Posts Tagged ‘theo blignaut’
Caveman to race DualX off road duathlon this Saturday
Theo Blignaut’s stories of the adrenaline (& pain!) filled DualX racing series, fascinated and inspired me to leave the goggles at home and give off road duathlon a whirl.
I was drawn to XTERRA in 2001 because of an action packed picture of Steve Larsen running his bike through a stream in Richmond USA. The Momentum Health Oatwell DualX Duathlon Series powered by PeptoPro has been running for a year in Gauteng, and I’m excited to see what its about: Technical run and bike courses, fantastic Advendurance organization, good prize money, extensive SuperSport TV coverage , and as you know, I just love racing!
See you at DualX #1 Hakahana this weekend!
PS: It’s a bit of a last minute decision, so sadly, no Caveman MTB Skills Clinic in Groenkloof this time, but “Pre Ride XTERRA Grabouw bike course with Caveman” is still on for Sunday 8 & Saturday 14 Feb.
Photo Credit ~ Cherie Vale / Newsport Media
50th XTERRA win since my 1st XTERRA in 2001. By 6 minutes at that. 50 wins seems big, but yet is a small part in my career as a triathlete. I wish I had kept count of the wins. Since that first one as a 14 year old in 1988 at Ironkids in Pretoria. All those triathlons and duathlons my parents drove me to in my dads new Toyota Cressida. All those triathlons in France from 1992-1999. Some years up to 36 races a season. All those SA Champs and African Champs and Energade Series wins inbetween. All those years on the ITU circuit, racing to 2 Olympic Games. (Not too many wins those years) All those years racing non drafting short course in the USA.
How many wins would there be? 100? 200? How many races? I only started blogging (keeping track) in 2002. The days before were before internet, even cell phones. But I do have many many boxes of medals, old race numbers and newspaper clippings (thanks to my Ouma) to go through with the grandkids one day…
Winning at home is always fun, so it was great to reach the 50th XTERRA win in South Africa, where it all started.
The lead up- 10 days out:
The 10 days “toughen up” training camp in the altitude, heat, rocks and thorns in Windhoek (Namibia) came in quite handy at this tough Buffelspoort race. Heat, hills, altitude, rocks, thorns and amazing single track. Repeat.
During this training camp, I lost a fair bit of weight. Unfortunately I later realized its because of all the bleeding I did through this hard, thorny country. Qoute of the week was by Willie, (Still the Hope of Namibia): “Here in Nambia, the softest part of our bodies is our teeth…”
