Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 68, March 2015 | Page 23

Going for
the Win

Balancing Act

Ma

She has become as famous for her racy gear as her results, and she is now even
known as Chantel ‘Hotpants’ Nienaber, but she’s no exhibitionist, she’s a
genuinely talented athlete who is making the most of her talents and marketability to
overcome very challenging circumstances. – BY SEAN FALCONER

T

he South African team for the upcoming
87km IAU World Ultra Trail Championships
in Annecy, France on 30 May was recently
announced, and going to her second World
Champs will be Chantel Nienaber, the Stellenboschbased trail running and obstacle racing elite. She
actually skipped the recent SA Champs trail race in
Mpumalanga and qualified for the team based on
her second place in the Cape Town Ultra 100km
event late last year, one of the other qualifying
races, and there is an interesting and inspirational
story behind that choice.

Images: Donovan Thorne/ZCMC & courtesy Chantel Nienaber

You see, Chantel is the breadwinner for her family,
due to her husband Markus suffering from a brain
condition that has robbed him of some motor skills,
including balance, walking, speech and writing.
He can still drive, he coaches Chantel and travels
with her to most of her races, but her earnings as
a personal trainer and elite-level athlete keep the
household going and pay for son Lukas’ schooling,
which means that Chantel has to perform a real
balancing act when it comes to racing.

TOUGH CHOICE

That’s why Chantel chose to rather do the Jeep
Warrior obstacle race in Johannesburg the same
weekend as the SA Trail Champs, and take a
chance that her Cape Town Ultra result would be
enough to get her into the team. The gamble paid
off, too, as she finished third at Warrior and still
made the team. “I decided not to run the Champs
on Saturday and then do Warrior on the Sunday,
because it comes down to Rands and Cents for
me. There was R10,000 on the line for the Warrior
win, plus points towards qualifying for the national
series final and the R100,000 prize purse on offer
there, so I made the hard decision,” says Chantel.
Having only taken up obstacle racing in 2013,
Chantel has done very well for herself, finishing on
the podium in most events, including winning both
the