PEOPLE » MARIELLA SAWYER
e first met Mariella Dierks when she was tri photographer Kevin Sawyer’s talented girlfriend. She ran
fast and made a habit of catching tiring oversize posers like me on the run. She made amends with
some cool shoots and by offering valuable nutrition advice to our magazine readers. Now, apart from
becoming Mrs Sawyer, the 26-year-old Capetonian has put in some serious work on her swim and bike
and has started dropping us before the run! When she won the Standard Bank IRONMAN 70.3 Durban
overall last year, we got over ourselves and admitted her to the ‘it’s ok to be chicked by her’ category.
She’s had a fast rise to the top tier and has clearly worked hard. Her tenacity and commitment have
paid off and the rewards have been sweet with a series of excellent results. She was second in the 25-29 age group at the Isuzu
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay last year, and third overall in Buffalo City in January. She turned pro in
May and celebrated by winning the women’s race (and getting a top 10 overall) in Sun City, setting her up for a big debut in Japan.
Mariella, what motivated you to
embark on this athletic journey?
Where did it start? It started when a
friend entered IRONMAN 70.3 South
Africa in East London back in 2014. I
remember him telling me about it and
being fascinated by the craziness of
swimming 1.9km, biking 90km and
then running a half marathon. I knew I
could run, but the most I had swum at
that point was maybe about a kilometre
in a pool, and cycling was something
I knew close to nothing about. But the
idea intrigued me. I guess I wanted a
challenge and to tackle something
that seemed impossible for me at the
time – so I entered the 2015 IRONMAN
70.3 event in Buffalo City.
Presumably you were a good
runner at school? But when did you
realise you had a real talent for tri?
Unfortunately the school I went to didn’t
offer much on the sports front, so I
podium, my times were not very fast.
Luckily that didn’t stop me – it actually
made me hungry to reach that podium.
I’m very competitive and willing to work
hard to reach my goals.
Apart from hungry hard work,
you hired Richard Lawrie as your
coach and did lots of training with
fellow My Training Day athlete and
2018 Durban men’s winner Ryan
Schmitz. How have they, and others,
influenced your motivation and
massive improvement to date?
I remember sitting with Richard when I
first joined him in 2016 and him saying:
“It all depends what you want to achieve?
If you want the podium, I can get you
there!” That podium seemed very far
away for me at that time, but he was
right. He has been an amazing coach
and mentor in this journey, and has
brought out things in me that I never
thought would be possible. Never in my
You made the brave decision to
turn professional, even though as
a dietician working for yourself you
could have scaled back work, fitted
in more training, and likely won
IRONMAN 70.3 World Champs as
an amateur. What prompted that
decision? And what are your long-
term tri career goals? I want to be
the best triathlete I can be. Turning
professional was a big dream for me, and
it seemed like the right call in order to
grow even more as an athlete. For now
I am focusing on the IRONMAN 70.3
distance, but I definitely have my eyes
on IRONMAN. Competing in Kona is a
dream, for sure.
Your racing schedule will likely
involve lots of travel, but that’s
expensive. Do you have any
sponsors lined up after your recent
successes? I will be at IRONMAN 70.3
Japan on 9 June and am looking at
“TURNING PROFESSIONAL SEEMED LIKE THE RIGHT
CALL IN ORDER TO GROW EVEN MORE AS AN ATHLETE”
actually did most of my sport outside of
school. I started by being an obsessive
horse rider, then turned to surfing and
lifesaving. You’d think I’d swim faster
being an ex-lifesaver, but I was actually
more of a beachie. Then the long run
became my game. I won three long run
titles at SA National Champs, in 2009,
2011 and 2015, a silver in 2014 and
bronze in 2012.
After doing my first triathlon, I think
I realised I wasn’t too shabby at it
when I noticed that I’d reel most of my
competitors in on the run. Back then I
was still in the 18-24 age category, which
was not very competitive, so admittedly
I probably got some false hope because
although my placing was close to the
wildest dreams would I have thought to
race as a pro! Although, sub-consciously,
it is something I really wanted.
Ryan and I are team mates. We have
the same coach and the same goals,
work ethics and beliefs. It’s encouraging
to have someone like that to support you
when you’re having a bad day.
My parents and my brother and sister
are incredible too. My sister Sabrina
is 100% the loudest IRONfan there is.
Hopefully one day I can pay her to be
my manager. Then, of course, there’s
my husband, Kev, who puts up with me
doing my turbo sets in the lounge and
supports me when I’m blown. He even
blow-dries my hair when it’s just been
‘one of those’ swimsets.
some races in Europe around the end
of August. I’ll most probably race at Zell
am See or Vichy, and then I’ll be back
in Cape Town for the Cape Ultra and
Challenge Cape Town.
Unfortunately I have not found a
financial sponsor yet. Anyone interested,
please contact me!
South Africa had a lack of pro female
triathletes but now we’ve got you,
Annah Watkinson, Jade Nicole
Roberts and Magda Nieuwoudt on
tour, which is fantastic for triathlon
in SA. Can we expect to witness a
healthy rivalry between the four of
you? I really hope so! There are so many
races overseas, and you never know who
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