The All Africa Championships were held in Mauritius on the 31st March and was going to decide the future direction of my triathlon career. The focus of my latter career has been to qualify for the London Olympics as the African New Flag. Essentially this entails being the highest ranked non-South African, African. Up to the African Champs, my 2012 did not get off to a great start, as can be seen from the previous posts. I had to beat Mehdi Essadiq from Morocco, my main contender for this African Flag slot, in the African Champs, or London would never even be remotely possible.

I arrived in Mauritius 3 days prior to the race, a little more time than usual, so that I could rest up, recover from the lack of recovery that a work-training week brings and give myself the best chance of having a good race. The climate was, as expected, hot and humid. I was prepared. I have developed a strategy to try combat these effects, which works to a certain extent, however I know I have a sweat rate of more than 2L/hour in extreme conditions so there is only so much you can do to prevent dehydration and loss of performance.

Race day involved waking prior to 6am and travelling by bus, with the rest of the athletes (and bikes) to the venue, about 18km from the hotel. By the time we arrived, there was just enough time to check in, warm up and get to race start. The 1500m swim started well and held the front group for the first lap (thanks to my Aussie mate and Aussie National Open water and surf specialist, Paul Laver’s swim programs!). However, lap 2 I lost touch and by the first few km’s of the bike, I was in no man’s land on my own. RSA’s strategy of bringing Wikus Weber to the Champs to act as a domestique for the SA team, worked to my advantage too! He and Richard Murray caught up to me and we chased the lead group (which had Mehdi in it!). I must be honest and I had to be strategic on the bike leg and let the other two do more of the work (I did ensure Wikus was compensated post- race for his efforts! By the end of the bike, we had caught the leaders and there was a slight split in the field, however, I was with Mehdi which is all that mattered. The run included 4 x 2.5km flat, out and back loops- dead boring! and a chance to always see where you were positioned. The heat was intense by this stage! Mehdi and I ran in close proximity for about 3km’s and then I moved to the front and put in a few surges. By the 5km, I had a good gap on him and maintained my pace so as not to ‘blow up’. I really struggled the last 2km’s and lost a lot of time to the 3rd placed position, Erhard Wolfaardt, however, I was positioned far enough in front of Mehdi to not worry. I subsequently found out that Mehdi collapsed on the run and was taken off by ambulance. The heat and humidity was brutal. I finished 4th overall and 3rd African (2nd place was Philp Ospalay from the Czech Republic) so given African athletes only get the recognition, I won bronze! My BSG Elite Team mate. Rich Murray won gold and continues to go from strength to strength!
This African Champs has been my best for at least the last 10 years and am really happy with the way it went, given it will be my last at an Elite level.

The next day I was back to JHB and had 2 nights before travelling West to South America for the Pan American Cup in the coastal town of Ilheus, Brazil. An overnight flight, 5hr layover and further 2hr flight got me there. Again, I was met with incredibly hot and humid conditions, to top it all, I had come down with a head cold post the African Champs. Flying with blocked sinuses is not fun! I had booked into a BnB as the host hotel was full, given the race fell on Easter Weekend! It was perfectly located on the beach front, and the non-English speaking staff was great in translating my Portuguese hand signals! As it was incredibly hot, Brazil don’t believe in hot water to drink, so there were no kettles in the room. The trip to the supermarket close by was eventful passing donkey carts, vultures eating out of rubbish bins, and half a jaw bone. People say Africa is wild… nah boet!

I met up with one of the Americans and Irish athletes, who were staying at the host hotel, so given most of the comms were happening through that location, I could keep up to speed with developments. I now had 3 nights to adjust to 5hr behind RSA time and get over the flight (and cold). This is where sleeping tablets come in handy and help you adjust to the new time zone (WADA approved of course!). The race was set for 1430hrs, the hottest time of the day and the climate was set for 30 degrees and 70-80% humidity. My cold hadn’t passed so I had to adapt and think of a strategic race plan!

The swim was in the mouth of one of the rivers leading to the sea and by the time we swam, the tide was coming in. The two turning buoys were in the main current, and literally as we got within 5metres of the buoy the current picked you up. If you weren’t lined correctly, you had no chance of rounding the buoy. The back stretch in the current was fast (accounts for our 14min swim times!). My race strategy included starting conservatively, hanging in on the bike and then doing what I could on the run. I got out the water close to the front guys and started the 8 x 5km bike course with the main group. We chased down and caught two athletes off the front and we then rode the rest of the course as one group of 12 athletes. The pace was not fast and found myself at the front doing work, to at least keep the pace as close to 40km/hr as possible!! Included in the group were two Argentinians and two Americans who had raced the Molooloolaba World Cup recently so I knew there were some fast runners in contention!

The first few km’s of the run didn’t disappoint and given my head-cold and the heat, I had to start conservatively. I was lying about 10th at the 5km mark and knew I had to move up to get as many points as possible. I shifted gear and got more focussed and started moving up the field. I managed to pass the 6th placed athlete with about 800m to go and maintained this position to the end. Again, satisfied I had come all this way and did the job I needed to do!
The 3 flight journey back to South Africa was not too painless given my satisfaction. I had started my course of antibiotics post-race so could finally kick the bug, or try to!

I am incredibly grateful to so much support from the Zim Olympic Committee & Triathlon Association (Wayne Davidson & Rick Fulton), the BSG Elite Team and BSG (Africa), as well as family and friends. My fiancée, Nikki, has been with me through every step of the way and I thank her for her patience while I finally get some ‘results’ and make London look like more of a reality than a dream! I still have 6 weeks left of racing before we will know who will get the slot for London, so I will keep you posted!