors want to speak to us again – and they are calling us again, even some of those who moved away from the sport in the last few years, so we have even started the process of appointing a sponsorship and marketing agency to deal with these matters.

MA: On a related note, the last set of financial statements published on the ASA website are those of 2012. When will the 2013 financials be available?

The 2012 financial statements were actually not approved by council and the AGM, so we are dealing with that first, and then the 2013 figures will have to come as well. We only just recently commissioned auditors to audit the 2012 financials and take it to the correct platforms, because you can’t take a draft to government, or SASCOC or the IAAF. We have told everybody that we are coming in to clean up the mess, and we have to be mindful of due process.

MA: In attracting sponsors, one of the perceived limiting factors is the lack of TV coverage of athletics and road running. Are there any plans to extend TV coverage, and improve coverage, to grow the footprint of the sport?

ASA has a contract with the SABC giving the national broadcaster exclusive rights to broadcast athletics in this country, but that contract ends in December and we have already started negotiations with them to address the shortcomings of current coverage. I cannot divulge the details of these discussions as yet, but can say there is nothing to stop us from talking to other channels, to see where we are going to get the best value to package our product. Having said that, we can’t just blame the SABC, because ASA was in turmoil and the SABC was not always properly engaged, so there is very much room for improvement there as well.

MA: As a long-time ASA Board member, you undoubtedly came into the job with much knowledge of the situation, but after three months in the top position, have your perceptions of the job changed at all?

My perception then and now is the same. I’ve been part of athletics since 1981, and I’ve been involved at ASA for many years on various committees, so I knew exactly what would be the problems, and how these problems came about. That is why I said in our first Board meeting that we have to appoint a manager who is going to be in the office, who will account to us, because of what happened previously, the failure to separate the executive and non-executive capacities. We are also putting important structures back in place, like replacing the coaching, development, scientific, medical, doping and women’s committees, which had collapsed completely.

MA: Lastly, what is your long-term vision for the sport and how do you see us getting there?

I want to see athletics in this country taking its rightful place as it was in the 90s, when we were counted amongst the top countries in the world. I have been talking to various people around the world and they all see South Africa as a country with unlimited capability, and they all want to work with
our federation. What matters most is that our athletes must be given opportunity –
and that will separate those who are talented from those who are not, those who are disciplined, those who are hungry to go forward. Then the sky is the limit for South African athletics.

Later this year I hope to run my 100th marathon, and having heard about 100 Marathon Clubs in several other countries, I think it is time for us to start one in South Africa as well. – BY HANO MAREE

As for many South Africans, Comrades was a childhood dream and in 1999, when a friend asked me to join him for the Millennium race, I jumped at the opportunity. I was under-trained and inexperienced, but amid all the suffering, I had an epiphany that has formed the basis of my running philosophy ever since: Running is not just a sport, it is a social event that is enjoyed en route with anonymous runners (soon to be friends) from all walks of live, sharing race ‘war stories’ or just having a laugh.

Since then I have kept a race logbook, but did not place any value on the number of marathons and ultras I’d done until 2010 at the Macleay River Marathon in Australia. At the prize-giving, Bob Fickel, who incidentally is currently managing the Australian 100 Marathon Club, received a T-shirt to commemorate his 200th marathon. It made me wonder how many people in SA have completed 100 marathons and when will I ever get there? Over the following three years, as I slowly accumulated marathons, I also found some books on the topic. According to Steve Edwards, the fastest person to reach 500 marathons, more people have climbed Everest than have completed 100 marathons! However, I do believe that a number of SA runners have been excluded from these calculations, but the point remains, not that many people have done this.

CHASING MY CENTURY

Many countries with 100 marathon clubs follow similar rules, with the UK’s being the best described on their website. Membership is only for runners that have completed 100 marathons and/or ultras. You can also join the club as an associate member if you have run more than 50 races, but then you are labelled as a ‘Wannabe.’ I have contacted the UK 100 Marathon Club and the rules are quite clear that walking events do not count. The reasoning sounds fair, so I was knocked back by three and that put me on 92 at the end of July, with 31 ultras, 58 marathons and three stage races, so I am still in the Wannabe club, but 2014 will (hopefully) be the year of my 100th marathon.

At the beginning of the year I started planning my assault on the 100th and in setting up a schedule, I was more concerned with where, rather than when. I calculated that if I do every marathon in the Western Cape in 2014 and travel to a few races – and remain injury free – I could get to my 100th in Stellenbosch at the Winelands Marathon, my hometown race, in November. I will not be the first to run 100 marathons, but it will be my first time.

Now, I usually do not run marathons on back-to-back weekends, but part of the challenge was venturing into the unknown, so I recently did four marathons in four weeks, followed by a double marathon weekend in Australia, then a week off before the Puffer… and I thought this was going to be easy! But the whole attraction of this challenge for me is the fact that you can do it in your own time and you have a lifetime to achieve it. It is a personal challenge that every runner can aim for, irrespective of ability, and if this body can cash this cheque, there will be chocolate cake at the Stellenbosch Athletics Club gazebo after the Winelands!

SA 100 Marathon Club

Despite all its wonderful long distance races, South Africa does not have a 100 Marathon Club. There are several initiatives that reward distance in races in a calendar year, but none that rewards the average runner for a lifetime of running. I propose that we get the debate going and see where it leads us. Contact [email protected] or join the Facebook page.
 

Hello, I am the 49-years-old who was attempting the Comrades this year for the first time, as published in the Letters section of the June edition of Modern Athlete, and this is my follow-up Comrades story. – BY VAL OPPERMAN

I have had Type 1 Diabetes for 30 years, and I know that my nearest known relative with T1D died in 1921, before injectable Insulin was freely available. I therefore have to be careful with training and racing, monitoring my blood sugar levels regularly.

So it was now ‘Tapering Time’ ahead of the Comrades, time to dramatically reduce training and to check blood sugar three times a day versus just diet monitoring. During this period I dramatically reduced my mileage and to eat correctly to begin to store essential fat as well as glycogen in my muscles and liver. The glycogen is essential for ultra-distance running, and even more essential for a Type 1 Diabetic, and the fat would also be important on race day – and would be depleted in 12 hours along with all my liver’s Glycogen. My Doctor estimated that I would lose about 5kg of body weight during the race.

So, at 2.30am on the 1st of June, I awoke my dearest little ‘Comrades Bug,’ the one that bit me three years ago, had breakfast, got my running gear on, had photos taken with my husband, daughter and best friend, let them write goodwill messages on my hands and arms, and then I started the short walk to the start. Those 45 minutes of being in my seeding pen from 4:45am were surreal with excitement. I checked my blood sugar again and awaited the famous cockcrow before the boom of the gun signalling the start, and joined 18,000 fellow Comrades joyfully singing along to Shosholoza, the South African National Anthem and the tear-jerking Chariots of Fire traditional Comrades song.

The gun sounded and a human surge of anxious bodies slowly moved forward underneath a huge arc of fireworks and deafening shouts of ‘Good luck’ & ‘See you in Durban.’ Back home in Durban, the TV was not switched on at my house this year on Comrades Day, and my dog missed all of us, because all my family were with me along the route, cheering Comrades Bug and I both on – and Comrades Bug sat there right next to my heart every step of the 89.28km to Durban.

I checked my blood sugar six times along the route, ate and carefully hydrated, and finished in 11 hours 56 minutes and 17 seconds to the deafening roar of the thousands of spectators at Kingsmead Sahara Cricket Stadium in Durban. Then I cried my eyes out in indescribable euphoria at the finishing line. After I got my medal and badge, I went to the medical tent to check my blood sugar again, which was perfect.

So that was it… a long, hard, hot day, but very exciting, and I made it after three years and 2500km of running as a Type 1 Diabetic.

Let’s face it, beer is part of our South African culture, especially after a strenuous event or training session. Instead of completely ruling it out as detrimental to our performance, let’s see how we can make it part of a healthy balanced lifestyle

A cold one after your finish – something that you feel like you’ve earned after your hard run. Afterwards, you might feel like you’ve taken a couple of steps backwards as an athlete but there is no reason to feel guilty having a pint or two. Let’s explore the positives, negatives and facts we need to consider when drinking beer. The answer? Be beer sensible!

The Facts

One small (330ml) bottle of 5% alcohol beer is equivalent to 1.6 unit of alcohol
A 300ml bottle of beer contains 142 calories which is equivalent to 2 slices of bread or ½ burger.
It would take the average 68kg man around 14 minutes of fast running to burn this off.
One pint is equivalent to 3.9 units and 324 calories.
One pint is equal to 4 slices of bread or 1.1 burgers and would take around half an hour of fast running to burn this off for the average man.

Beer Badies

With 7 calories per gram, alcohol has almost the same calorie content as fat.
Alcohol has no nutritional value, and despite the calorie content, may make you feel hungry as it lowers your blood sugar.

Some people think beer is a good source of nutrients for recovery post exercise but if you compare it to a glass of orange juice, unfortunately beer does not come close. A glass of OJ supplies four times the amount of potassium and almost three times the amount of carbs. It would take 11 beers to obtain the B-vitamins needed on a daily basis.

It’s about timing, too. Training or competing after drinking would never be recommended. Dehydration can lead to reduced athletic performance and while alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it makes your kidneys produce more urine, exercising straight after drinking can make dehydration worse because you sweat as your body temperature rises. You need to stay hydrated when you exercise to maintain a flow of blood through your body, which is essential for circulating oxygen and nutrients to your muscles.

Alcohol can also make you more prone to injury. This happens in a variety of ways such as altering your sleep cycles, which reduces your body’s ability to store glycogen. Alcohol also increases the level of the stress hormone cortisol, which slows down healing.

Drinking has an enormous impact on muscle protein synthesis, the process where muscles generate new proteins, which are necessary for skeletal muscles to benefit from training by recovery, growing and adapting. Alcohol can reduce muscle protein synthesis by a third leaving you unable to ever improve and build strength.

Beer Benefits

It’s not all bad news though! Moderate beer drinking (and I stress moderate) in context of a healthy lifestyle, may be linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease, lower risk of kidney stones, lower risk of type 2 diabetes, lower risk of high blood pressure as well as boosting your immune system and helping fight infection.

When it comes to the benefits and risks of drinking alcohol or beer, it really comes down to the amount consumed. The health risks are mostly linked to high alcohol consumption, whereas low to moderate consumption may actually be beneficial.

Moderate intake is loosely defined as no more than 3 standard drinks per day for a man and 2 for a woman. The take-home message is that if you’re generally eating healthily and exercising, don’t worry about throwing back one or two beers. Just keep your consumption moderate and look at your beer drinking as a training tool.

Being Beer Sensible

Pre-event: Avoid alcohol beyond low-amount social drinking for 48 hours
Post event: Rehydrate first and consume food to retard any alcohol absorption.

Line up for a race in the Cape and chances are you will see colourful flags sticking up out of the massed field of runners, with target times written on them such as sub-60 or sub-2:00. That means the New Balance Western Province Pacesetters are in action again, helping others to run their target times.

It takes a special type of runner to give up their own race to help others, but most weeks a group of ‘Average Joe’ regular runners from various clubs in the Cape voluntarily carry their pacing flags in races from 10km right up to ultras, to create pacing buses and help other runners achieve a goal time, a qualifier or a new PB. One of the founders of the New Balance-sponsored group that paces in up to 40 races per year is Paul Murphy, and he says, “We have a core group of around 10 regular pacesetters and then there are extra people that will help out at some of the bigger events. The pacesetters are all experienced runners that want to give something back to the running community, and they get rewarded by helping other runners reach their time goals.”

A FINE ART

The pacesetters run with the goal of finishing about 30 to 60 seconds inside the goal time on their flags, so that people running just behind the bus can still get the goal time as well, and they aim to run at an even effort throughout, taking into account the ups and downs of the course, which is not easy, says Paul. “Doing even-effort pacing requires knowledge of the route, which may involve practice runs on the route, because being either too far ahead of or too far behind goal pace are both bad.”

Besides being able to judge and calculate pace, a pacesetter must also be able to interact with the runners in the bus to let them know strategy and give them updates on splits, and Paul says the pacesetters regularly get asked whether the bus is still on time. “But the best moment is pacing someone to a PB over the last kilometre of a race, when you can hear the effort they are putting in through their breathing and you honestly don’t know if they are going to be able to hang on or not.”

HELPING HANDS

Another regular pacer is Paul Conradie, who says the sport has given him so much over the years, so pacing is just a tiny bit that he can give back. “I remember one year they asked for a fast bus at the Gun Run Half Marathon and I volunteered to take the 1:30 bus. It wasn’t easy but we made it, and one lady just made it with a PB that day. What a proud moment that was! My most enjoyable moment is post-race, when hugs, handshakes and thank you’s are coming my way, and often PB’s are also in the mix.”

However, sometimes it doesn’t quite go to plan, as Wilby Steenkamp, another founder member of the group, can attest. “My worst nightmare happened in 2007 when I paced the Two Oceans sub-7:00 bus along with Clem Simpson and Elizka Hendrikse. I was 100% on time at the marathon mark and told the other two that I would sweep up Constantia Neck. At the summit I started to cramp and knew I was dehydrated, so with only 3km to go I told the group of 11 runners with me that they must just stick to their guns and they will be OK. I walked the last 3km and finished in 7:06, but waiting for me at the Coke stand was the group – all of them finished between 6:57 and 6:58. I know I made the difference to those novice athletes that day.”

Finding the Pacesetters

To volunteer to become a Western Province Pacesetter, or find out which races they will be running, visit their Facebook page at Western Province Pace Setters, or contact Paul Murphy on 082 878 1987 or [email protected].

When winter hits, many of us change the way we eat. Instead of salads and light dishes, we want warm, comforting food, such as soups, hearty casseroles and creamy mash. And then we add our winter kilos. Sound familiar? The good news is that there are tricks to have our comfort food and stay lean and mean.

When it’s cold outside and you just want to fill up on something that warms you up, and also cheers up your blue mood, you may feel a twinge of guilt or remorse about your choice, but the good news is that you don't have to substitute the foods you love when the cold season rolls around.

1. Pack in the Protein
• Eggs are satisfying at any time of the day, whether they're poached at breakfast, scrambled at lunch or an omelette for dinner.
• Canned fish is an easy way to include a satisfying protein at lunch – and boost your omega-3 at the same time.
• Low-fat milk or low-fat yoghurt with your cereal or smoothie at breakfast will keep you going.

2. Find your Fibre
High-fibre meals don't necessarily affect how much we eat straight away, but do reduce how much we eat at the next meal, because we're not as hungry.
• Add a high-fibre cereal to your breakfast regime.
• Use whole grain breads, rice and pasta.
• Add chickpeas, lentils, red kidney beans, cannellini beans or other legumes to salads and stews.
• Use hummus on bread or crackers.

3. Get your Veg On
Bulk up meals and snacks with low-energy vegetables, because they help us stop eating thanks to the weight of food influencing how much we eat and how full we feel. The water and fibre in these vegetables add weight, so we fill up with fewer kilojoules.
• Snack on baby carrots, sliced capsicum, cherry tomatoes and other small or sliced vegetables.
• Other low-energy veggies include broccoli, beans, beetroot, rhubarb and turnips.

4. Grab the Good Fat
Unsaturated fats stimulate a hormone which helps us feel fuller for longer. You don't need to go overboard though – it's the same hormone (cholecystokinin) which fibre stimulates.
• Add small amounts of seeds and nuts to snacks.
• Drizzle a little canola, olive, or rice bran oil over salads or vegetables.

And enjoy! There is room to eat healthily even when the temperatures drop. Plus, you don't have to minimise taste!

Recommended Recipe

Spicy Carrot and Pumpkin Soup
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 6 hours
Perks: Dairy-free, low fat, low kilojoule, vegetarian

Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
2 fat cloves garlic
2 tablespoons oil
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped in chunks
2 medium potatoes, cut in chunks
4 generous cups pumpkin, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon curry powder
1 pinch ground chilli
2½ teaspoons paprika
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups vegetable stock
pepper (a good grind)
1 additional cup water
Handful fresh mint, chopped

Instructions
Step 1: In a large pan, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened. Add the prepared vegetables and the flour and mix, allowing the flour to absorb the oil.
Step 2: Put the mixture into the slow cooker. Add the spices, salt, pepper, stock and water and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
Step 3: When the vegetables are tender, purée or process the soup until smooth and return to the slow cooker to keep warm.
Step 4: Adjust the consistency to suit your personal taste – I like it thick with a little sour cream and some chopped mint. It’s also good thinned with a little coconut cream and garnished with coriander.
End

When the World Long Distance Trail Champs take place on 16 August in Colorado in the USA, at the Pikes Peak Ascent 21km, one of the most excited runners in the field will undoubtedly be recently crowned SA Long Distance Trail Champion Danette Smith. It will see her fulfil two long-held ambitions: Not only will it be the first time she is representing her country, but it will also be the first time she has travelled overseas.

Danette qualified for the SA team in June by winning the women’s title at the SA Long Distance Trail Champs, held as part of the Merrell Outeniqua Traverse 38km near George. Unsurprisingly, she says she still cannot believe that her dream has come true. “It still feels surreal to think I went from dreaming about representing my country, to actually winning the SA Champs and being selected for the team. I still feel I have so much to learn about trail running, and the other runners in the team are so talented and experienced, so just to see how they approach things is going to open up my world, and it is a thrill and honour to be running in SA colours.”

The Pikes Peak Ascent starts at 1800m above sea level and finishes at 4300m, and the organisers say, ‘There’s a reason trees don’t bother growing above 3600m on Pikes Peak. They can’t! Makes one wonder if trees are smarter than runners…’ Danette therefore has a realistic view of her upcoming run. “It’s all uphill and at high altitude, so I have no idea how it’s going to affect me, but I’m just going to give it my all. I will start easy and then work my way through it, because all of us need to finish for our team to score points. Whatever happens, it’s going to be an amazing experience!”

OVER TO RUNNING

Danette (25) is the middle of five daughters and her family has lived in Stellenbosch most of her life. She says their’s is a very close, supportive family, with her parents Danie and Annette supporting all the girls in their sporting activities. Growing up, Danette played tennis and hockey at school, and only made the transition to running at varsity. “I made the inter-schools athletics team in the first term of matric in 2006, and began training with Johan Fourie’s group, and at the end of that year I decided to focus on running. That led to me doing my first road races, including a few half marathons, and I found that I was quite competitive amongst the juniors.”

After school she studied for a BA Sports Science degree at Stellenbosch University, and was then offered a position in the Sports Department at Bridgehouse Primary School in nearby Franschhoek. “I have three roles at the school. I do sport admin, I teach PE, ball skills and gymnastics, and I coach in the afternoons. I’m currently busy with my teaching diploma through UNISA, and also did a post-grad diploma in marketing, which I hope to use in the future.”

Meanwhile, her running was also going through a transition. At first, Danette had focussed on the road, but in October last year she finished third in the two-day Berg and Beach Challenge in Hermanus, then won a trail run in Knysna in January and did well in the Old Mutual Two Oceans Trail Run just after that. Then came four wins out of four and the series title in the Spur Cape Summer Trail Series, and she also won the New Balance Trail Run at the XTERRA in Grabouw. “I thought trail would improve my road running by making me stronger thanks to the climbing, plus I was looking for something different, but I not only found that I really enjoyed the trail running, but I was also successful, which was very motivating. As a result, I started to focus on trail, and even began dreaming of the SA team for the World Champs.”

NATIONAL CHAMP

Danette had heard that a series of races would count towards qualification for the national team, as well as the actual SA Champs race at the Outeniqua Traverse, so she decided to enter the Jonkershoek Mountain Challenge in Stellenbosch. However, the severely cold weather took its toll and she could only finish second, which made her think her chance of selection was gone. “I was told that the route at Outeniqua would not suit me, as it is a very technical course, but I thought I would give it a try anyway, just to see how I compared to the other top women. Then a week before the race I got a cold, which I couldn’t believe, because I hardly ever get sick!”

By race day she felt a bit better and decided to start and just see how she felt, and found herself in the lead for the first six kilometres. However, she was still feeling a bit weak and thus drinking a lot of water, and was passed by Leilani Scheffer. She retook the lead at 10km and opened a two-minute lead, but at 20km she ran out of water. “It was actually quite scary, because I began to feel dizzy and felt I might fall off the mountain. Luckily I got some water from one of the men, and four kilometres later I filled my water bladder at the last water table. But then the race really became very technical, and I was drinking a lot again, and would you believe it, I ran out of water again! The whole time I thought Leilani was chasing me, but I didn’t know she had already dropped out somewhere around 18 due to an injury, so I kept pushing. I have never felt so physically challenged, but with 5km to go I reached a stream, could get a solid drink and then pushed for home.”

NASTY EXPERIENCE

The fact that Danette is still running is testament to her character. In 2009, she was doing a 16km training run with two clubmates on the ‘Bergpad’ trail above Stellenbosch, when she got separated from her training partners. “I was the slowest of the three at the time and they pulled about 100m in front of me as we went through a twisting section of the trail. I came around a corner and suddenly there was a man in the middle of the road with a knife. It happened so quickly – he grabbed me by my hair and dragged me into the bushes, then threw me to the ground.”

“I screamed, so he stepped on my face, but I kept screaming and he tried to put his hand over my mouth, but one of his fingers slipped into my mouth and I bit as hard as I could. He pulled his hand away suddenly and one of my teeth was pulled out, and then suddenly he ran away. I still don’t know what made him run, but I stood up and ran back up the trail to a nearby house, where I asked for help. The people phoned my parents and cleaned me up.”

Apart from a few scratches and the tooth, she was relatively unharmed, but the mental scars remained for some time. “At first I could only run on the track at Coetzenberg. Then a few weeks later I managed to run around my block, but as soon as I saw another person I would turn around and go the other way. My father actually followed me in the car for a few months, but gradually I began to regain my confidence, and I decided that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my outlook on life, or stop me running. Now I am just more careful and avoid overgrown areas or roads where I can’t see ahead.”

TOP RUNNERS

Danette was recently signed up to the Contego Trail Running Team, and she trains with Jacques Janse van Rensburg’s group in Stellenbosch, which includes Landie and Christiaan Greyling, Michael Bailey, Kane Reilley and Chantal Nienaber, who have all represented SA in Trail World Champs. “I really wanted to be part of this group and was incredibly nervous for my first session, knowing who I was training with, but they are all so motivating, because I can see how hard they work. Jacques also makes training fun and interesting, so a lot of my success is thanks to him.”

Naturally, Danette says she would love to turn professional as a runner – what she describes as the ultimate dream – but is not yet at that level. “It’s all still new and sudden for me, and you can’t plan too far ahead, because your body must adapt to the running. I would love to do trail running overseas and compete at a high level, but I think I must give myself time to reach all my goals here first, and if the opportunity then comes to race overseas, and see the world, that would be terrific.”

SA’s two-time Olympic triathlete Kate Roberts is off to the Commonwealth Games this month with the hope of capturing a medal, having finally recovered from a lingering foot injury. Looking further ahead, she also sees herself reinvesting her know-how into the sport when she eventually decides to retire. 

After 15 years of participation in triathlon, Kate has raced all over the globe and her career CV is quite something to shout about: She holds seven ITU African Championship wins, several national triathlon and aquathlon titles as well as Energade series wins, has won several titles in France and Italy, and proudly wore the green and gold at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics. Another highlight was finishing 2010 ranked seventh in the world, with her fourth-place finish at that year’s ITU Triathlon World Champs in Hamburg playing a leading role in her breaking into the global top 10.

Kate’s vast experience is sure to be a huge benefit to Team SA at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and she is happy to share her competitive wisdom. “This year at the Games, I’m one of the experienced ones alongside Richard Murray and Gillian Sanders. I’m used to that village environment of the Games, so I’m giving advice to the younger guys, telling them things I did right and wrong.”

These Games come at a time when Kate is re-evaluating her participation in the pro set-up, and so, because Glasgow’s ‘Friendly Games’ might be her international swansong, she’s treating it with a little more sentimentality. “I want to embrace that enjoyment factor… but this SA team also has a good chance at a medal, especially with Richard in the mix in the individual race, so we’re really excited. In the team race, I’m starting, so it’s crucial for me to set the team up well, then Henri Schoeman is second, and he can definitely make up time. Gillian will be a strong third leg, and obviously Richard is strong to bring us home.”

The Team’s Teacher

Kate has been involved in triathlon since 2000 and believes it was a natural fit for her. “Sport was natural growing up with the likes of athletes LJ Van Zyl and Johan Cronje back in Bloemfontein. I started running and swimming at school and then triathlon became a part of my life,” says Kate, who juggled races and training while studying a B.Com in Human Resource Management at the University of the Free State. Having completed her studies in 2005, she turned pro, later basing herself out of Australia for a number of years.

Now back in SA, Kate was sidelined by a foot injury for the last few months, but she approached the recovery process conservatively so she could be in shape for the Games. With morning and afternoon sessions at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria with coach Lindsay Parry, she has learnt to listen to her body and has a lot more freedom when she feels there is a specific session she should work on. “There is room to adjust, and before competitions, we learn to limit distractions and manage recovery.”

Giving Back

With the Games her foremost priority right now, Kate is also planning to give back to the sport when she decides to hang up the goggles, helmet and running shoes. “Depending on my future results, I may stay in the sport longer – I’m still in for the 5150 events and competing for fun, but it’s exciting to get that social and work balance I’ve never had. More importantly, though, right now there is no series in SA, and it’s difficult because tri is still a self-funding sport. I want to work with corporates to harness the tri potential in SA, and I want to help and plan these programmes. It’s moulded me for the rest of my life, so I want to give back – and we should be able to take a talented squad to every Games.”