RACING » CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA
DREAMING…
David Lee
on the set of
Black Panther
South African-born actor David Lee has been based in Los Angeles for nearly
0 ears here he kee s fit b training for triath ons a ong the beautifu acific
coastline. He reports back on his most recent race, the popular IRONMAN
70.3 Oceanside, an early season race that served up miles of beautiful views, a
breakthrough performance – and more than a little disappointment, too.
got into doing triathlon to help
me stay in shape and focused
while I was between jobs.
I moved to Los Angeles from South
Africa at the end of 2000 to continue my
career in film and television acting. To be
honest, I didn’t expect to have so much
time on my hands. It took almost three
years to book my first job in Hollywood.
Since 2003, I’ve had many peaks and
valleys – from studio films with the likes
of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly,
Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell, to
being unemployed for over a year after
the writers’ strike in 2007. There are,
and have been, a list of great TV shows
and commercial campaigns that I’ve had
the privilege and luck to work on (CSI,
NCIS, Nikita, The Librarians, Chuck and,
most recently, NCIS:Los Angeles) – but
in between all of that, I’ve always had the
swim, bike and run.
My first taste of triathlon came around
2003 at local races, such as the famous
Nautica Malibu Triathlon and the Los
Angeles Triathlon. The Malibu Triathlon
is a big drawcard for celebrities – they
raise millions of dollars for the Children’s
Hospital Los Angeles. Both races are
infamous for ocean swims with wave
sets topping 6-8 feet in some years. The
Malibu offers breathtaking ocean views
on the out-and-back bike course along
the famed Pacific Coast Highway, while
the LA Tri features a point-to-point run
starting at the legendary Venice Beach
and ending in downtown Los Angeles.
The first race I entered was the Malibu
sprint classic, but it ended rather
abruptly, with me crashing into the wall
on the bike path on my return to T2. A
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IRONMAN,
I