Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 107, June 2018 | Page 32

MULTISPORT
IN THE HOME STRAIGHT
The Modern Athlete Dare to Tri Programme (DTT) will wrap up its 2017/2018 season this month at the Ironman 70.3
Durban event on 3 June, and then the focus will turn to the launch of the new season, working up to the Ironman events
in the first half of 2019. But first, let’s celebrate our Ironman finishers of 2018. – BY DERICK MARCISZ & SEAN FALCONER
the programme is designed to take complete novices to the ultimate triathlon finish
of an Ironman event via a carefully planned gradual increase in training over the
triathlon season.
It was fantastic to see local PE favourite Kyle Buckingham run a perfectly judged
race to become South Africa’s second winner of the iconic full Ironman in PE,
and the great TV race coverage this year will undoubtedly inspire many novice
triathletes to want to become an Ironman. On that note, congratulations to all the
DTT athletes that successfully raced in PE, including these great results: The success of DTT is that it is an affordable, manageable and sustainable training
programme that fits in with your family, work and social commitments, with a
weekly training programme supplied to each athlete, plus weekend group training
(for those living in the Johannesburg area) and access to a highly experienced
coach who has been involved in triathlon since 2000, both as an age group winner
and a successful coach.
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Wayne Pienaar – Our first DTT finisher in 12:24, a great time for a novice!
Simon Pienaar – Missed a sub-13 by just 45 seconds, in another great
debut performance.
Ruan Mouton – A good novice performance to come home in 13:15.
Ian Halkerd – Finished in 13:27 for a solid debut performance.
Toby Hone – Sporting a special ‘Ironman hairstyle’ for the occasion, he
finished his first Ironman in 13:41.
Carlos de Oliveira – Did a 13:45 for a good novice performance.
Marcello Gnudi – A solid 13:50 in his 12th consecutive Ironman. (And he will
run his 10th Comrades this year.)
Dawie Aucamp – Our novice Cape Town member came home in 13:57.
Sarah-Jane Horscroft – A great 13:58 for a sub-14 debut from our “Silver
Fox” lady.
Rodney Nel – Earned a second Ironman medal with a 14:30 finish.
Shaun Matthews – Last year Shaun had 6km to go at the final cut-off. This
year he came back to finish with time to spare in 16:02.
Steve Jackson – After a tough year, he had a good novice finish in 16:24.
Melanie Nel – Like hubby Rodney, a second finish in 16:25 after digging deep
on the day.
DTT has always specialised in assisting complete beginners to realise their
triathlon dreams, whatever distance or events they may be aiming for, and this was
particularly the case with PE, where we had 11 novices finishing their first Ironman!
Gearing up for 2018/2019
The new Dare to Tri season will start in August this year, a month later than
previous years due to the Coach being overseas for much of July. That will still
leave plenty of time to prepare for the shorter events in the second half of 2018, as
The programme will therefore initially concentrate on the standard distance triathlon
and then build up to the Miway Ultra Joburg triathlon in December, followed by
Ironman 70.3 South Africa in Buffalo City in January 2019 and the Ironman African
Championships in PE next April.
Steve Jackson
MEET THE COACH: DERICK MARCISZ
The Modern Athlete DARE TO TRI Coach is 63 years old and can look back
on 48 years as a runner, cyclist and triathlete – and he is still an active athlete.
Derick boasts a marathon PB of 2:17:17, a sixth place finish at the Old Mutual
Two Oceans 56km Ultra-marathon, and a top 20 finish in the Cape Town Cycle
Tour. He has been involved in triathlon since 2000 and has
competed in more than 130 triathlon and duathlons, at all
distances from sprint to Ironman, and also represented
the South African Age Group Team at five World
Triathlon/Duathlon Championships. Added to that,
he is a qualified TSA triathlon coach and has been
involved in coaching athletes for more than 20 years.
The full details of the Dare to Tri 2018/2019 Programme, including costs, will be
announced in the July edition of Modern Athlete.
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ISSUE 107 JUNE 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
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his has been another very successful year for Dare to Tri. The season started
in July after the usual short winter break, and our first event of the season
was once again the 5150 Bela Bela triathlon in the second half of August.
After that, we continued to train for the standard distance events, including the
Sun City Global 11, Trinity Triathlon Series and 5150 Germiston, before starting the
build-up to the two big races of 2018, Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 South Africa in
Buffalo City in January, and then the ‘Big One,’ the Standard Bank Ironman African
Champs in Port Elizabeth on 15 April.