South African Triathlon Champs -Race Report by Dylan Nortje

After two jam packed days of travelling, arriving at Buffalo Bay in East London I was relieved to give my legs a good stretch as we went for a relaxed pre-race run along the promenade. The next morning was an early start as we wanted to get a surf swim in before the winds and waves got any bigger. Once we emerged from the icy cold water it was straight to the Wimpy to get a hot chocolate and quick breakfast in the tank before we headed off to race briefing.  The nerves were becoming more and more noticeable during the rest of the evening as we started doing the final check-over’s on our bikes and packing the transition bags. We had a light supper and it was off to bed early.

Race morning arrived and the sound of crashing waves and officials talking at the top of their voices made the sleep clear out of my eyes in no time at all. We had a quick hotel room breakfast before heading to the transition to rack our bikes and set out all the needed equipment for what was not going to be an easy day. I managed to squeeze myself a spot in transition and ran over the entire race in my head, ensuring that I had done all the necessary things to make this race as fast as possible. Once my transition was sorted I took a slow walk down to the beach front where I slowly squeezed into my wet suit which possibly saved my life in the water! From that point time flew past and next thing I realised, I was standing on the start line to my begin my first ever SA Triathlon Champs .

The gun fired and it was a mad dash straight into ice cold waves , the swim was intense as it was a big bunch that was not thinning out as it normally would. Once we had passed the turn- around buoy the bunch almost instantaniously split into one long line and headed straight for the beach.  Getting out the water it took a few seconds for me to orientate myself but once I got my bearings it was full steam ahead into a relatively quick transition. Getting onto the bike I realised that the wind had picked up quite a bit and the best way to do this ride was with a bunch. I managed to catch up to a bunch who I stuck with for the entire bike leg , which meant that it was now d who could and who couldn’t run.  Thankfully my coach Bosseau Boshoff had prepared me and I was one of those who managed to find my run legs very quickly. As the run continued my pace became faster and faster. Once I thought I’d had burnt all my matches a marshal pointed me down the finish shoot and it was only another 400m where I had to dig really deep.

Although my result may not have been the what I was hoping for, a lot of lessons were learnt and it has definitely motivated me and I will be back for more next year.  A huge ups to my amazing support back home from Valencia, my coach and teammates. You guys make it all possible. Thank You!!!