Four Score at Triple Challenge
Press Release / 20.11.2009
Superb showings during 2009 at the Msinsi AR Sprint Series, as well as the Dusi and Fish River Canoe marathons, culminated this week in a grand finale for the CHANGE A LIFE Squad at the prestigious Triple Challenge. Rated by many competitors as SA's premier multi-sport race, this year's event once again pitted the cream of SA's endurance athletes against each other.Consisting of a 20km trail run, a 52km mountain bike leg, a 22km paddle with a 2km portage, the event posed a formidable challenge to racers. The one-day event drew competitors from all over the country, and the six CHANGE A LIFE athletes faced stiff competition from a superb field of multi-sport enthusiasts.
With the Msinsi AR Sprints as their only benchmark, the six-hour Triple Challenge route would prove a tough test for Martin Dreyer's development squad. The 7-times Dusi Winner (with the financial backing of global IT company Computershare) has spent the last year in the Umzindusi Valley, training a new generation of local sporting heroes.
Dreyer initially focussed his expertise on preparing 12 young paddlers from a disadvantaged background to take part in the annual Dusi Canoe Marathon. Realising their dreams was no easy road, but the CHANGE A LIFE team made history by claiming two gold medals and no less than seven Top 20 finishes in what is arguably one of the world's toughest canoe races.
Realising that his charges needed a new goal, Dreyer switched their focus to multi-sport, with the Triple Challenge as their Holy Grail. Living and training with them, Martin Dreyer 'Change a Life' Academy mentored them in disciplines such as mountain biking and trail running, thus transforming them from subsistence farmers and school children into young sporting heroes.
According to Dreyer, the Msinsi events offered a good base from which to approach an event such as the Triple Challenge. "The guys will face the big guns of multi-sport today, and with competition from world-class racers like Dan Hugo, they will have to pull out all the stops", he said. "The four sprint events have taught them a lot and their bike skills are slowly getting there, but the longer distances today should be a deciding factor".
The CHANGE A LIFE athletes gunned it hard right from the word go, with Eric Zondi and Thomas Ngidi coming off the run into the MTB transition alongside reigning champion Dan Hugo. Nhlanhla Cele and Kwanda Mhlope were also well in the mix on the run, and continued to crank up the pace during the 55km mountain biking stage.
Zondi managed to hold the lead for the first section of the biking stage, but his lack of experience on single-track saw Hugo power ahead to go into the paddle with a 11 minute lead. Cas van Aardenne and Craig Carter-Brown also staged a strong fight-back on the bike and bladed onto the water in touch with Zondi's wake.
