Category: Racing

It was supposed to be easier this year. The experience gained from having pushed those unknown boundaries last year, the ‘been there, done that’ mindset implies you can do it again, but from a week out I knew this was not going to be any easier second time around. The months of training and preparation went well, but come race day there are two things you cannot do. You can’t change the weather. And you can’t outrun a storm.

We set of from Ferryman’s with the wave of a hand and a cheer from the dedicated few who arrived to show their support. A little more than 90 minutes later and I’m on Table Mountain. With a lump in my throat I see our halfway point, over 60kms away. I lower my head in respect for what lies ahead and focus on the rocks underfoot as the descent to Constantia Nek begins. At Vlakkenberg the first sign of the rising temperature appears. Cramp. Both quads, and I’m reduced to limping up here trying to keep both legs straight. The cramps and the subsequent mind games are set to stay with me for most of the race.

More than 40km later and the long road to the reserve gate is steadily broken down and beaten in small run-walk chunks but for the first time that day I glance up and see a small bank of clouds in the western sky. Suddenly the nervous anticipation of the storm becomes real and I’m wondering how fast will it arrive? How fierce will it be? How far will we get before it hits us?

We pass the halfway point and the mild nausea that’s been plaguing my thoughts for the last few hours are finally too much and I am forced stop to rid my system of the day’s food. The quietness of being in the reserve, the feeling of absolute solitude and aloneness, adds to the moment and we all feel our spirits soaring for a few brief moments, but the nausea soon returns and my spirits slump.

The predicted gale force wind is picking up and I brace myself for the onslaught. Running head on into it becomes futile and I slowly tick off the mental landmarks that bring us closer to Redhill. At Elephant’s Eye I desperately try to get a glimpse of Table Mountain up ahead but its dark and covered in billowing cloud. I’m left wondering nervously what on earth are we in for up there?

The gruelling climb from the neck, up into the thick mist and rain, takes its toll and the dizziness returns before hallucinations set in to accompany me all the way to Maclear’s. The descent off Table Mountain, down Platteklip gorge, is a nightmare with the wet rocks. The painful zigzag path never seems to end, but like everything else this run has thrown at us it too is slowly overcome, step by step.

The last few kilometers along Signal hill are run in high spirits, I’m deeply disappointed by having goals for the run evaporate into the clouds, but equally relieved at getting this far and all that matters now is getting to the finish. As we round the last corner just before 10:00 there were friends and cheers, and streamers and tears, and when at last I stopped and collapsed I just smiled because this time, I didn’t have to speak to myself to get up and carry on running.

Imagine 24 brides all dressed up in their beautiful wedding gowns. Now imagine the same 24 brides lining up and dicing each other to a finish line in those same pretty dresses! The end result is a unique and hilarious 1km Bride’s Dash held in the Southern Cape.

TRAMONTO WEDDING RUN 10KM, 5KM & 1KM BRIDE’S DASH, GEORGE, SOUTH WESTERN DISTRICTS, 21 AUGUST

The first Tramonto Wedding Run was held this year in the small town of Geelhoutboom, outside George. With over 300 athletes entering the race in the first year, the Wedding Run can only go from strength to strength! Entrants could choose between a 10km and a 5km race, but the highlight of the day was of course the 1km Bride’s Dash!

The day was blessed with beautiful sunshine, mouth-watering food and lots of laughter. The race was sponsored by Southern Cape wedding planners Tramonto, who initially came up with the idea of hosting a race at their venue. The Nedbank Running Club in George, which organised the race, took it one step further and suggested a 1km Bride’s Dash, with one requirement: all entrants had to wear wedding dresses.

Together with the NLR Wine Trade show, with its 16 top class farms and a lively performance by popular band Watershed, the scene was set for a perfect day out! There were some awesome performances over the 10km and 5km distances, but it was the 1km Bride’s Dash that stole the show. Seeing 24 women dressed up in their (or borrowed!) wedding gowns, ready to race 1km, was surely unique, and hilarious! Prizes of R5 000 were up for grabs, with Tanya Weyers crossing the line first while Bianca Serfontein was crowned as the best dressed bride.

The club plans to add a half marathon next year, and the Bride’s Dash looks set to become an annual tradition, so get those dresses ready for next year and don’t miss out on the fun. The next date is set for 20 August 2011.

The gods of running were smiling on the organisers and participants of the Johannesburg leg of the Women’s SPAR Grand Prix Series as the 2010 series came to a conclusion at the Old Parktonians Sports Club. More than 10 000 runners and their families converged on the club’s ground for a day filled with fun, sun and some excellent running as Irvette van Blerk took the title of ‘Queen’ of the series. – BY CATHARINA ROBBERTZE

SPAR WOMEN’S 5/10KM CHALLENGE, RANDBURG, CENTRAL GAUTENG 10 OCTOBER

With a record field of 10 370 athletes, the fifth and final SPAR ladies race of 2010 was proudly pink as thousands of women, big and small, young and old, fit and unfit, female and not so female ran through the suburbs around Old Parks, sporting their pink race t-shirts. Some were trying for a PB, some were motivating friends on a first run, but most of the participants were just out there to have fun and celebrate the joys of being a woman!

THE FRONT PACK
Of course, there were those who didn’t just run for fun and as much as the day was about the average Janes, it was definitely also about South Africa’s elite ladies competing for top honours in this very competitive race. After all, prize money of R60 000 was up for grabs for the winner of the series.

Nedbank athlete Irvette van Blerk walked away with top honours on the day, continuing her brilliant running season up to now. Starting at a fast pace, Irvette was soon ahead of the pack and by the 7km mark she had the race in the bag. Although she admitted after the race that she struggled at stages, she managed to hold on and finished strongly to clock a time of 34:23, a personal best on this course. “It was a hard race, because there were a lot of hills. I started off quite fast, but at the 6km mark I hit a hill and I really thought my legs were going to collapse. I was thinking: ‘Can I walk now?’ But then there was a downhill, and I was able to recover. For the first 4km there was always someone close to me, but after that I was able to pull away.”

Despite pocketing the R60 000, Irvette seemed more excited about the fact that she was going to treat herself to a post-race ice cream and about her current running form. “I was especially thrilled because my time was a personal best for me on this course. I’ve been having a great season after last year was a bad one with some injury problems.”

NEDBANK DOMINATION
The race was dominated by runners from the Nedbank Running Club with the first five runners across the line and a further two in the top ten all wearing the club’s familiar green gear, but with a tinge of pink on the day in support of breast cancer awareness. Rutendo Nyahora and Ren? Kalmer had a tussle for second place, but Rutendo managed to come out on top. After the race, Ren? said she is still not fully recovered from a type of tick fever she picked up while competing overseas.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Modern Athlete was at the finish line to ask some runners what they thought about the race

“It was fabulous, we enjoyed every minute!” – Edith Venter and Johnny Schwartz

“This was our first race and we had so much fun! We’re very proud of ourselves, we finished the 5km in about 45 minutes and we are just beginners! We will definitely do more races now.” – Hillary Matsheka, Gugulethu Ndlovu, Tresia Mphephu, Mbali Zondi and Precious Vunandlala

“We entered as part of our school’s team. It was our first race and we loved it.” – Ashleigh Donaldson, Megan-Leigh Magnussen, Hannah Bolus and Courtney Pulford

“We ran for the Johannesburg City Parks organisation. We enjoyed it and will definitely come back for more.” – Lameez Abdullah, Ntombifuthi Mpofu, Olga Mavundhla and Nonkululeko Khamanga.

“The three of us enter races like these regularly and really enjoy our mother-daughter bonding sessions. We just do it to stay fit.” – Shani Mar? with daughters Gia and Hestia

“We ran for the ‘Handbag Carriers’ today and just had a ball of a time, doll!” – Larry Bekker, Greg Yan and Francois Erasmus.

10KM RESULTS
Open
1. Irvette van Blerk  (Nedbank CG)  34:23
2. Rutendo Nyahora (Zim/Nedbank GN)  35:12
3. Ren? Kalmer  (Nedbank CG)  35:41
4. Zintle Xiniwe  (Nedbank WP)  36:11
5. Annerien van Schalkwyk  (Nedbank GN)  36:14
6. Diana-Lebo Phalula  (Gauteng Striders)  36:51
7. Tabitha Tsatsa,  (Mr Price GN)  36:54
8. Christine Kalmer  (Nedbank CG)  36:55
9. Louisa Leballo  (Gauteng Striders)  37:22
10. Marelize Retief  (Nedbank GN)  37:34

September was a busy month for Tanith Maxwell as she competed in the Bristol Half Marathon and the Berlin Marathon only three weeks apart. Both races were run in cold, wet and windy conditions, but Tanith still managed a second place in Bristol and a personal best of 2:32:33 in Berlin, where she not only finished eighth, but also ran the fourth-fastest woman’s marathon time in South African history! Tanith, a member of Boxer Superstores Athletic Club in Durban, shares her race experience with Modern Athlete.

BERLIN MARATHON, GERMANY, 26 SEPTEMBER

I woke to pouring rain on the day of the Berlin Marathon. The weather showed no sign of improving and I realised this was going to be with us from the start to the finish! Apparently the running conditions were the worst they have been in the last 20 years.

One cannot comprehend the magnitude of this race until you are standing on the start line with about 40 000 runners lining up behind you! The starter fired the gun at 9:03am exactly and we were off. It seemed like a jumble of puddles, feet and shouting over the first 5km. The top three girls were running very slowly and I was concerned that their pace was even slower than the pace I had decided to run at!

DIGGING DEEP
The local favourite, Sabrina Mockenhaupt, was in my group and was looked after by at least three male pacers. We went through the 5km split in 18:07 and it was from there that the pace changed drastically. I was able to settle into my pace and joined a bunch of male runners. The ruts in the road filled with water made the running conditions even more difficult, and there was no way to keep one’s shoes dry.

My second 5km split was considerably faster and I knew I needed to slow down and rather conserve myself for the second half of the race. I went through the 15km mark in 53:19 and my halfway split was just over 1:15. Everything felt great, the crowd support had been good despite the wet conditions, and it was only at the 38km mark that things began to get tough. I really needed to dig deep over the closing kilometres to keep my target time in place.

A PB IN SIGHT
Turning at the 41km mark and seeing the Brandenburg Gate in the distance was a fantastic incentive and I knew that I was on my way to a PB. What a special feeling! Unfortunately, in the final 50m I was passed by a Brazilian girl at such a speed that I was unable to even respond to her challenge. She crossed the line three seconds in front of me!

The marathon had its challenges. I didn’t have my special drinks bottle in the first 15km and the weather was really bad, but I was very pleased that I overcame these challenges and managed to achieve my goal. My next goal is the London Marathon next year, where I have already secured my invite.

TANITH ON BRISTOL
The Bristol Half Marathon, with an entry of some 18 000 runners, lined up near the Millenium Square on the harbour side of Bristol. The race was quick from the start and I am ecstatic about my second position in a time of 1:14:33.

THE LIBERTY HEALTH BAVIAANSKLOOF 40KM TRAIL RUN, EASTERN CAPE, 18 SEPTEMBER

My mate and I are both competitive by nature, but after running a few races earlier this year we came to the realisation that for us running is all about the view, finding a happy place and the recovery beer and braai. Over the past year we have spent quite a bit of time stumbling along the cattle paths and through the valley forests of the lower Albany farming district, and when the opportunity came to participate in the Liberty Health Baviaanskloof Trail Run, we grabbed it. – BY ANTHONY BERNARD

The Baviaanskloof run is organised by Darrell and Evie Raubenheimer of ‘Rhodes Run’ fame. This year was only the second instalment, but you’d be excused for thinking that they had been doing it for years! With weekly e-mails building up your excitement, and jam-packed hand-sewn goody bags, it felt that no expense was spared.

Apart from getting to run in a World Heritage Site, the run also provided a good excuse for a boys’ weekend away, so we packed beers and steak, tossed our takkies in the bakkie and headed for the so-called Mountain of the Baboons. We were lucky to get a campsite in the Geelhoutbos section of the Reserve and were quickly reminded that we were the guests in the area as we walked into a herd of buffalo 50m from our tent!

A SPECIAL START
The run started from an old forestry cabin at the end of the Geelhoutboskloof. A small crowd gathered around anxiously for the final race briefing, which warned of a buffalo herd still near the trail and of a black rhino and leopard seen by the recce team near the trail the day before. We were also reminded of the strict no-litter policy – there are no cups at the feeding station and every participant had to carry their own cup.

The start of the run is kind, allowing rusty legs a gentle 8km loop to warm up and spreading the pack before the climb up the mountains. The hill that followed was less than kind, and as with all good hills, it never ended beyond the next corner. The route follows an old double track that got progressively less distinct as we made our way closer to the highest point at approximately the 25km mark.

REFUELLING WITH KOEKSISTERS
We were greeted by the only refreshment station (voted the best at prize-giving) where we caught our breath, refuelled on homemade koeksisters, and reflected on the beautiful surroundings. From this point the route became single track, often disappearing in the grasslands, but our weary legs were buoyed by the excitement of running through the technical terrain! The final section of the run took us down a steep slope, which was a good time to stop and admire the ruggedness of where we had been. No matter how sore our legs were, we could not help but crack a smile of pure satisfaction at our achievement!

Sitting on the lawn at the finish, we shared war-stories about rolled ankles, rock-ripped knees and bums and shoes trashed by the scree. We’ll be back; we simply have to get one of those outstanding framed Liberty Health and UTI Legend awards, and of course get to see the buffalo again.

RESULTS
MEN
1. Hylton Dunn  3:30:10
2. Mike Els  3:35:11
3. Christo Muller  3:47:24
4. Jack de Kort  3:48:04
5. Kobus Joubert  3:48:57

WOMEN
1. SanMari Woithe  4:25:38
2. Esna Roux  4:33:41
3. Heather Cawood  5:14:35
4. Alison Pledger  5:26:34
5. Miema Murray  5:44:20

South Africa’s Man of Steel recently made his country proud when he finished fifth at the holy grail of triathlon, the Kona Ironman World Champs. Raynard Tissink shares his race-day experience with Modern Athlete.

KONA IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, HAWAII, OCTOBER 2010

As usual, Ironman morning started with a 4am wake-up call, a cup of coffee, a light breakfast, and a final check to make sure I had everything for the swim. With everything else already checked in the day before, there’s really not a lot to get stressed about, and after a short warm-up jog, at 6:15am I was in the water. One major difference between the World Championships and any other Ironman race is the swim start. At any other race, if I swim well I can get away into clear water with four or five friends for company. At the World Champs, however, I have 40 or 50 not so friendly competitors trying to drown me, and as the cannon sounded, I got an elbow, or a foot or a fist, squarely in the left eye! A couple of strokes later, a kick to the side, and the swim became more a fight for survival.

Somehow I made it through the initial mayhem and after about 1 000m things settled down, until the turn-around, when someone decided to get a move on. The group started splitting up, but with just a little over a quarter of the swim left, I knew they wouldn’t get too far away, and I had two of the strongest cyclists in the group with me.

FIGHTING MY WAY BACK
Exiting the swim in 52:25, about a minute behind main contenders Chris McCormack, Craig Alexander, Andreas Raelert, and former Ironman SA winner Marino Vanhoenacker, the group I was in quickly made its way back to the main bunch. The first hour on the bike in Hawaii is always insane, resembling an Olympic distance more than an Ironman, with average speeds around 42.5km/h. When ?ber-biker, Normann Stadler, caught the bunch after 50km, he started stirring up some action and a few cyclists managed to get away from the group. I was content to wait until 90km, when the long climb to the turn-around was sure to break the bunch up. At the bottom of the climb, the cross-wind was so strong that I was struggling to stay in my aerobars, and the pace slowed dramatically, so I decided to go to the front of the bunch. I took a little glance over my shoulder and saw a figure just behind me, so I figured that everyone was happy with the pace I was setting into the gale-force wind. It was an absolute shock when I got to the turn to find only Chris McCormack (Macca) with me and the bunch more than two minutes behind!

With the breakaway group about 90 seconds ahead, I was suddenly filled with confidence, and Macca and I chased hard. Even though I was really struggling to control my bike, we were still fast enough to catch back up to Stadler, Raelert and the likes, although Chris Leito, Maik Twelsiek and Vanhoenacker had gone away from them. Still, I was into the top 10 and only four minutes behind the leader, a position I had never been in before in my two previous top 10 positions here in 2004 and 2005! With 20km to go up the final significant hill, Macca tried to go off the front of our small group, and I decided to go with him. Slowly, we pulled away from some of the biggest names in triathlon cycling and came into transition in fourth place with a 4:30min bike time! I remember feeling happy that I was a big part of this race already, no matter what happened next.

SOUTH AFRICAN SURPRISE!
I took my time preparing for the run and Macca was gone immediately, so heading out in fifth place felt great. Clearly nobody was expecting me to be up there, as many comments were somewhere along the lines of: “You’re looking great, but who are you?” My pace along the famed Alii Drive was steady and controlled around 4min/km, knowing that the real race starts when you hit the Queen K and out to the Energy Lab.

Raelert moved past me at 4km, and I thought about trying to stay with him, but his pace was too uncomfortable for me, so I dropped down to sixth. I stayed smooth and steady until the big climb up Palani Hill at 16km, and for the first time since my near drowning at the start, I started feeling a little uncomfortable and my pace faltered. The temperature off the road was in the region of 48?C, and I was feeling every degree, but tried to focus on all those training sessions in scorching conditions in Tucson.

From the halfway point, the run became a quest from one water point to the next, a distance of about one mile. My spirits were lifted slightly after passing Twelsiek, and then even more passing bike leader Leito and moving into fourth at 30km. Shortly thereafter, defending World Champion Craig Alexander passed me, though, so I was back into fifth with 10km to go and a narrow 90-second cushion on a host of charging Germans and a Spaniard.

JOB WELL DONE
With 4km to go, I still had a 50-second cushion. For the first time racing in Hawaii I could relax and enjoy the finish atmosphere, high-fiving spectators and even stopping to give my wife Natalie a kiss before crossing the line in 8:20:11 (a time good enough for the win last year), to achieve fifth place in one of the greatest fields ever at the race. With nine former world champions competing, I feel it was a job well done! So after nearly five months on the road, the big show is done. We’d like to thank everyone who supported us, and a big thank you to my sponsors for their continued belief in me.

SATORI CAMEL 16KM RUN, NOORDHOEK, CAPE TOWN, 5 SEPTEMBER

The annual Satori Camel Run is not for sissies. Runners are usually found stumbling around Noordhoek in a haze of happiness and pain, muttering about the longest and most agonising 16km they’ve ever run… and the most beautiful! Donv? Lee shares her race day experience with Modern Athlete.

The first Camel Run in 2008 attracted about 400 runners. This year 877 intrepid runners gathered at the start, and for the first time the weather gods were smiling on race day, as it was cool, dry and windless.

Before the race there was much speculation among the runners as to why the race was called the Camel Run. Perhaps there is no water on the route! Could this leafy suburb possibly hide a little desert? Do the two big hills on the route represent the two humps of a camel? A Noordhoek resident, reading about the race in a community newsletter, even expected a herd of camels to storm past her house!

But the herd that thundered through the streets on this glorious spring day were two-legged, not two-humped, and the route through the tranquil tree-lined suburb was full of surprises. There were guinea fowl in the streets, squirrels in the trees, and alpacas at Ohio Farm. There were equestrian estates, scarecrows at Noordhoek Farm Village, a tough stretch of sand along a golden beach and a forest of Milkwoods at Monkey Valley Resort below Chapman’s Peak.

The formidable uphill climb through the ‘Vineyard Valley of Tears’ was a surprise that some runners would have happily done without, but the magnificent scenery made up for the pain. One delighted runner sailed down the hill singing, ‘I feel like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music!’

For this year’s winner, Diko Sityhilo from Gauteng, it was the culmination of an exhausting but triumphant weekend. Diko sailed through the finish line in a time of 1:00, having won the Riebeeck Kasteel Half Marathon the day before The first woman home was Dain Hamilton in a time of 1:16.

So where does the name Camel Run come from? “A friend told me that I sound like a camel when I run,” chuckles Charissa Balman, founder of the organising club, Satori Athletics Club.

BAINSKLOOF ULTRA AND HALF MARATHON, BAINSKLOOF PASS, BOLAND, 24 SEPTEMBER

The Bainskloof Pass celebrated her 155th birthday by treating athletes to perfect weather – though rain on the day before the race had the organisers a bit worried. More than 400 half marathoners and 63 ultra-marathoners travelled to one of South Africa’s World Heritage Sites to spend their Heritage Day a little differently.

Bainskloof is beautiful, but this race is a real test of willpower and definitely not your average race. All runners had to dig deep to stay motivated on the tough course as beauty can’t always motivate tired runners! Despite this, there were some excellent running performances from some of the country’s best runners.

The run started with everyone’s spirits high and when the athletes approached the highest point of Bainskloof, 15km into the race, things couldn’t get better. The rain of the previous day provided for fresh fountain water in the mountain; it was like extra water points along the way! After reaching Tweede Tol there was a 9km flat stretch to the turning point at the 31km mark. Then the going got tough with a 7km climb, but a downhill all the way home brought some welcome relief to weary legs.

Johan Oosthuizen looked strong from start to finish as he finished first in a time of 4:16, just over 23 minutes ahead of the second runner, Mervin Steenkamp. Martha Pretorius was the first women home in a time of 5:54, just under 20 minutes ahead of Anne Pool.

ETANA DAREDEVILRUN, PARKTOWN, JOHANNESBURG, 15 OCTOBER

More than 600 men clad in nothing but bright red Speedos and running shoes took to the streets of a quiet suburb in Johannesburg for a quick 4km run. Don’t be mistaken, it wasn’t just a bunch of boys being boys, it was all for a good cause. A few brave runners from Overkruin Athletic Club in Pretoria decided to join in the festivities, and Leon Marais shares his experience with Modern Athlete.

The ETANA daREDevil run is organised by ETANA Insurance with the purpose of raising awareness of the dangers of testicular and prostate cancer, and this year’s event once again attracted men of all shapes and sizes. All the men were brave enough to put aside the commonly-held belief that Speedos are ‘uncool’ and chose to focus on bigger issues.

Most of the runners shared only one concern on the day: ‘Did I pick the right size Speedo?’ For the briefest of moments, wearing a Speedo was sexy and the runners and spectators enjoyed every minute as drivers stuck in Friday afternoon traffic couldn’t help but stare as the scantily clad men jogged past them.

The event attempted to set a new Guinness World Record by gathering the largest amount of Speedo-clad men in order to strengthen the message and spread it beyond our country’s borders. Hopefully next year there will be even more runners. The more men who take part, the stronger the global message will be! And of course, for once women can stop and stare at scantily dressed men!

November in Johannesburg is traditionally known as cycling month, with thousands of cyclists taking to the streets to participate in one of the country’s biggest cycling events, the 94.7 Momentum Cycle Challenge. Modern Athlete thought it was a good time to chat to South African Carla Swart, top cyclist and runner, who lives in the USA, where she is regarded as the ‘Superwoman of Collegiate Cycling’. – BY MICHELLE PIETERS

She has been described as the United States’ best-ever female collegiate cyclist and it seems as if every year has been better than the previous for Carla Swart. Though 2008 has been described as her breakthrough year, the next year was even better, and so was 2010! This year she has claimed 11 national (both individual and team) titles in road, mountain bike, cyclocross and track. Grabbing that many jerseys in a single year is a feat no collegiate racer, man or woman, has yet accomplished in the history of the National Collegiate Cycling Association!

Carla currently rides for Team MTN/Energade (South Africa) and Team Vera Bradley Foundation (USA). In 2011 she will be riding for Team HTC Columbia, the most successful women’s team in professional cycling.

SOUTH AFRICAN AT HEART
Carla grew up in George and has played netball, hockey, soccer and ultimate frisbee, ran cross-country and track, and also did karate for a long time. She used to be a SA national champion in karate! At the age of 15, her family moved to Georgia in the USA, before Carla headed for Banner Elk, North Carolina to study Sport Management and Business Administration at Lees-McRae College (LMC).

“I’ve been studying in Banner Elk since 2006 and absolutely love it. The training is perfect because it’s in the mountains. I can ride my bike for three hours and not cross one traffic light!” she says. “The university has a varsity cycling programme and cyclists from all over the world are recruited to attend and race for the school. We are usually ranked number one or two in the nation for cycling.”

A RUNNING CYCLIST
Though cycling is Carla’s main sport, she has been running since the tender age of 6. “Running is just something I’ve always done. It’s so simple! Running sets you free, in a way. I took it more seriously when I realised it could pay my college tuition! Running and cycling made it possible for me to attend LMC, a very expensive private university. I would never have been able to get the opportunities and education I am getting without being an athlete. Sport takes you places!”

Luckily she never had to choose between running and cycling. “I got a dual-scholarship to do both! Students only have four years of eligibility with the NCAA in the US, so I finished off my running career only a few months ago. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped running. I still study at LMC and often go running with the team. It’s a great way to switch gears, and my body usually adapts fine when I want to run every so often!”

The running races she has done in the past four years have been mainly collegiate (NCAA) races. “I’ve made it to nationals two of the four years, while being on the all-conference and all-regional team all four years. I’ve held some high school records, while being team captain in my junior and senior year of track and cross-country running.” And her running fitness has certainly helped her cycling. “I don’t want my muscles to be too specific. When cyclists have been riding and racing for too long, they find it hard to adapt to other sporting activities. Running keeps my mind and body fresh. It’s a stress reliever. It also helps with climbing, and it’s a great way to keep fit during the off-season.”

Carla has some words of wisdom for aspiring athletes looking to make the transition from running to cycling: “Most try doing too much at one time. Be patient and make sure you rest and recover properly. Endurance sports can be taxing on the body, rather start off easy by riding only one to three times a week,” she says.

LOOKING AHEAD
Carla still has eight months of studying left, and she tries not to overload her schedule with too many classes, as she refuses to get bad grades. She hopes to represent South Africa at the Olympics in London in 2012, become a world champion, win major stage races, and be a valuable team-mate to her team. “I have cycling and non-cycling related goals. Life is about more than just cycling. I treasure all the moments and relationships I’ve been able to form while being an athlete. I do have goals, but for the most part, I like just ‘being’. I don’t like to plan too far ahead.”

Even though she doesn’t live in South Africa, the country is a huge inspiration to Carla. “I want to do well, because when I race, I don’t just represent myself or my team, I represent a country that shaped who I am today. I am proud of who I am, and if South Africans can show the world just how great we really are, we can inspire the entire world. South Africa has more soul to it than any other place I’ve ever been. My family also inspires me. The people you surround yourself with can make a huge impact on who you are and want to be.”