She went on to win her age category again, coming home eighth overall and qualifying again for the Ironman World Champs at the end of the year in Kona, Hawaii, and so she decided to see how that went before deciding about the professional route.“ I decided that if I won my age category in Kona, I would turn pro. I didn’ t have a great race overall, finishing third in my category and 23rd overall, but as Raynard will attest after all his Ironman races, you can train hard, but the perfect day rarely comes, and you just have to push through. At the same time I was having to make hard decisions about work and life, and after a lot of talking, I decided to take myself out of my comfort zone and race in the pro division, but still keep the day job.”

Annah( 36) grew up in Johannesburg, earning provincial colours in gymnastics while at school and went on to study chartered accountancy, then became a CFA( certified financial analyst), and is currently

Head of Global Finance for the Coastal Region at ABSA Investment Banking. She says investment banking is a demanding, high-pressure line of work, but she is managing the workload on top of the tri training.“ Fortunately, my job requires deliverables, so I can adjust my working hours as long as I meet deadlines, and can invest time in both careers. Still, people sometimes think things are easy for me, but it’ s hard to do both full-time, so the cracks are starting to show a bit. Sometimes things are unbearable, but at other times they bring me incredible joy.”

STARTING OUT

Annah was a relative latecomer to triathlon. She only took up running in 2008, aged 26, then tried her hand at triathlons in 2011, completing the Ironman 70.3 in East London. She went back in 2012 and won her age group with an overall top 10 finish, which earned her a slot for the 2012 70.3 World Champs in the USA. In 2013 she missed East London after breaking her wrist and collarbone in a crash near the end of the 947 Cycle Tour, so raced her first full Ironman in PE instead. There she won her age category and earned her first qualifying slot for Kona, but decided she wasn’ t ready for that yet. She also raced for South Africa at the 2013 ITU Long Distance World Champs in France that year.

In 2014 she once again won her category at Ironman SA, then did the Ironman-distance Challenge Roth in Germany as build-up to Kona and finished eighth,

giving her great confidence ahead of her Kona debut. However, another bike crash while training in the Cradle resulted in another broken collar bone, just three weeks before Kona!“ The trip was booked, so I still went and watched my friends compete. It was horrible up to race day, but I actually enjoyed watching the race, and the trip really helped me a lot to find the best accommodation and location ahead of going back in 2015,” says Annah.

HIGHS AND LOWS

Having turned pro, Annah says she really enjoyed 2016, as she was never outside the top 10 in all her races. Besides smaller, local races, she finished third overall at 70.3 East London, placed second on her birthday at Ironman Lake Placid in the USA, was third at Ironman Barcelona, and also took eighth at Ironman SA. She qualified for Kona again, but decided to skip the World Champs that year.“ I decided to wait, because I hadn’ t been as competitive as I wanted at Ironman SA, even though I did well in very competitive races in Barcelona and Lake Placid, racing some top girls. Kona is so highly competitive, with the top 20 girls all capable of winning on the day, so I first wanted to prepare more.”

Ironically, while a lot of people tell her that 2017 was another successful year, Annah says she feels it was a terrible year.“ I was fifth in East London, but didn’ t finish the full in Port Elizabeth due to illness. I just couldn’ t get any nutrition down and was vomiting

Images: Kevin Sawyer / Gameplan Media & Chris Hitchcock