When young Christopher Greyling makes his appearance towards the end of September, he will enter the world with a certain amount of expectation on his shoulders. After all, his parents, Landie and Christiaan Greyling, are pretty much considered royalty in South African trail running circles.
– BY SEAN FALCONER
Having both represented South Africa in World Champs events, and having both won an impressive number of events, including the prestigious Otter Trail Marathon, it comes as no surprise that much is expected of Landie and Christiaan’ s child.“ Everyone keeps telling us that they expect him to be a real running superstar with our combined genes, but we want him to choose what he likes,” says Christiaan.“ He doesn’ t need to be a runner, but we will expose him to the mountains and outdoor activities, because we believe that what you’ re exposed to when you’ re young will affect what you love when you’ re older.”
Landie says the pregnancy was not exactly 100 % planned, although they had been talking about starting a family sometime in the near future, given that they are now both in their early 30s.“ I picked up an injury last year and it was quite funny how many people suddenly started suggesting that it was perfect timing to have a baby, since I wasn’ t running anyway. We actually considered it and I went to see the doctor about the steps to take, but in the meantime I had started running again, so we decided to cancel the appointments and first do some projects, like our Lesotho
Crossing in March 2018 … but then I found out on 14 February that I was already nine weeks pregnant.”
Landie still managed to get some racing in earlier this year, even finishing on the podium a few times as she began to regain fitness, and she continued running throughout her pregnancy, still averaging around 60km a week at seven months.“ My running has just been slow and controlled of late, because I listen to my body, and gymming three times a week also helps, but I finally had to revert to women’ s push-ups, because the weight was getting too much for my arms!” she laughs.
COACHING CREDENTIALS
Naturally, falling pregnant has forced this elite running couple to change their plans, but Christiaan jokes that it has actually proven a lucrative time for their careers, and for their recently launched coaching business, Alpas * Fit.“ More people like our posts on social media now that we’ re pregnant, so we see this as a great marketing opportunity!” But jokes aside, he says they are enjoying putting all their experience to use as coaches.“ People know our reputation as runners, which helps attract new clients, even though we’ re not advertising that much yet.”
The two are actually still getting used to this new coaching role, given that neither of them foresaw a full-time career in running until recently. As Landie explains,“ I studied to become a chartered accountant and intended to go into the corporate world, but then I discovered this adventurous world of running. Initially I was working and lecturing on top of running, but now that we’ ve started the coaching business, which is quickly expanding into other things, there just isn’ t time to get back into full-time work. So that’ s on hold for now.”
Similarly, Christiaan studied engineering and until recently was working full-time. Then his running really took off, and he also turned pro.“ For years I was always there, taking part and picking up experience, and I always tried to win, but my first year of racing was the year of placing 12 over and over. The second year was about injury, the third year of placing top 10, and the fourth year I always seemed to finish fourth! Then I started training with Landie and I think that helped me improve to earning podium positions, and then I was inspired to start winning races.”
RUNNING MATCH
Training together is actually how these two got to know each other in 2008 while at varsity in Pretoria. They first met, briefly, at an adventure racing event in the Magaliesberg, says Landie.“ I was in a team with two friends, while Christiaan was in another team. After the race, we all hung out for a while, but I only spoke to him for about three minutes. A week later I went to a trail race and accidentally drove the wrong way up a one-way road, and suddenly there
Landie and Christiaan tackling the eight-day TransAlps stage race
24 ISSUE 110 SEPTEMBER 2018 / www. modernathlete. co. za