TRAIL RUNNING stressful for all of us , and then just after she had come out of ICU , we left for East London to visit my Dad , and while we were there , he had an unexpected brain haemorrhage ,” she recounts .
“ He knew something was wrong , so took himself to hospital , where they did a brain scan and found he had bleeding on the brain . He was flown to Cape Town and ended up in ICU , then picked up an infection . He made a full recovery and was soon back to cycling again , and we ’ ve travelled to Europe together since then , but it was another very stressful time for us , especially so close after Rob ’ s mom being ill .”
" I still love to push my body and challenge myself to test my capabilities , and I ’ ll definitely always give a race my all , but I tried not to think about the podium or records , just tried to stay in the present "
With her loved ones recovered , and without the added stress of her studies bearing down on her running , Bianca says she was able to go into the Otter knowing that she had trained hard , was feeling fresh , and was in a good mental space . “ I just set out to achieve two goals – to run happily and to run strong . My nutrition and hydration worked , consistent pace worked , kind and soft internal dialogue worked , and it ended up being one of the best , happiest and strongest runs of my life ! I ’ m so grateful that I was able to experience this beautiful stretch of coast and the event again ... There ’ s nothing quite as special as coming home to a community as great as the Otter community . Thank you to all of them for their dedication , and thank you to all of my people , for all of the support leading up to , during and after the race . I was feeding off of all of their energies !”
Competitive Nature
Born in East London , Bianca has lived in Cape Town for the last seven years . She is the youngest of four children , with two sisters and a brother , and while her eldest sister lives in Hong Kong , her mother and other two siblings are also in Cape Town . Within her family , she says she is the only runner . “ My Dad used to run when he was in school , quite competitively , too , but now just cycles . My sister and my mom run socially , but I am the only competitive runner .”
In fact , Bianca was a good enough in track and cross-country to be selected for provincial teams while she was in primary school , but she put running on the backburner when she went to high school . “ I dropped it after becoming too competitive , and just ran socially , except for the sports day runs . But running has always come naturally , so I never stopped completely , even though I was doing a lot of other sports , including hockey , squash , waterpolo , tennis and swimming ,” she recalls .
After finishing high school in East London in 2015 , Bianca enrolled at the University of Cape Town to study chemical engineering . She has subsequently completed her Honours Degree and says she is finished studying for now . “ I need to figure out what next to do . I may study further later , but for now I am focusing on my running . I took a gap year in 2020 and planned to go race in Europe , but COVID cancelled that , so I went back to my studies last year and finished my Honours . My Dad has kindly said he will support me this year , so I can go race in Europe , but I want to do some short courses or part-time studies to keep my mind sharp .”
Bianca has been dating her partner , Rob Tweddle , for six years . They originally met at a lifesaving competition in Durban while still in high school , and when Bianca moved to Cape Town , she met up with
him again on campus . “ We hit it off towards the end of first year and have been together ever since . He only runs socially , as surfing is his thing , but his friends group includes lot of trail runners , so we love exploring trails . Also , he works for a US-based venture capital group , doing data analysis , which allows him a flexible work set-up , which in turn makes it possible for us to travel , and for him to go with when I race overseas or elsewhere in South Africa ,” she says with a smile .
Getting Back to Running
When she started varsity in 2016 , Bianca decided to give running another go . “ I joined the UCT road running group , because I was staying in res , and running seemed a good way to make new friends and learn the area , but I think I overdid it . I was a beginner , and nobody told me to do less mileage , and I ended up injured . That ’ s why I started trail running in my second year , and soon I started getting competitive again , winning some shorter distance trail events , so in 2018 I signed up with my coach ,
Images : Lauren Granger & courtesy Bianca Tarboton & Otter African Trail Run
Training run with boyfriend Rob
Called by the mountains
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