Having historically always been involved in team sports, cricket, rugby, ext... I decided in the summer of 2007 to have a crack at my first triathlon. I mentioned in a previous article that my only advice came from a local cycle store and having the benefit of hindsight, realised how basic that advice was. Needless, it was more advice than I knew at the time and I was determined that I would be competitive in my first tri...
The venue for my first tri would be the Brandvlei dam in Worcester for a sprint distance race, about 1,5hrs inland from Cape Town. I realised the weather wasn't going to play the part for perfect racing conditions and packed a thermal vest just in case. I did not have a wetsuit but did have a pair of surfing wetsuit "shorties" which I thought would be rather apt... As the weather would have it, we were faced with gale force winds and silly single digit degree's and we still had to get into the water!
As soon as the race started, I knew I was out of my comfort zone, I suppose the waves crashing into the shoreline in a "dam" may have added to my discomfort... My plan was to take off my wetsuit shorties after the swim and simply race in my tri shorts - nope, it was so cold that I continued to ride and then run in my wetsuit shorties, I was clearly no slave to fashion in the sport of triathlon. 1h27min later, I had completed my first triathlon and besides realising that I had loads to improve on, enjoyed the atmosphere and the vibe that is associated with multi-sport!
I would definitely encourage those new to the sport to enter a sprint distance triathlon to start with and build from there...
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