BSG Energade Vanderbijlpark

Yes, race day at Vanderbijlpark – my home town - so I was hoping for a good race. The weather conditions was ideal – very warm – and I usually perform well in the heat. I followed my usual warm-up routine and felt good even though training the previous week was hard.

The swim didn’t go as planned… I started at the wrong place and took the wrong line. I couldn’t even see the front pack during the swim. I then made an all out effort to try and make up some lost time. I lost about 25 seconds, but there was only 3 guys in the front pack and I made 2nd pack.

All of us worked hard on the bike trying to catch the front pack. We managed to gain a few seconds on them but not enough to catch them. The cycle was fast and flat, I knew running was going to be hard because of the heat and the hard cycle, but I was determined to give a good show for my home crowd.

As we entered T2, I saw the lead pack of 3 just went out. We gained about 12 seconds on them. I had a good transition and was 3rd out of T2 from my pack. Surprisingly my legs felt very good while running I knew that I could do well. I had a tremendous run the day … feeling as light as a feather. It must have been my Nike Lunar Racers 2 that gave me the edge. I finished 5th overall and 1st in the junior category. It was really a hard but enjoyable race. To my surprise, when I got to the finish my mom was waiting there for me with my dog, Macca.  Happiness!!

After the race, we had a braai and a chill at my home in Vtown.

Carlyn, Ruan, Rudolf, Richard

Playing with Macca - Richard,Rudolf,Pieter

This weekend I will be racing in the penultimate race of the BSG series in Port Elizabeth.

Cheers
Rudolf

11 Global Sun City

Time for that day of the week again, race day. This was it was something completely new to me – my first ever Olympic distance race – the 11Global at Sun City in the North West Province. I was quite nervous about the race, because it was double the distance that I normally race. It was going to be tough and to top it all … the bike leg was a time trail.

I felt good during the pre-race warm up. I had a little chat with Hendrik and Erhard before the race just to calm my nerves down. Then I was time to start. I jumped on Hendrik’s feet and stayed there till the end of the swim. The run into T1 was very long (about 500m) and it felt as if I was doing my 10km run before the bike leg even started.

Swim exit

Eventually I got to transition and off I went in hot pursuit of the leaders. When we reached the open road, Erhard took off on his time trial machine and cycled away from me and Hendrik. I stayed behind Hendrik for most of the ride. With about 11km to go I saw that I was catching Hendrik very fast. I decided to pass him since I was feeling good. The only words spoken between us was him saying “nice helmet” with a big smile on his face. I managed to make a small gap on him on the bike, and as I came into T2, I saw him coming down the hill as well.

T2

I quickly put on my Nike Lunar Racer 2 running shoes and off I went for the 10km run leg. Erhard had a 2min lead on me so his lead wasn’t in danger at all. I was in 2nd place for about 3km in the run when Hendrik caught up to me. We decided to run together since Erhard had such a big lead and the chance of catching him was slim. We ran together with Hendrik encouraging me the whole time and telling me that I am doing well for my first standard race …(thanks Hendrik!). We ran together until 9km then off he went… I tried to go with him but my legs had other ideas.

It was a nice fun and hard race and to top it all of I finished 3rd overall so I was very happy with the result.

Thanks to my coach Lindsey for being there to encourage me on my debut Olympic distance race.

Until next time.
Cheers and enjoy

BSG Energade Midmar Dam

Sunday was race day again at Midmar Dam - the fourth leg of the BSG Energade Series(but only the 2nd race I’m competing in).

I was on a “high” from doing reasonably well the previous race, so I was excited for the race to take place. We drove to the venue on Saturday….a 4 and a half hour trip. When we arrived there the weather was a bit bad - the wind was pumping and it was cold. I went for a short swim and met some of my friends at the Dam. I then watched my favourite soccer team, Chelsea play and they won their game.

When I woke up the next morning…well….it was misty and raining. This means it will be a wet and dangerous race, as there was quite a number of dangerous corners on the cycle route. With my bike checked in and warm-up done it was time to race.

The swim was hard and fast, but I didn’t have the best of swims and I knew there was a lot of work to be done on the bike to make up a few places. In T1, I also struggled to get my wetsuit off…haha. The bike was hard as expected, with the rain and the hilly course making it even more hard. We caught a few athletes and formed the 2nd pack. A few athletes crashed on the bike leg on the wet corners. Unfortunately my friend and room mate, Wian was one of them.

My T2 was very fast and I felt really good during the run leg. I managed 8th position overall and 1st junior.

Untill next time
Cheers and enjoy

PS: Follow me on twitter @rudolfn