4th in a row

Soon Specsavers Ironman weekend in Port Elizabeth was approaching. For a lot of people that means a long day out racing and putting months’ worth of training to the test. For me it’s the  Vodacom Corporate challenge. It’s the race at 10% of IM distance the day before the main event. It’s meant for fun but for me it’s about keeping the streak alive.

Preparing for the race

I have won the race on 3 previous occasions and I was going for a fourth this year. But it was going to be hard, I was sick the whole week so I didn’t know what my body is going to react. But on race day, I felt good also because I”m  was able to ride on my new Cannondale Evo bike for the first time. With the warm up, I was feeling a bit sick still but not too bad. I decided to swim hard to get a gap on the rest of the field so that I can have an easy transition and to have a bit of alone time on my new bike. Dan Howitz caught me at about 8km on the bike and we worked well to make a gap on the rest of the competitors.

The race was going to come down to the run with me and Dan exiting transition together, I thought I was going to push the first 2km and open up a gap and then I can take the last 2km a bit easier. My plan worked perfectly, but when I reached the point where the crowd started to cheer, I couldn’t slow down – it was really amazing. Once I reached the final few meters on the red carpet I knew I had the race and the streak. It is always an amazing feeling winning a race but this race is one that I really enjoy.

So hopefully next year I will be back and keeping the streak alive for one more year.

Cheers 

Africa Cross Tri Championships

I was finding myself on unfamiliar ground last weekend when I raced the African Cross Triathlon Championships. That’s right – after a year, I was doing an off road triathlon again. I did not train mountain bike for the past year, but was eager to give it a go. I was lucky to be able to ride my brother’s Cannondale scale 29er, I have to say that is an amazing bike.

I rode half of the race route the day before, just to get a general idea of how bad I really am on the mountain bike. It wasn’t too bad I have to say.

On race day, I was really relaxed and didn’t feel stressed in any way, I was just going out to have fun and if I have a great race then I would be happy.

During the swim leg Theo and I was leading, we entered transition together and left it together. He is a better mountain biker than I, so I just wanted to stick to his wheel. I did manage that for about 6km then he opened up a small gap on me. I decided to race at my own tempo and not to kill myself. But then I saw Theo had stopped to fix a puncture and I took full advantage of the opportunity and went hard for a while. On a technical decent Nico caught me and I was applying the same tactic - stick with him for as long as possible and keep the gap small. Again he just dropped me and it felt like I had no power, so I went back to plan B ride and continue own hard tempo.

There was a fun but tricky single track section that I had to keep my nerves and notcrash, I’m happy to say that I managed that. The rest of the cycle was fun and fast.

Start of the run, Nico had almost a 2min gap on me, I was trying my best to catch him keeping a good pace but in the end not good enough. Nico won and on the day he was the better athlete. Theo had more bad luck with punctures and that took him out of the race.

I finished 2nd but very happy with the result, coming from no mountain bike training to come 2nd at an African cup.

Thanks to all my family, friends and sponsors for supporting me.

Till next time

Cheers

My Africa Champs "adventure"

The past weekend we headed to Mauritius for the Africa Triathlon Championships. I have been there once before for the African Cup end of last year, the place was amazing and I was really happy to go back to the island. Once we got to the hotel, it was just as beautiful as I remembered it. I was sharing a room with Wian Sullwald, my friend and training partner, with whom I stay in Pretoria. We decided to go cycle the next day to the race venue and check out the route.

Next morning we did our cycling and I was really feeling good on the bike. I thought this was going to be one of my better races. It was eventually, but…. it had a BIG twist before I could race. Whilst cycling the route and going down the downhill, we had to take a sharp left turn and there it happened - I hit a car at 40km/h which just suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. I just remember that I didn’t want to fall, so I grabbed on to the car’s spoiler and hung on for dear life. After a few seconds I let go and my head was spinning and wanted to explode. I looked at my bike and saw it was shattered, broken beyond repair. I wanted to cry!!!! Immediately, my friends that cycled with me, Wian, Wikus, Eddie and Hendrik told the guy that it was his fault.

After checking if I am fine, the guy took me to the hotel and after that to the police station. While we were on our way to the police station, my mom, coach and Wian’s mom arranged with my brother fly to Mauritius and bring his bike for the race the next day. His reaction only was: “o, ok cool”. I still don’t know how they managed all arrangements, from the time Lindsey first contacted my mom, till my brother was at the airport ready to fly, in under 3 hours. At that time I didn’t know how badly my arms were bruised but all that I know is that I wanted to race so badly. I was ready to race, or compete depending on how my arms felt in the swim. For the rest of the day, I was applying ice to my arms and having anti-inflammatory tablets. My brother arrived at about 9 that evening and we assembled his bike and I was ready to rock and roll.

The race morning my arms were as stiff as logs and I was really unsure about how on earth I am going to race. I went for a short swim to loosen up my arms and it felt better after that, so I had a bite of hope left. At the race venue, I did a long swim warm up and just before the start of the swim I told myself that it will only be a few minutes of pain then my arms can rest for the rest of the race. The swim start was frantic and I could feel my arms wanting to explode. I had a goodish swim in the end but my arms were dead. I made a silly mistake in transition lost the pack, but Hendrik and I started to chase the front guys. Half way through the cycle I dropped Hendrik, but Travis caught up to me and we cycled well to the end.

I knew the front guys were far ahead and I needed to have a super run on the day. I went out of T2 and thought well I am behind so if I blow up on the run it will be fine. I started out on the run like a bat out of hell and gunned it to the finish. In the end I came 5th elite and 1st U/23 Elite. I was physically and emotionally drained. My whole body was screaming of pain but it was worth it.

After the race all of us got into holiday mode and chilled till we needed to go home. The next morning my head still wanted to explode because of the pain so I went to the doctor who confirmed that I had concussion, but it wasn’t too serious.

This trip was full of surprises and unexpected events. But if it wasn’t for my mom, dad, brother, coach and everyone else who helped me to race and perform well, all of this wouldn’t have been possible.

Cheers
Rudolf