e may have run his first Comrades Marathon this year , clocking 9:50:49 , but Hendrik ’ s first love will always be multisport events The multisport bug bit him early , when he started doing biathlons at the age of 10 . He says he could run and swim well , so did quite well , and that naturally saw him progress into triathlons in high school , when he and friends participated in the relay event at the 5FM Energade Series . “ I can still remember my first tri race as a 16-year-old at Maselspoort in Bloemfontein . We won the relay , and I still have the Energade bag that was part of our prize hamper .”

In 2001 he set an under-19 SA Record in biathlon , which still stands , and was crowned World Biathle Champion three times from 2001 to 2003 , before moving up to triathlon . Although he did own a bicycle in high school , he had only used it for commuting to school and practice , so giving triathlon a full go had to wait till after school . “ I only got my first racing bike after school . I used all the money I had saved my whole life , and I told myself I would not buy another bike unless I earned enough through the sport to afford it .”

“ I was studying full-time at Potch at the time , for my B . Com . Accounting degree , which is a really tough course , and I had to save up as well to afford weekend racing trips around the country . Fortunately , success came almost immediately . My running and swimming were strong , and even though my cycling still had to catch up , it was easy to ‘ hide ’ on the bike because drafting was legal . On the other hand , I was racing the three Storm brothers , who often worked together against me , but I did well and was approached by the Nestle team to race for them .”

ELITE PERFORMER

With sponsorship support , Hendrik became a podium regular throughout SA as well as in several international races and championships , often using his devastating run speed to clinch wins . He won the 5FM Energade series four years in a row from 2003 to 2006 , won five SA Triathlon Champs titles , and also five African Triathlon Champs titles . Straight after completing his studies , he raced in Germany for a Bundesliga team , and contested his first World Cup season in 2004 , posting five finishes frustratingly just one position outside the prize money !

In 2006 he won the London Triathlon , which he describes as a career highlight , and then finished 10th at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne , Australia . The following year he won the Richards Bay World Cup event . “ I was the first South African ever to win a World Cup event , which was the top level equivalent to the World Triathlon Series of today . That was probably the most special memory of my career ,” says Hendrik . In 2008 he finished fourth in the World Champs in Vancouver Canada , and that saw him selected for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing , China , but he unfortunately had to withdraw shortly before the Games due to illness – and that proved to be the closest he would get to the Games …

CALLING IT A DAY

While he continued posting numerous top 10 World Cup finishes as well as two end-of-year Top 5 World Rankings , Hendrik ’ s career came to an unplanned and abrupt end in March 2012 , when he was 30 . “ I originally intended to retire after hopefully making it to the 2012 London Olympics , but I lost my sponsor in February that year and the national federation pulled my funding in April after I suffered a tummy bug at the African Champs in Mauritius and didn ’ t earn any qualifying points that day to help get me into London . At that time I only had three events left where I could earn more points , and I was only ranked 57th in the world – you needed to be in the top 50 to make the Olympics . The one race was in the USA , another was in Spain , and I think the third was in Canada , so it would have been very expensive to travel to all three events .”

“ I was already in debt , had two beautiful children depending on me , and my divorce had just gone through , so I decided to retire , because it was just not

Images : Courtesy Hendrik De Villiers