Stellenbosch - A Training Destination of choice

Stellenbosch, South Africa has been a hive of triathlon activity for several national and international triathletes this summer. This beautiful town in the winelands of the Western Cape has become a training destination of choice for triathetes from all over the world.

This week Javier Gomez (ESP), Tim Don (GB), Rici Lisk (GER), Richy Nicholls (GB), Erhard Wolfaardt (RSA) and Vicky Van Der Merwe (RSA) all lined up for a popular 10km night race in Stellenbosch, South Africa and did the triathletes proud. Javier recorded an excellent sub 30 minute performance to take overall third place with Tim Don not too far behind. Erhard was on a mission to record a good 5km time for the first half of the run and did just that with a sub 15 minute run showing the form he needs going into African Champs next week. Rici Lisk of Germany won the women's race in a fine 35 minute run and young Vicky Van der Merwe (still a junior) took overall 4th place in her first ever 10km run in a time of just over 37 minutes.

Photo: Erhard Wolfaardt and Mari Rabie after a swim session on Thursday in Stellenbosch

Kleinmond - Running Paradise

Photos: View from running trails on Heuningklip Protea Farm in Kleinmond, RSA.

After another fabulous run today, I thought it was time for me to share some images from my running paradise - Kleinmond, South Africa. How many people get the chance to hop onto trails just 100m from their front door and run for miles and miles with only the trails, the wild flowers, bird life and small buck in sight. Kleinmond has become my little running paradise and a wonderful working retreat when I am not jetting to any one or other ITU- BG Sport Development activity.

Africa Cup Race in Bloemfontein, South Africa

This week-end several top triathletes including the likes of Javier Gomez (ESP) and Rici Lisk (GER) will line up in Maselspoort just outside of Bloemfontein, South Africa for the African Cup Event. Interestingly enough Javier Gomez won one of his first ever ITU Continental Cup races in the very same city a few years ago and no doubt he is the strongest contender to take the title again his year. Being a high altitude city it will offer additional challenges for the athletes other than the usual African heat at this time of the year. BG Scholarship athlete from Zimbabwe, Chris Felgate, will be racing for points to try to keep his African ranking high enough to secure his slot for Beijing. Also on the men's start line will be several other top South African athletes including Kent Horner and Erhard Wolfaardt.

Photo: Erhardt Wolfaardt on training run at recent RSA High Performance Camp in Knysna, South Africa

Mari Rabie and Tim Don win SA Triathlon Championships

Tim Don (GB) and Mari Rabie (RSA) won the South African Triathlon Championships in East London, South Africa. The men's national title went to Hendrik De Villiers(RSA) as the first South African to cross the line. Mari Rabie(RSA) had a great season opener winning the women's title from Ricarda Lisk (GER) and Kate Roberts (RSA).

Kate and Mari are seen just before the swim start in the Elite Women's event.

Focus on Coaching

In the past week ITU Sport Development showed a strong coaching focus in their activities.

Two coaches were awarded the BG Coaching Scholarships for 2008 namely Zeljko Bijuk from Croatia and Atherton Squire from Zimbabwe.

Zeljko Bijuk (Croatia) has been on the coaching staff for the past two years at the World Junior Camp in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary and is also the ITU Regional Development Coordinator for Europe and an ITU Certified Coach.

Atherton Squire (Zimbabwe) is a deputy headmaster of a school in Harare, Zimbabwe and is also an ITU Certified coach and the ITU Regional Development Coordinator for Africa.

ITU also endorsed the coach education programmes of two leading National Federations, British Triathlon Federation (BTF) and Triathlon Australia (TA) as part of the National Federation coaching Accreditation Programme. Both these education programmes more than met the standards set by the ITU and must be regarded among the world's leaders in triathlon coaching education.

One month to major event in Tunisia

In just one month Yasmine - Hammamet, Tunisia will play host to the ITU African Triathlon Championships, a qualifying event for the Beijing Olympic Games. Tunisia has made a meteoric rise in the sport under the careful guidance of Mr. Abdouli Abdelbacet, the current federation president and an employee of BG Tunisia.

Two coaches from the country attended the ITU Competitive Coaching Course held in Stellenbosch early in 2007 and three athletes and a coach attended the African Junior Camp in December 2007 in Potchefstroom, South Africa. ITU also organized a training camp for coaches and athletes in June 2007 in Sfax,Tunisia to coincide with the official launch of the new federation.

I had the pleasure of visiting Tunisia for the first time in 2006 and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country and the passion of the local people. Since that first visit the national federation has done an amazing jog at developing the sport.

Photo: BG-ITU African Junior Camp 2007

(Potchefstroom, South Africa)

Zimbabwe Triathlete receives BG Scholarship for 2008

Chris Felgate from Zimabwe has been awarded a BG Scholarship for 2008 to support him in his attempt to gain Olympic selection for Beijing. Chris is currently training at the high altitude venue of Potchefstroom, South Africa alongside many local and international triathletes who choose to migrate there in the European winters. Chris has his sights set on being the second ever triathlete from his country to get a start at the Olympic Games.

The other BG Scholarship recipients for 2008 are: Leo Chacon (Costa Rica); Dan Alterman(Israel); Javier Cuevas (Domnican Republic); Zvonko Cubric (Croatia); Barbara Riveros (Chile) and Yuliya Sapunova (Ukraine). The 2008 BG Scholarships for Coaching were awarded to: Zeljko Bijuk (Croatia) and Atherton Squire (Zimbabwe).

Andres from Ecuador gets to meet Olympic Medallist

Andres Cabascango (Ecuador), one of the stars of the 2007 BG-ITU World Junior Camp, is "Down Under" preparing for the 2008 season under the watchful eye of Jamie Turner. Jamie devotes a lot of his time to the various BG-ITU Sport Development initiatives and plays host to many athletes from South America heading that way to train alongside their counterparts fromAustralia. Andres raced the Oceania Junior Championships in Taupo, New Zealand and got to meet one of the sport's finest, Bevan Docherty, on race day.

Two Team BG members from 2007 prepare for SA Championships

Two 2007 Team BG members from South Africa, Kate Roberts and Mari Rabie, are both hard at work preparing for South African Championships to be held in the coastal town of East london, South Africa on 16th February 2008. While this race is not an official ITU race it is a National Championship and always a highly regarded event on any athlete's calendar.

Kate and Mari attended the Triathlon South Africa National High Performance Camp held in Knysna, South Africa in early January where they got the chance to work with the new TSA High Performance Director, Dr.Carol Austin, who was the head cycling coach at both the 2006 and 2007 BG-ITU World Junior Camps.

Photo from TSA Website.

Conrad wins Off Road Athlete of the Year Award

Congratulations to Conrad Stoltz who won the Competitor Magazine's Endurance Sports Award for the best Off Road Athlete of 2007. The photo shows Conrad sporting his Dad's wedding suit of 1966 - one of those rare occassions one will see Conrad in a suit.

A fitting award for an incredible season.

I salute you Conrad !

Photo by Rich Cruse

Wikus and Vicky win provincial titles

Well done to Vicky Van Der Merwe and Wikus Weber who both won provinical titles in the past month.

After battling illness and mishaps all season Vicky proved her real class and had a GREAT race in Worcester to once again win the WP Junior title by a huge margin. Well done Vicky on this great race and your A -aggregate for your Matric Examinations.

Wikus, after winning the Gauteng North title in late 2007, travelled to Midmar Dam, Kwazulu Natal and walked away with the KZN Triathlon junior title edging out Loy De Jager with a great finishing run. Wikus also matriculated this year and heads to Tukkies to join the triathlon programme there.

Back in sunny South Africa

Today I returned to sunny Kleinmond, South Africa after a 2 week working visit to the ITU Headquarters in Vancouver, Canada.

Always good to get home to once again appreciate the sun and the sea of this incredible little town!

Dan Alterman becomes a proud father

Congratulations to Dan Alterman and his wife who became the proud parents of a beautiful little girl, Libby on Wednesday 30th January at 11:17 am in Israel. Team BG welcomes it's newest supporter!!!

New blog to share wonderful global experiences

Welcome to my new blog site!

Hopefully I will be able to share some of my amazing triathlon experiences in the months leading up to Beijing Olympic Games. I get to travel to wonderful places, meet incredible people and share goals and dreams with so many young people from around the globe. To honour these talented young people and show appreciation to ITU for allowing me to do this job, I will do my best to tell the world all about the people, places and events making up our world of ITU Sport Development.

Enjoy!