I stepped outside into what looked like a dark and stormy day, kind of how most nightmares start. My mood and thoughts on the other hand were the complete opposite.

I felt so calm and confident for this race, I had improved so much over the last year, and this was going to be awesome!

I walked from the hotel to the swim start, jamming to some tunes. Checked my stuff in transition as I sang along to Flo Rida, got my morning pep talk from Eminem and had Mick Jagger cheering me on for my warm up, I was Ready to Rock n roll!!

This race seemed to pop up so quickly after the festive season. After being way too indulgent into the Christmas feasts and the inconsistency of training, I felt as if those few short weeks in the New Year were the first time I had started training for East London. Albeit I have only been a member of Trifactri for a few months I still feel that I only had those two weeks of training for this race.

Being in east London and being surrounded by the Trifactri group really seemed to settle the nerves. I had a good chat with some people at the Friday dinner as well as the guidance from our incredible coach, Lucie Zelenkova. This was all I really needed to get myself into the right mind space for the race. 

My last year’s season ended up only in December and I needed long break after that. I did almost nothing for four weeks, except occasional runs now and then. We went to Czech Republic to enjoy European Christmas with my parents and my sister. And I had awesome time there. Nothing can beat proper Czech Christmas with all those homemade cookies and Gluhwine at Christmas Market. Just all this eating and drinking meant that I was carrying bit of extra weight and missing some fitness.

But still, I couldn’t miss 70,3 East London. It was my 9th time racing there and I always enjoy whole weekend and experience with my athletes and friends. It wasn’t just a race for me; it was road trip to East London from Joburg, team dinner, team warm up, race and after race activities – yes, famous after party at Buccaneers
My first race of the season is done. Not a result I wanted but still glad I went.
It itself wasn’t great. As pro ladies we had separate start – 5minutes behind pro men and 10minutes ahead of all age groupers. 

I started training 5 months before my first race day, 24th Jan 2016 IM70.3 Buffalo City, statistically the second hardest IM70.3 in the world they say. Had I known the latter before I raced I probably would have made sure I trained consistently for the entire 5months. In fact, the intensive training I did in the last 2months leading up to the race left me with shoulder, knee and ankle over-training ailments so I knew it was a stretch to begin with that I was going to make cut-off. I had never run more than 10km’s and my cycle per/hour averages were cutting it fine. Rule 1: Train consistently. 

When Luc asked me to write a race report on my experience of the IM70.3 East London 2016, I had to laugh. Not only was it my first ever DNF, but also such a disappointing day! So in a hope to give some advice, here’s my report:

Everything went smoothly leading up to race day. I was feeling confident and prepared for this race. I was completing all my training sets as provided by coach and I was generally feeling fit. Thursday before the race, I had my bike serviced, charged my battery (as I have electronic shifters) and gave the baby a wash. We drove down early Friday morning…it rained heavily for most of the way.

This is my second East London 70.3 and so far I haven’t been disappointed by the organisation of the event. The volunteers are amazing and they keep the energy levels high from the word go. I really take my hat off to all the volunteers and to all the organisers for pulling off an amazing weekend.  

Our weekend always starts off with a fantastic dinner with our club. Some good carbo-loading is implemented, but everyone stays away from the dessert because you know we’re like pro and stuff. I’m just kidding, it’s actually because coach is sitting right there, so we wait till after the race, because then we can eat whatever we want (in front of coach, because she’s eating the same thing). In my case, it’s tons of ice-cream. 

Not since my debut to the triathlon scene at East London in 2015 had I been so nervous before a race. A full year later and I was again on the beach looking out over the swim course. This year being ready to settle the score with one of the toughest and most rewarding of the three 70.3 distance races I’ve previously competed in. I had been training through the year but only started joining TriFacTri track sessions and Saturday rides just after Ironman 70.3 Durban in August.

​I officially joined TrifacTri and received my first program from head coach Lucie on 19 October 2015. Since then it’s been dedicated hard work and lots of training. I was confident I was going to get under my 2015 time of 6hrs 9 minutes and 55 seconds. I had to!

A big CONGRATULATIONS to all our Trifactri athletes the qualified for the Central Gauteng Team to race in the SA Triathlon Championships - we are so very proud of you

20-24 Age Group
James Curtin
Jessica Dignon

25-29 Age Group
Bhavik Ganda
Keren Robertson

30-34 Age Group
Darian Wait

40-44 Age Group
Laura-Beth Eicker-Harris
Rob Heath
Lelani Joubert
Diane Kelway

45-49 Age Group
Desiree Dickinson
Kim Dovey
Andre Piehl

As per the ABP regulations, the athlete was afforded an opportunity to provide documented medical evidence that could explain the irregularities in his blood profile.