RACING » WESTERN CAPE
GOOD
VIBRATIONS
NEX T RACE
FULL & SPRINT
TRIATHLON
14 December 2019
OPENWATER SWIM
15 December 2019
Young triathlon star-in-the-making Ryan Ball travelled off the beaten track to the
Lomond Wine Estate near Gansbaai for a cross tri sprint through fynbos and vineyards.
y dad woke me at 4am. We had
a four-hour drive from Britannia
Bay to Gansbaai so that I could
race the Lomond Triathlon Sprint. I
wasn’t too fazed, my dad was driving,
so I fell straight back to sleep. We were
Trojans streaking over the landscape.
I was woken a second time. We were
barrelling down a gravel road, through
a vastness of vineyards. “Lomond Wine
Farm”, my dad said. I checked the time:
08:45. “Crap!” I said, “Don’t I start in
15 minutes?” My dad replied, “Yes, we
might need to hurry.” Trust the Balls to
pull it together just under the wire.
We pulled up onto a large field next
to a larger dam. We leapt from our
Trojan horse, like Greeks now, ready to
M
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conquer this event. We rushed into the
main building, on the water’s edge, and I
waited in line to register. My dad had his
first coffee of the morning. The building
was wide and open, with many people
milling and chatting about beer and
wine. Spectators. I collected my race
pack and went to assemble my triathlon
arsenal before entering transition.
I was stopped short. My helmet had a
hairline crack and was deemed unsafe
to use by a race referee. Fantastic. I
somehow convinced a sweaty, random
mountain biker to lend me his. Five
minutes until race start.
I moved through to the swim start.
Walking by, I saw a substantial amount
of beer and wine being consumed. I’m