Gert Stoltz 1992 World Duathlon Champs

Gert Stoltz, or Tarzan, as my friends called him, at Duathlon Worlds 1992.

Gear: Oakley Factory Pilot glasses/goggles. Oakley’s first shades. They were a bit “old fashioned” by 1992, but probably the most prized Oakley item one could own today.  Size 61 Zini bike bought from Bruce Reyneke Cycles with Reynolds 501 steel tubing, Shimano 105 group set with down tube shifters and Biopace non round chainrings. Patrick shoes, (the cheapest) LOOK clipless pedals (a novelty) and a frame pump which today is the size of a rocket ship.

Since I can remember, my dad and I did sport together. When I was a toddler, “Rofstoei!”  (wrestling) was my favourite, in part because my dad was the strongest in the whole wide world (thats a fact)- with only one hand, he could pin me down so tightly I couldnt blink an eye.

Soon I graduated to other sports which we did together – bikes, motorbikes, running, archery, canoeing (paddling) yup and even swimming. He hated swimming, (legs made from steel dont float) but tolerated it in order to compete in Biathlons and Triathlons.

We had many fantastic sporting memories together,

the 3 of us, my mom went to all the races and became involved in organization and committees, we piled into my dads’ shiny new, lovely “Oyster Brown” 1988 Toyota Cressida GLE  with roof racks, to go to races all over Transvaal and Natal.  PS. I drove the legendary Grand Luxury Express till 2010 and eventually sold it with a heavy hart, and with many fond memories- including chain grease on the rear seats-  for R4300. ($400) If I see it standing under a tree somewhere I’ll buy it back in a heart beat.

My dad was fiercely competitive, every training session was a race and every race was a  serious test of stamina, will, guts and honour. We raced tooth and nail, and some of my earliest running memories from primary school days were racing my dad to the lamp post in front of our house.

Of course, daily “racing” was not at all good training practice (slow, easy training is key to building good form) but we did ok anyway. I suspect when we didn’t train together, we went a bit easier.

The picture above is from 1992 Duathlon World Champs in Frankfurt Germany. He raced in the 40-44 age group, and placed top 10. (Cant remember exactly where- help anyone? Date precedes the interwebs)

The distances were 10K run, 60k bike and 10k run for Pros and all age groups. Quite a tough event!

What I remember from this trip was how my dad and I were astonished, and later a bit depressed, by the fact that during our 7 day stay in Germany, we saw the sun only twice- for a total of maybe 45min. Coming from Pretoria, which has probably one of the best climates in the world, it was a shock.

Typical South African National Team style- we visited as a large group many tourist attractions (Heidelberg castle was one) – wearing our obnoxious green and gold track suits, pink or lime green Oakleys and racing shoes (or Strops) and taking way too many photos of everything we thought the folks at home were missing out on.

1992 was my 1st year Pro – I was 18 and raced Junior- sprinted for 10th against Craig Urquart- and lost. After Frankfurt I waved my dad farewell (young bird leaving the nest) and took a train to Cahors, France for the summer’s racing with Kevin Richards (Bergie) and Wilfred Hurwitz (Wolfman). Later we were joined by Albe Geldenhuis (Congo) and Pieter Uys. (Iceman – try say “Uys” with English/US accent) They raced Pro at Duathlon Worlds Able 30th and Pieter 71st.