PEOPLE » MICHAEL & LAUREN CANNON
THE
CANNONS
ARE FIRING
Formidable husband and wife triathlon duo,
MICHAEL AND LAUREN CANNON,
should prove tough competition at their hometown IRONMAN 70.3.
Lauren won at SA National Tri Champs in March, and both were
impressive in PE in April – Lauren winning the Isuzu Corporate
Triathlon Challenge and Mike taking third in his age group at the
Standard Bank IRONMAN African Championship. Paul Ingpen
asked them how they juggle training, work and toddlers, and what
it means for Lauren to come back from a debilitating foot op.
auren, I witnessed your
win at the SA National
Triathlon Championships
in Durban in March. You
were in your happy place,
beaming with pride, looking razor
sharp and floating on endorphins.
Your husband, kids and dad were
there, even happier than you. It
was beautiful to see. Last year you
thought you might never run again,
so it’s been quite a comeback. Talk
us through your inspiring journey.
LC: As many are aware, I met Michael
six years ago on the top step of the
IRONMAN 70.3 podium in Buffalo City.
Sport has always been an important
part of my life and to find someone who
shares my passion was a dream come
true. In 2013, we set out to do every
race possible, but unbeknownst to me,
arthritis had already started to set into
the toe joints of my right foot. Every
race I started, I had to pull out of due to
excruciating pain. Slowly but surely, I
began to lose my love for triathlon and
racing altogether.
Challenges are something I thrive
on, so I decided that starting a family
would be a great idea. I had my first
child, Scarlett, in January 2015 and
my second, Stella, in August 2016.
Two little girls, 19 months apart, kept
me extremely busy until January 2018,
when I decided that I was ready to take
on marathon running again.
I began training for my first race,
excited and motivated. I was ready to
make a comeback at the Deloitte Half
Marathon in Durban come March. I
could see that what looked like a bunion
had developed on my right foot, but I
refused to acknowledge the pain
and kept telling myself it was just in
my head. I made the start line and
managed to hold third place until the
14km mark when the pain became too
much for me and my right foot went
completely numb, forcing me to limp
across the finish line.
Angry and frustrated, I gave my
beautiful new running shoes to the car
guard and decided it was time to see
a foot specialist. Dr Ferreira broke the
news to me gently. I had done so much
damage to my foot that, in his words,
it “looked like an 80-year-old’s foot”.
He felt there was no option but to fuse
the first metatarsal joint, which could
mean that I wouldn’t be able to run and
compete again.
My operation was in June 2018. It
was hard to be in a plaster cast for three
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