Category: Features

There’s an old saying that when the going gets tough,
the tough get going. In fact, they even wrote a song about it. And when it
comes to running up mountains, that saying really hits home, because mountain
trails have a way of finding a runner’s weakness and mercilessly beating the
runner up with it. Unless you’re Andre Calitz, that is. Then you just get
stronger and faster as the trail gets steeper and tougher – which is why he has
been setting course records left, right and centre in some of the country’s
toughest trail races in the last 12 months.

Also known as AJ or the ‘Ginger Ninja’ in trail
running circles, the 29-year-old won the 60km Three Peaks Challenge, taking
16 minutes off the previous record, and the Muizenberg Trail in another course
record time. He then blitzed course records on both days of the two-day
Grootvadersbosch Trail Run, and became the first runner to ascend Table
Mountain’s Platteklip Gorge 11 times between sunrise and sunset in the K-Way
Platteklip Charity Challenge. And most recently, he became the first runner to
break seven hours for the 80km Hi-Tec Peninsula Ultra Fun Run, or Puffer, from Cape Point to the
V&A Waterfront, despite terrible weather conditions that saw only the top
three runners go over the top of Table Mountain before all other runners were
re-routed along the contour path to bypass the foul weather. And also despite
the fact that Andre didn’t really know the best route to take…

TOUGHER THAN PUFFER

“As a Puffer novice, I
didn’t know the route well, so I had to stick with the front runners. The
course is unmarked and there are numerous technical sections and short cuts and
specific checkpoints that I didn’t have a clue about,” says Andre. “Luckily Nic
De Beer and Will Robinson are both former winners and have a wealth of
experience between them.” Still, Andre broke clear at Constantia Nek, 60km into
the race, backing himself on the climb to Maclear’s Beacon, the highest point
on Table Mountain. “I was feeling really strong, so decided to make it count on
the climbs, which are my strong point. The weather was having a proper go at us
with heavy downpours and freezing wind! It was also very slippery, with low
visibility, which made things difficult.”

By the time Andre had
descended Platteklip Gorge and reached the lower cable station, his lead had
grown to more than 20 minutes, but he actually picked up the pace still further.
“I had no idea what my lead was, and I thought at any moment Will or Nic would
show up. I got lost again coming down Signal Hill, but I bushwhacked a path
down through stinging nettles, mud, grass and rocks, and by then I knew I had
the race in the bag.” Andre stopped the clock on 6:59:36. Ironically, he
thought the record was about 6:46, and didn’t realise that he was on course to
break it – he just liked the idea of going sub-seven hours! “Winning the Puffer was a great highlight. Other trail runs don’t have as much hype
as Puffer, which is known as the hard man’s race. It has a bit of reverence
around it, which made the victory all the sweeter.”

ENDURANCE JUNKIE

Andre hails from Stellenbosch, where he studied B.Com
Law after school and went on to complete his LLM Masters. After doing his
articles, he joined the Hereford Group, a Cape Town-based firm of financial
advisers and asset managers, where he is currently the in-house attorney. He is
married to Paulette and they live in Melkosstrand with their brown Labrador
Monty, who is Andre’s regular training partner. “Monty is an absolute animal in
training! I’ve taken him over Table Mountain and for three to four-hour runs,
done intervals, everything, and he just laps it up.”

Andre has been running since the age of eight, and in
high school he added cycling and then triathlon to his repertoire, going on to
win multiple junior titles at the All Africa Triathlon Champs, SA Duathlon
Champs, SA Triathlon Champs and SA Cycling Champs. “I was big and strong for my
age, plus the training environment in Stellenbosch, where I was surrounded by
pro triathletes, runners and cyclists, meant I was always going to turn in to a
bit of an ox! I used my strength to my advantage, pulling away on climbs or
staying with the seniors in the elite bunch and pulling clear of the other
juniors. But I’m a big guy and will never be able to run as fast as the top
triathletes in sprint and Olympic distance events, whereas I have the strength you
need for the long endurance events.”

And so, after completing his studies, Andre ran the
Two Oceans and Comrades ultras, winning silver medals in both, and finished the
Ironman. Then, in October last year, he says he got lucky in getting a late
entry to his first trail race, the 50km Hout Bay Triple Trouble, and now trail
running is his sole focus. “I have found that you can do trail running and still
have a normal life. I would love to do Comrades and Ironman again in a few
years’ time, but then I want to do them professionally and give them a good
walloping. I think I’m still a bit young, because you’re at your peak for races
like that at 35. Right now I do better in tougher, slower races, which is
probably why I have done better in mountain races. You need a different mindset
for trail running. I know guys who can run a 2:15 marathon on the road, but
after 21 kays of the Otter Trail they’re lying under a bush, while other guys
who can’t even break three hours for a marathon can just pound out the kays on
trail.”

NEXT ON THE AGENDA

Looking ahead, Andre says he would like to take on
more ultra trail races, like the Addo, Augrabies and Kalahari races in SA and
the Leadville 100 miler in the USA. In October he will also race the Otter
Trail Marathon, and he has a few ideas for new trail challenges, like ascending
the highest mountain in each province in the shortest time. He is also
exploring the option of turning professional next year. “My work hours are
currently flexible, but that’s still not enough to train fulltime. Don’t be
fooled by flexibility – it normally just means more work in less time.”

“Everything in life is about return on investment –
what you put in is what you get out. If you put time and effort into your
marriage, you will have a happy wife and happy life. Same with training and
racing: If you work hard, you will be rewarded. But that said, time on the trail
is never wasted – some days are hard, but it’s always great to be out in
nature, having a great time. It’s spiritual for me. I love to run up Table
Mountain and enjoy the quiet – show me anywhere these days that is really
quiet! That’s why it’s the mountain trails for me.”

It’s perhaps hard to believe now, but not so very long
ago, 25-year-old US-based SA 110-metre hurdler Lehann Fourie was seriously
thinking about retiring from athletics and returning to South Africa to start a
career in business. He felt he had worked so hard for so long to find success
in the high hurdles, getting to the IAAF World Champs in 2009 and 2011 as well
as the World Indoor Champs earlier in 2012, but kept picking up niggly injuries
every time he got into good shape, so he decided the 2012 Olympics would be his
last big meet before he hung up his spikes. Then he picked up a serious injury
in mid-season and saw his chances of going to London slipping away, but just in
time he got back into action and was unexpectedly included in Team SA. And boy
did he grab the opportunity! Next thing he knew, he was finishing seventh in
the Olympic final – and all thoughts of retirement were long forgotten!

“I had a great indoors season earlier in the year and
got to World Indoor Champs 60m hurdles final, then I ran 13.31 in Florida for
my first qualifier – we had to equal or better 13.52, so I was in great shape,”
says Lehann. “I came home for the SA Champs and won in a high 13.5, so didn’t
qualify yet, but then I pulled a hip flexor in training. The doctor said rest
10 days, so I gave it 14, but I still hurt it again. I was out for eight weeks
after that and knew time was running out to qualify, so with just three weeks
left, I went to the Netherlands, got patched up by a physio and desperately
tried to qualify.”

“I had lost my base fitness, but there was no time
left to practice… I just started racing, three times per week in small meets
across Europe. I started with a 13.7, then a 13.5, and won the African Champs
in Benin in 13.60, but couldn’t hit that A standard, because I didn’t have any
rhythm. Then somehow ASA convinced SASCOC to include me in the Olympic team. I
was really surprised to be selected, and thankful, because I know some other
very deserving athletes weren’t given the same opportunity. Some people said it
was unfair for me to be selected, that I didn’t deserve it, and that started
affecting me, so I disconnected from Facebook and the media.”

MAN ON A MISSION

Lehann went to London with a point to prove, and says
he initially just wanted to run sub-13.52 and prove that he could do it. It
really didn’t help his confidence when he fell ill a week before his first
heat, and he was still on antibiotics when he ran, but says that was perhaps a
blessing in disguise, as he was forced to rest and probably went into that
first race much more rested than he would have been. He duly clocked 13.49 to
qualify for the semi-final round. “I went into the semi more confident and ran 13.28,
a new personal best and just 0.02 outside the SA record, and made it to the
final round! At the time I thought that’s the fastest I will ever run, but
after watching the race, I realised I had hit three hurdles, which slowed me
down, so I know I can go faster.”

In the final, bad luck struck again as Lehann tangled
arms with the British hurdler in the next lane, causing him to lose rhythm and
hit one of the early hurdles really hard. “I tried to get my rhythm back, but
it’s hard enough to make it back in a normal race, let alone an Olympic final! Still,
I never even expected to make the final, so I was very happy with seventh.
Before the final I stood there on the track and realised I was one of just
eight guys in contention for a medal – but it would be so much better to stand
on the podium, and getting so close has inspired me to work harder for 2016.”

STATESIDE SPRINTER

Lehann started running the high hurdles at 16, but
says he didn’t really enjoy the event until he was 18, because other sprinters
were initially faster. “I was fairly tall and thus did better as the hurdles
got higher.” He won the SA School Champs title and bronze at the Africa Junior
Champs in 2005, and the following year went to study at the University of
Potchefstroom, in order to train with then-SA Champ Shawn Bownes. He was
spotted by a talent scout from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at the SA
Champs and offered a scholarship, which he took up in 2007, doing a double
major in international business and management, on top of his training.

“It was really cold in Nebraska, and I found the first
year very frustrating, because it was tough being away from home and didn’t
feel like I was getting results, despite the hard work in training, but I stuck
it out and it got better. I liked the university, and the athletic programme
was really good. We had guys to help us with everything – we even had guy to
set out hurdles for us in training, whereas in SA we always had to do it
ourselves. It was good to get out of SA and get some world experience, and
while it doesn’t suit everybody, I highly recommend SA athletes go if they get
the chance,” says Lehann, who moved to North Carolina and a new coach in 2011
once he had finished his studies.

ALL FIRED UP AGAIN

Lehann came back to Pretoria for a week’s holiday
straight after the Games, before returning to Europe to participate in three
Diamond League meetings. Prior to his injury he had received several invites to
top meets, including some of the Diamond League meetings in the Far East, but was
forced to withdraw. Now, thanks to his Olympic performance, he says his agent
is once again receiving invites for him from top meets. He says he is also
getting fan mail and other requests he never received before. “I’m still in awe
of what has happened to me. I’m receiving messages saying I am an inspiration, and
being asked to go speak at schools, so yes, I think this will change my life a
bit, but it won’t change me. I’m really blessed by what has happened the last
few weeks.”

However, he is thinking of coming home from the US
now. “I really miss SA and can’t see myself staying in the US for another four
years. I miss my family and friends, and I want to settle down and get married
here eventually. There are also a lot more business opportunities for me here,
where I can start small and get experience while still focussing on athletics,
because I won’t be able to work full-time with daily training and travelling to
meets.”

With that
said, Lehann says he is really looking forward to the next few years. “Shawn Bownes
broke the SA record when he was 30 years old, and the high hurdles is a really
technical event that takes years to get right and for your body to develop to
its full potential. At the next Olympics I will be 29 and I think I will be in
even better shape then. I’m no longer feeling pressure, like I need to prove
myself, because London really gave me new belief in myself. I told myself
before the semi-final that I had 13 seconds to change my life and I literally ran
as if it was my last race. I was shocked to make the final, but I felt maybe I
can be one of the best in the world. Now I want to go out there and do that.”

Here’s to our Heroes

The South African
Track and Field team may only have brought home one medal from the 2012 London
Olympics, Caster Semenya’s silver in the women’s 800m, which is on par with the
single silver won by Khotso Mokoena in Beijing 2008 (and South Africa’s only
medal of those Games!), but we had a number of athletes that made the finals of
their events, which bodes well for the future of the sport and gives us great
hope for upcoming World Champs and Olympics!

Caster Semenya

Silver in the women’s
800m

Sunette Viljoen

4^th in the
women’s javelin

Anaso Jobodwana

8^th in the
men’s 200m

Khotso Mokoena

8^th in the
men’s long jump

Willem Coertzen

9^th in the
men’s decathlon

And a special mention
for Oscar ‘Bladerunner’ Pistorius, who
became the first Paralympian to compete in the Summer Olympics, not only making
it through his first round heat to run in the semi-final of the men’s 400m, but
then also joined Willie De Beer, Shaun De Jager and LJ Du Plessis (Following the withdrawal due to injury of Ofenste Mogowane) in the 4x400m team in
the final, where they finished 9^th in a season best time.

It all began when Ingrid Ross drove to the Sports
Science Institute in Newlands, Cape
Town, looking for help with a niggly injury. “I was
recently 40 and needed a podiatrist, so I drove across town from Blaauwberg,
where I reside with my husband, toddler, dog and business as a swim instructor,
to seek out sound medical advice, for whatever the ailment.” (It turned out to
be ill-fitting running shoes.)

“So there I was at the lift, glum and bored with life,
staring at myself in the reflection of a man’s sweaty bicep and holding myself
up with the last drop of caffeine from that morning’s overdose, when an
advertisement caught my eye: Tri-Fit Entry Level Triathlon – Ladies only! Eight
weeks to your first triathlon. I can totally do this, I thought. In fact, a
little escape from my current reality was just what I had been looking for. One
new pair of running shoes later and I was signed up and ready to go.”

In pursuit of her new goal, Ingrid found herself doing
three training sessions per week at the institute and another three sessions in
her own time, with one rest day a week, which she lovingly describes as a virtual
oasis of horizontal bliss. “My toddler turned two and hurtled through the
house in search of me. My husband, now a tri-fit widower, started e-mailing me as I rushed from
one training session to another, leaving dinner instructions pinned
strategically to the fridge with feeble little hearts and fibbing IOU’s.” But
her build-up to that first tri was going smoothly.

A SLIGHT HITCH

“I would love to say, ‘Long story short, I finished seventh
out of 500 entrants, lost 12 kilograms, I’ve left my job as a swimming
instructor, and you’ll see me on the cover of next month’s FHM!’ Sadly, I fell ill
the week before the triathlon and was unable to compete, but I can honestly say
I
would have managed the swim without being taken by a giant alligator preying on
flailing legs and aquatic fatigue, I would have easily completed the cycle
without permanent damage to my pom-pom, and I would have breezed the final run,
because I had been well trained. My journey of change,
however, was none of the above.”

Ingrid says it came to her quietly, over a couple of
the training sessions. “I realised that I wasn’t nearly as swimming fit as I
fancied myself to be, the mountain bike ascends in Tokai
Forest left me eating dusty humble pie,
and the hill running in Newlands
Forest left me clutching my
last drops of sweaty sanity as they slid down my back. But then it happened. I
stopped drowning. I embraced the dark waters of Silvermine Dam and shivered
with glee as the cool air kissed my strengthening body. I sped up on the
downhills and laughed aloud at the mountains around me. I broke past the 10km
mark in running and sprinted on to an imaginary finish line of emotional
freedom that far exceeded the physical boundaries I had pushed.”

SEEING THINGS CLEARLY

As Ingrid puts it, her life-lesson did not come in the
form of a medal or a size 6 waist, it came in the realisation that it’s okay to
ignore a few e-mails and call in the babysitter in order to go for a run or
squeeze in a long swim at the gym. “My business steamed on in the background. My
husband managed to buy milk. My child’s first long sentence became, “Mommy
running with mommy friends”. And of course the dog, he’s still with us – alive
and well.”

“Sometimes you will be Supermom and sometimes you will
not. That’s okay. And I’m better at being okay because of it. I did not summit
mountains, I didn’t cycle the Tour de France, and I certainly did not swim icy
oceans, but I did get off my hamster wheel. And that was my real goal in all of
this.”

When you exercise, you produce heat, which your body
controls through sweating, thus cooling the body, but you are then at risk of
becoming dehydrated. Athletes can lose anything from 400ml to two litres of
sweat in just one hour, especially if running intensely, or running in high
heat or humidity. As little as 2% dehydration can hurt your athletic
performance, so athletes are told to drink regularly and top up on fluids.

Now if you are running for less than 60 minutes, water
will be enough to stay hydrated and save kilojoules, and sports drinks are not
needed, because research shows they only offer benefits to people exercising
for longer than one hour. Therefore, sports drinks are recommended for
endurance athletes trying to reach peak performance, especially if training
hard, sweating a lot, and wearing protective equipment and clothing, because
they provide

?        
Fluids to cool down
your body and replace what you lost.

?        
Carbohydrates for
quick energy.

?        
Sodium and potassium,
the chief minerals lost in sweat.

Fluid needs vary from person to person, and according
to the type of activity and the length of time that you are active, but as a
general rule of thumb, runners should:

?        
Drink one to one to
two cups of sport drink four hours or less before exercise.

?        
Keep fluids with you
when you run and sip regularly to replace water lost through sweat, but let
your thirst guide you.

?        
Post-run, eat your
meals and snacks and drink as you feel you need to, but especially drink up to 1.5
cup (375 ml) of fluid if you have not produced any urine, or only a small
amount of bright yellow urine.

?        
Water is always a
good option post-run, but you can also drink milk or chocolate milk, 100% fruit
juice or another sports drink.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

1. Water: Make sure your sports drink is
not carbonated, so it is easy to drink and doesn’t make you feel full.

2. Sodium: The white powder on
your clothes or skin is the salt you lose in sweat, and this loss can lead to
muscle cramps, so sports drinks should contain at least 300 to 700mg of sodium
per litre. Ultra-endurance athletes prone to cramping may require more.

3. Carbohydrate (sugar): Sugar keeps
blood glucose from dropping and helps fuel active muscles and the brain, so 30
to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour of activity can improve endurance, power
output and delay fatigue. To prevent stomach problems, make sure your drink has
no more than 80 grams of carbohydrate per litre, as that is generally the limit
of what your body can easily absorb.

4. Flavour: Drinks with flavour
are easier to swallow, especially when you’re tired.

SPORT DRINKS VS ENERGY DRINKS

The typical energy drink contains more carbohydrate
than the typical sports drink and gets most carbs from one or two sugars, such
as high fructose corn syrup. Because of this, energy drinks are more likely
than sports drinks to cause a stomach upset during exercise. Many energy drinks
are also carbonated, further increasing the risk of GI distress. Furthermore, energy
drinks usually contain caffeine, which can boost athletic performance, but most
sports drinks do not contain it because your body becomes used to it with
regular use and it loses its boosting effect.

Most importantly, it is important to try a sports
drink in training first before using it in competition, as you don’t want to
find out mid-race that something doesn’t work for you, or disagrees with your
stomach!

I was at a mate’s braai
when I found a scale in the bathroom, took a deep breath, and stepped on with
eyes closed. I waited a few seconds, then opened one eye to peek at the
numbers: 107kg. I had put on exactly 22kg in the 10 years since leaving school!
So I poured the remainder of my beer down the drain and left, feeling very
sorry for myself (and ashamed). Sunday morning, I was at the shops and standing
in front of the shoes, where I decided not to buy an expensive pair, as I
doubted how long this exercise escapade would last… But nonetheless, I had
taken the first step. So, leaving the shops with a pair of shoes, XL shorts and
an XL vest, I was ready to hit the tar.

Monday, 11 January, the alarm
went off at 5:30am. After snoozing for a while, I remembered those evil numbers
on the scale and pulled my lazy butt out of bed. After 15 minutes of stretching,
I set out on a run. I felt like an abandoned car starting up for the first time
and coughed and spluttered down the road. With palpitations starting, lungs burning,
face all red, I had to stop and lie on the pavement. So I did the walk of shame
back home. All 300m I had managed to run. Total time on the road: Seven
minutes. I was shattered and disheartened. But the next day I tried again, and
the day after that, and the week following, until my buddy Kyle and I went for
a 4km run. He ran most of the way with his hand on my back, pushing me, for 47 minutes.

READY TO RACE

My first race was the Om
Die Dam 10km and I set myself a target of one hour. I arrived at the line in
basketball shorts and golf shirt, which provided had my mates chuckling the
whole day, but I finished in 58 minutes and got my first medal – what an awesome
feeling! So I decided to really give this running game a go and a group of
mates and I started a small running club in the Greenstone area, meeting up on
Wednesday and Friday mornings for runs. Slowly the mileage built up and I soon
found myself entering 21km races.

I did marathons (PB 3:52) and
ultra-marathons, as well as the Ironman 70.3 in January 2012. Then I set my
sights on Comrades 2012. Standing on the start line, I had a feeling of “I’ve
made it this far, 89km until everything I have worked so hard for pays off.” I
had my family strategically placed on the route and it was amazing to see them,
stop and refuel, then be off again, each time saying, “See you in Durban.” Ten
hours and 42 minutes later, I accomplished my dream, I had run the Comrades
Marathon, the most awesome accomplishment of my life. I felt like a hero!

My whole lifestyle has changed
for the better, and it’s all because of running. I have now lost 27kg, and it
wouldn’t have been possible without my family and friends. Our little
Greenstone Hooligans running club got me up on those cold mornings and the guys
trained with me to get me through it all. You guys are awesome!

It all started when Monica saw that Argus cyclists were
not getting anything besides their race number when registering for the event,
and she thought it would be a novel concept to give them a goodie bag filled
with product samples. “It took me a year to get my ducks in a row, and once I got
the go ahead, it was a fairly hard sell at first, because my clients had to
give me product and still pay to go into the bag, but the aim was to place their
samples directly in the hands of a targeted consumer, because we guaranteed a 100%
certainty that each bag would go to a cyclist.”

Those first 25 000 goodie bag were packed at Monica’s
home in Constantia, Cape Town, and she says it was a much bigger undertaking than
she had anticipated. “I learnt a lot about logistics, spacing and timelines the
hard way, but it was also a great success, because everybody loves a goodie
bag, no doubt about that!” And that first bag soon led to more, with Monica
asked to supply goodie bags for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, Discovery
Cape Times Big Walk, Momentum 94.7 Cycle Tour and a number of other premier
cycling, running and walking events.

In recent years Monica has been joined in the business
by her daughter, Kendall, who studied for a BA Business Admin degree
specialising in marketing, and each year the two source products for 365 000
bags across 18 premier sporting events, the biggest being the Discovery 702
Walk the Talk in Johannesburg with 55 000 bags, as well as a few corporate
events, including the prestigious Loerie Awards for the advertising industry. “To
date we have sampled over R700 million of products over 18 years!” says Monica
proudly.

MARKETING OPPORTUNITY

Goodie bags are not always properly understood by
athletes and organisers alike. “A goodie bag is a marketing exercise to attract
new consumers, and for that reason, some people prefer to call it a sample bag,”
explains Monica. “We guarantee our clients exclusivity, with just one product
per category in a bag, such as only one deodorant or shampoo, or one chocolate,
and we can advise them where to send their products, based on the demographics
of the specific events. The bag is therefore not part of the entry fee of an
event, and is not a gift to the athletes. But that said, it is a known fact an
event is often judged on its goodie bag.”

After 18 years of sampling, Monica says she has worked
out what athletes look for in a goodie bag. “They love eating something,
especially chocolates or sweets. I call it the ‘Bar One Dive’ when they go
looking for something to eat in their bags. Sachets of Vaseline, Arnica or
sunscreen that they can carry in a pocket during the event are also popular,
and they love post-event pampering products like bubble bath. People also love
quick breakfast samples that they quickly grab the morning of the event.”

Post-event, Monica asks athletes to rate the goodie
bag content through quick online surveys, with great incentive prizes to do so,
which then gives her clients valuable feedback on their products. “We ask the
athletes to tick what they liked or used from the bag, and we get on average a
12.5% response, which is much bigger than most sampling surveys ever get. Athletes
often want to give feedback on bags.”

GIVING BACK

Monica says that it is very important to her that her
business also gives back, and so she contracts in disability workshops to pack
the bags, using Services for the Blind in Johannesburg, the Alta Du Toit
Aftercare Institution for mentally challenged adults in Cape Town, and the
Durban Coastal Mental Health Challenge Workshop in KZN. “Not only do the
packers get paid for their work, but they benefit from the motor co-ordination
skills work,” says Monica, adding that she also give an event’s official
charity free inclusion in the bag.

“It then takes many truckloads to get the bags from
the packing houses to the expo or registration point, and in Johannesburg we
have Pickfords providing free transport as its contribution to the blind, which
in turn allows me to keep the price for sampling down, so that I can give my
clients great value for money, and the athletes a great goodie bag.”

For more info, go to www.goodiebag.co.za

At the recent Olympic Games in London, former South
African 110-metre hurdles champion and record-holder Wessel Bosman (54) did a
presentation to the IOC about winter sport in southern Africa and then found
himself talking to people like London head organiser Seb Coe, and Prince Albert
and Charlene Wittstock of Monaco, about his vision for a sports university in
the middle of Lesotho. “I went as a guest of the Lesotho Olympic Committee and
had a VIP pass to get into all the events, and I met so many
people that see the value of high altitude training in Lesotho, especially
given that it is in the same time zone as Europe.”

DISCOVERING SNOW

It all started in 1998 when Wessel went to the Winter
Olympics in Nagano, Japan. He’d never seen snow before, let alone skied, but he
took the ski lift to the top of the mountain, and then proceeded to take five
hours to come back down again! “I met a Japanese skier and told him I had never
skied before, so he told me to rather use the service road that circled the
mountain to get down again. When I asked him what to do if I wanted to slow
down, he just said ‘snow plough!’”

When
he got back from Japan, Wessel came up with the idea to start a ski resort in
Lesotho, having found out that a number of South Africans regularly went there
to ski, so he negotiated a land lease with the Lesotho government to establish
Afri Ski. “What I didn’t realise at first was that that building a lift isn’t
enough – you also need a restaurant, toilets, equipment, etc. Luckily I was
joined by passionate people and it all worked out. I believe it was just meant
to be – I started with R5000 and an idea, and today it is worth hundreds of
millions, but these days I’m just the guy that cleans the snow, because I sold my
shares and let the business people take it further.”

“I
also realised that high altitude training was possible there at 3200 metres
above sea level, so right from the beginning I said it had to be a full-year venue,
to include running, cycling, etc. See, I was not just a crazy guy starting a
ski resort in Africa!” Nowadays some of Lesotho’s top runners base themselves at
Afri Ski, including Mamorallo Tjoka and Tsepo Ramonene, who represented Lesotho
in the London Olympic Marathon. Wessel sponsored them and accompanied the
Lesotho team to the Games as a guest of the Lesotho Olympic Committee, which
gave him the opportunity to share his ideas with some of the most influential
people in world sport.

LEAPING HURDLES

Wessel grew up on the family farm near Vivo in the Far
North, then joined the Police Force in Pretoria, where he established himself
as an athlete. Between 1979 and 1989 he won the SA 110-metre hurdles title
three times as well as the 100m dash title once, helped set two 4x100m relay SA
records, and he held the SA record for the 110m hurdles for nearly 17 straight
years – except for one week in 1988. After hanging up his spikes for good,
Wessel dabbled in building wooden houses before heading off to Mozambique for
three years to trade in prawns. Next he imported cars to Swaziland and Lesotho,
and then found himself starting a ski resort.

In 2005, with just one week’s planning, Wessel and
his late son Johan hopped on their motorcycles to ride the ‘Cairo to Cape Town
Winter Olympic Drive,’ and they proceeded to do the trip in 19 days and break
the trans-continental record by one day. Next he decided to ride solo through
West Africa, but fell and broke his leg and shoulder in Angola. “When they took
my boot off, my lower leg was just flapping around, so they splinted it with
pieces of wood and loaded me on a bakkie and took me to the nearest clinic,
50km away.” He was airlifted out by an Angolan army helicopter and returned to
SA, where he underwent various operations. “I was desperate not to lose my leg,
so when I heard about a friend who had almost lost his leg but had a miraculous
recovery after sessions in a hyperbaric chamber, I immediately went for it as
well. Without that I would be in a wheelchair today.”

Despite
his leg still giving him pain, Wessel has not slowed done one bit, and is still
brimming with energy and campaigning for true winter sports to be established
in southern Africa. So who knows, maybe some day soon we
will have a South African bobsledding team…

At
the end of 2008, Caroline Wostman set herself this New Year’s Resolution: Run
the Comrades Marathon. “I was always active, but never took it seriously. After
my first child, though, I put on some weight, and after she turned a year old,
I decided to start running. Now I’m addicted!” says the Senior Lecturer in
Auditing at Wits.

After
competing in a few 5km runs, Caroline joined Breakthru Midrand Striders and was
all set for their 21km club run. “They were all so supportive, even though I
was overly optimistic!” Caroline then entered her first official half marathon
event at the Dis-Chem 21, but she missed the start. “I was such a rookie so I
started right at the back with some walkers. I had no idea that you had to be
at the start well before the time. I didn’t consider things like parking!”

STEPPING IT UP

Shortly
after her Dis-Chem finish, Caroline tackled the Pick n Pay Marathon and was
taken aback with the demanding distance. “At 35km, I hit the wall. At that
point, I doubted whether I’d ever do Comrades. I was completely exhausted at
42km.” Next up was the Deloitte Marathon, where she had to bail, but she bounced
back with a comfortable finish at the Akasia Marathon, followed by the 50km Om-Die-Dam,
where she could feel that she was ready to take Comrades on.

“At
the club, I’m fortunate enough to get advice from everyone. Comrades experts
were willing to share their knowledge and I knew I’d be okay,” says Caroline.
“Still, my first Comrades I was nervous. The first 30km, I was stressing about
finishing. The next 30km, I enjoyed my run. The last 30km, I was thinking ‘Am I
stupid to have taken this on?’” She finished in a time of 9:17:39, exhausted
and relieved. “I took no gels or energy drinks and I didn’t enjoy it like I
should have,” she says, “but I knew I’d be back! On the highway back home, I
was shattered, but already thinking about next time.”

MEDAL-CHASE

Having
earned a bronze medal in 2009, Caroline set her sights on a Bill Rowan in her
next run, but then in 2010 she and husband Haiko were planning their second
child, so she had to watch the race on TV. “I was at home watching the runners come
into the finish, wishing I was there. Comrades is such a special event – it unites
a country and everyone has respect for the race.”

And
so she was back for 2011’s Up Run. “I started slow, ran very conservatively. At
Camperdown I saw my husband and kids and they told me about a club mate who
wasn’t too far ahead, so I wanted to catch him.” Caroline caught up with her
club mate and went on to a 8:33:29 finish and a comfortable Bill Rowan – which
got her thinking about her next goal for 2012: A silver medal. “I knew a lot of
guys at the club who had tried to get a silver, but never made it, so I knew I
had to pick up my training to get there.”

To
achieve this, Caroline asked Midrand Striders Club Captain Leon Baker to coach
her. “We did a lot of hill-training and speedwork, and I tested my speed in the
Chamberlains 21km, getting in under 1:30 and finishing fifth. She also got advice
from Coach Norrie Williamson, who came to talk at the club before Comrades, and
with Leon,
she worked out a race plan of running 6km before walking for a breather, having
tested it at Om-Die-Dam.

TOP 20 SURPRISE

Caroline
received a Super-C seeding for Comrades and says she felt pressured by starting
right in the front, but stuck to her plan. “At five minutes a kay, every half
an hour I’d walk, and I met up with Leon at 30km in. We ran together up
until Cowies Hill before I felt good enough to go ahead and run my race.” That
saw her come home 15^th in the women’s field in a time of 7:16:48,
taking over two hours off her previous Down Run time, and she was elated to get
her silver.

“It
just all went well on the day. Now I want to keep on going and get another
silver!” says Caroline. No doubt there will be quite a few people watching her
progress keenly, because she seems destined for even greater things. Perhaps a top
10 finish and a gold medal? Watch this space.

“Never in a
million years did I imagine that I would become a professional sports person!”
says Chrissie, “I have taken a rather unique path to professional sport. I
didn’t grow up like many other triathletes watching Ironman on TV and wanting
to qualify for the World Championships in Hawaii.” In fact, Chrissie started the sport
in 2004 on a borrowed bike and wearing an old wetsuit that was too big for her,
but having just worked in Nepal
for 16 months, where she cycled to work every day and explored the countryside
on her bike, her fitness was already up there. “I didn’t do any structured
training – just grinding up and down the hills was enough to make me super
strong!”

ROOKIE PRO

In 2006,
Chrissie went back to the UK
and entered a few triathlons and amazed everyone, including herself, by winning
the Shropshire Olympic Triathlon and qualifying for the World Triathlon
Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. She quickly hired a
coach, trained solidly for 10 weeks and managed to win her first amateur title,
beating her nearest rival by four minutes in 2:17:32. “I seriously couldn’t
believe what I had achieved! Then I had to decide whether or not to take the
risk, give up my job and have a go at professional triathlon. I just knew I
never wanted to look back and think ‘what if’.”

So in 2007,
Chrissie gave it all up to become a pro triathlete, but was still only thinking
of doing the short-course Olympic distance. “I didn’t actually know anything
about Ironman, other than that I thought you had to be crazy to do it! But my
coach suggested that I do Ironman Korea
in 2007, and I won it in 9:54:37 and managed to qualify for the World Ironman Championships
six weeks later in Kona, Hawaii.” Much to her surprise, Chrissie
grabbed her first World Champ title in 9:08:45 – the only athlete, male or
female, to have done that in their first year turning pro. She then won the
next two years as well, to become only the third women to have achieved three
consecutive victories in Hawaii, the other two being Paula Newby-Fraser and
Natascha Badmann.

However, she
describes her fourth World Ironman Championship title in Kona last year as the
pick of the bunch. Despite starting the race with a torn pectoral muscle
resulting from a bike crash two weeks earlier, Chrissie was still determined to
prove herself. “I dug to the very depths of my soul and truly pushed beyond any
limit I thought existed,” she explains. “It was the hard-fought race I have
always dreamed of, and I feel that maybe at this race I proved to myself, and
others, that I really was truly worthy of being called a champion.”

EMBRACING SOUTH AFRICA

Chrissie
visited this country on two occasions before her 2011 Ironman SA win: In 1999,
as a student on an adventure trip passing through Cape Town, and in 2002 as a member of the UK
Government Delegation to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development. Having
developed a fondness for the place and its people, she says her Ironman win here
was even more meaningful.

“The
course, the crowds and the final finish chute at Ironman SA truly make it one
of the best in the world. I ran down the red carpet with a new World Ironman
Record of 8:33:56 on the clock, a rainbow of confetti raining down, and a
beaming smile on my face.” Chrissie not placed eighth overall and nearly 35
minutes ahead of women’s runner-up Rachel Joyce, but also set new female bike,
run and course records, and her marathon time of 2:52:54 was faster than all of
the men on the day!

A FULL-TIME JOB

For the
champ, triathlon is a lifestyle, and she devotes every minute to her game. “I
believe that triathlon is a 24/7 job. I devote my life to it. Exercise,
resting, sleeping and eating are all part of training. It’s not just about when
you are in the pool, on the bike or running – if you forget to focus on rest
and recovery then you will never fulfil your true potential,” she explains. She
adds that consistency is key: She doesn’t rev up her training hours or mileage just
before a race; she prefers to work consistently hard, only varying her programme
slightly if a big race is coming up. She might try and hit faster times for her
1km track run reps or alternately hit the same times, but with a reduced
recovery, just to test her sharpness.

Chrissie does
six running sessions a week, including a long run of around 32km (in around 2
hours 15) and two interval sessions (one with 800m to 1600m reps, at faster
than race pace, and the second on hills). She also does a brick (bike/run
session) with a three-hour bike straight into a hard 10km tempo run, and two
steady 45-50min run sessions, on top of dedicated bike and swim training
sessions, plus she also does three to four strength and conditioning sessions
of 45–60 minutes each. “But I don’t lift heavy weights, and training also
comprises recovery, nutrition, hydration, massage, physical therapy, and the
all-important hours of sleep!”

When it
comes to food, she says she doesn’t count calories, but still keeps her intake
to about 5 000 a day when in full training. “My diet comprises lots of
fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, couscous,
avocados, nuts and seeds. I also eat some type of meat once a day, with red
meat once a week. Biltong was also on the menu when I lived in Stellenbosch,
with a dollop of Mrs Balls on the side!” Come race day, Chrissie’s diet is also
strict: Cream of rice for breakfast and one gram of carbs per kilo of body
weight per hour on route. “Immediately after the race I crave chips, a kebab,
pizza or burgers, and tend to indulge in more than one!”

YES, S*IT HAPPENS!

While
Chrissie has enjoyed many momentous wins in her career, there have been races
and sessions she calls “total turds.” In 2006, racing the Redditch Super
Sprint, her borrowed wetsuit turned out to be too big and water flooded in. “I
couldn’t swim and had to be rescued by a kayaker. Game over!” Injury and
mishaps are all part of the game and she’s happy to have overcome instead of
giving up. “Successful athletes don’t always travel along a path paved with
roses. They overcome disappointment and self-doubt to win. One might say it is
precisely because they endure those turd-like troughs that they can rise to the
peaks of global greatness! A wise Buddha once said that ‘the arrow that hits the bull’s-eye is the result of 100 misses’.”

Chrissie has taken 2012 off from full training and racing. “I
believe that racing should never be the be-all and end-all of my life. I wanted
to inject some variety back into my life this year, some balance, and some
spontaneity.” Therefore, Chrissie is now spending more time with family and
friends, reading more widely, going to concerts, promoting her autobiography, A Life Without Limits, and also working
closely with the charities she supports.
“Sport has a tremendous power and can be a force for considerable change
through fundraising and awareness efforts,” she says.

When asked about her future, Chrissie is happy for it to
remain unknown and exciting. In her book, she writes, “…how can I speculate on
what the future holds, when the present is so astronomically removed from
whatever expectations I might have had in my youth? My only policy throughout
has been to keep an open mind and, whatever I may do, to give it my all. It
still takes my breath away to think where that simple outlook on life has taken
me. I never set out to be a world champion – not many ordinary girls from Norfolk do – but neither
have I ever wanted to be left wondering, ‘What if?’ “

Chrissie’s Best Motivational ADVICE

1.      
Have a clear, realistic goal: Write it down, then post it
somewhere visible. It’s also crucial to know why you want to achieve this. You
must be passionate, excited and energised about the goal.

2.      
Create a plan: To give direction and structure, and prevent procrastination, the plan
should be realistic and tailored to you and your lifestyle.

3.      
Create an environment that supports this plan: For
example, find a gym,
running track and pool that are conveniently close and financially affordable
in the long term.

4.      
Set smaller tasks as stepping-stone
goals: These make the bigger, long-term goals
seem less overwhelming, and ensure that you can enjoy the journey with successes
along the way.

5.      
Use music: Listen to a podcast or lecture, download Chrissie’s AudioFuel workouts
(coaching and motivation combined!), or read your favourite book or watch an
uplifting movie or YouTube clips while spinning.

6.      
Keep a log of your workouts: Make sure you highlight any accomplishments and
successes, note how they make you feel, and then celebrate getting up and over
these little milestones.

7.      
Sometimes we need others to help motivate, guide and encourage us: This could be a coach or
training partner, your spouse and children, a local sports club/group, or even
online chat forums.

8.      
Train your brain: Recognise negative self-talk and
consciously replace those thoughts with positive affirmations!

Pinning
David Grier down for an interview is a challenging business when he literally
flies into the country for one day, having just run 1350km the length of the
UK, before flying back to run the length of Ireland, another 552km – and then
he is likely going to go back up north to run Hadrian’s Wall, a further 120km…
But he’s happy to chat on the phone about his latest fundraising run to raise
funds for Operation Smile while waiting in the airport lounge for his flight
back to London.

David
was one half of the SA duo that ran the length of the Great Wall of China in
2006, along with Braam Malherbe. Then they ran the SA Coastline Challenge, from
the Namibia/SA border to the SA/Mozambique border. David then went solo,
paddling from SA to Madagascar and running the length of the island (south to
north), an epic trek that saw him come close to dying several times. Next up he
ran the length of the Indian sub-continent (north to south) in 2011. “Out of
all my journeys, India was the hardest. It was a mental battle every single day
to carry on, because India is so chaotic. I had people around me 24/7 and never
got any peace. The noise, pollution, traffic, and constant harassment by police
and officials were terrible, but the incredible people pulled me through.”

OLYMPIC SPIRIT

With
his Indian run still fresh in the memory, this runner extraordinaire came up
with another idea to raise funds on the run: “I phoned up the London 2012
Olympic Committee and told them I wanted to do a fundraising run across the UK,
given that the Games were about to start, and they said they were fine with
that, as long as I didn’t end up in any of the stadia. So I asked Andrew Stuart,
part of my support crew in India who ran quite a bit of that run with me, to
run the UK Challenge with me, with Darren
Swartz as support.”

This
saw the two runners start at John O’Groats, the northern tip of Scotland, and
run to Land’s End at the southern tip of England. “We started on the 20^th
of June, it took us 25 days to finish, and it rained on 24 of those days!” says
David. “They put us on the A roads, because we were not allowed to run on any
of the M road highways, but the A roads have virtually no verge, just a white
line and then about 100mm of tar. So we had trucks and cars flying down the
road at us and and due to the weather, we would get obliterated by the spray of
water from one vehicle, then the next driver couldn’t see us and would have to
swerve at the last second. We were diving into the hedges all the time! And the
few times we accidentally ended up on an M Road, the police were usually there
within minutes!”

INJURY HURDLES

It
was also an eventful run for David thanks to his Achilles. “Our aim was to cover
50km a day and we had a tight deadline to meet because my flight back to SA was
already booked for the 15^th of July. This was the first time I ran against
the clock, and that made it very hard. The first day we did 38km, then 48 on
day two and from then on we were hitting 50 comfortably, but 300km in, I pulled
my Achilles and thought I had ruptured it. I’ve had injury problems in all my
runs – every morning you wake up and think, how far can I go today? Then you
take it one day at a time, concentrate on the injury and just try to keep
going.”

“So
I took anti-inflammatories and the next day we had to walk 55km – it took us 14
hours! We did that for a week and that solved the problem, but now we were behind
schedule, so we had to pick up our daily distance in order to make the deadline.
We were averaging 5 to 5.5 minutes per kay, and would start each day with 15km
of walk five minutes, run 10 minutes hard, then go up to 5/20 sets for 40km,
and end off with another 5/10 set for the last 15km. That allowed us to push
70km a day, and we were flying!”

IRISH ADD-ON

The
reason David headed straight back to run Ireland is because of an online
competition run in conjunction with the UK Challenge. He asked supporters to
like his Facebook page and if the ‘like counter’ finished higher than his
mileage at the end of the run, he said he would run Ireland as well. With the
tremendous support David enjoys for his runs, the flights were soon being
booked… and he may have another run coming up straight after Ireland.

“The
guys at Aegis Media in SA challenged me to a virtual race. When I am two days
from finished in Ireland,
they will start a 120km treadmill relay at their offices, and if they beat Andy
and I to the finish line, I must go run Hadrian’s Wall.
But we’re flying along at 70km a day at the moment, so I don’t think they will
do 120km faster than us.” After a short pause, David then adds, “But I reckon I
will go run Hadrian’s Wall anyway.”

MORE ADVENTURE

Unsurprisingly,
David already has plans in place for his next run, but he says he is
approaching things differently now. “I can’t do this forever – and I don’t want
to be this old piece of biltong still crunching the road in 20 years’ time – so
I’m challenging others to step up now and make a difference. We’ve already got
other athletes doing long runs or paddles, even an artist doing 30 paintings in
30 days, all to raise funds for Operation Smile. Then in two year’s time, I
want to take a group on my next journey, all fathers and working men like me,
and we’re looking to run and paddle Cuba.”

David
recently launched a new healthy cooldrink for kids with Liquifruit, called I-can.
“It’s a blend of red grape and pomegranate, and the name is short for ‘I can
achieve anything.’ For every can sold, R1 goes to the Miles for Smiles
Foundation.” Through initiatives like this and his incredible running feats,
David hopes to continue raising funds for the kids who need operations. “We’ve
raised over R5 million and funded over 1200 operations already, but it is
getting more and more difficult to raise funds due to the economic climate, and
people are suffering from ‘donor fatigue.’ So I don’t have a specific target in
terms of how much I want to raise. It takes just R5500 to completely change the
life of one of these kids, so I just want to make as much of a difference as I
can.”

To
support David and his fellow fundraisers, go to www.milesforsmiles.co.za.