By Mark Etheridge
South Africa’s para-triathletes struck gold five times at the ATU African Championships in Tunisia at the weekend.
And for good measure there was also a silver medal for the squad to bring back south.
All of Anton Swanepoel, Sebastian Crawford, Stan Andrews, Kean Dry and David Jones (with Rohan Kennedy as a guide) got gold in their respective PTHC, PTS3, PTS4, PTS5 and PTVI categories. Their times were 1hr 09min 28sec, 1:31:18, 1:10:06, 1:16:43 and 1:05:50.
The silver went to Ryan Willers in the PTS5 division with a time of 1:16:58.
Andrews received his first prosthetic at the tender age of three, after being born with a deformed right foot and underdeveloped leg. At the age of seven, doctors recommended that his foot be amputated to prevent any restrictions later on in life.
He’s already in Yokohama, Japan, for this weekend’s World Triathlon Series action, where he’s hoping to earn some points to better his current 10th place ranking,
Andrews said: ‘It was a fast race, with most of us achieving a personal best. My Tunisian competitors made it an interesting day out for me. Anton’s equipment only arrived the afternoon before the race, which made him a little tense. I had a slight mechanical on the bike pre-race, which was thankfully adjusted to a manageable state.
‘‘Overall it was a great event and all are happy with the results. Months of training has paid off and a special mention must go to Dinamic coaching, Aqua Athlete and Suunto for all the consistent support they give me’
PTS5 winner Dry, who had a personal best in Tunisia, said: ‘From my side I really enjoyed the event, it was a really great experience with the South African team. The team managers Neil MacPherson and Kate Roberts really helped wherever they could and I got great assistance from Eco Tabs and Aroma Sense.
‘Personally I enjoyed the event, as it was my first international triathlon event and my fourth in total. I only started triathlon in February this year and it has been on the up ever since. I placed second at the recent SA championships hosted in Aldam, Free State and now I’ve got first place at African Champs.’
Twenty-two-year-old Dry (no relation to Blitzboks sevens player Chris) is in his final year of civil engineering in Pretoria. He has swopped a promising rugby career for triathlon and is now coached by Dinamic Coaching’s Riana Robertson.
‘I played rugby in France, then in the UK before deciding to come back to study and then played rugby at the Pumas at amateur and U21 level.’
‘I was then involved in a car accident as a drunk driver drove into me and I rolled my car. I injured my ankle and was told I need amputation, but refused because I wanted more opinions.
‘I then got in touch with doctor AP Ferreira who treated me from there on He managed to save my leg, but I’ve now lost most movement in my right ankle, which resulted in loss of power too.’
The sole silver medallist, Willers says he’s even more motivated to take things to the next level after Tunisia. ‘Race day was perfect and the smooth sea made for fast swim times. I came out of the water near the back set to make up time on the bike.
‘Bike course was flat and fast with just 10 meters of elevation. I averaged just under 35km/h for the track and did the second fastest bike split of the day. Just behind Dave on the tandem. Dodging buses, trucks and cars on the way.
‘The run was hot and gruelling after trying to catch up on the bike. I had Kean in my sights the whole run course, but just couldn’t catch him in the last 200m.
‘So I was disappointed to finish second, but am highly motivated to get fitter for the next race. Overall this was an amazing experience and I must say the Tunisians are amazingly friendly people.’
More about 26-year-old Gautenger Willers, he was born with absent bilateral radii bones in both arms, but that hasn’t stopped him giving his all. ‘I’ve always done my best in sport to be up there with the able-bodied guys. I played first team hockey since Grade 10 at school (St Stithians), so it was a very strange concept for me to start racing in para-sport this year.
‘My triathlon journey started last year when my boss [Willers works in the financial sector] told me that he would sponsor me to do IronMan 70.3 in July. So I searched for swimming and training help.
‘I got in contact with a guy called Jason Wilford, who coaches for MPG. They offered to sponsor my coaching if I raced in para-sport, if I committed to training hard and going as far as I could. One race lead to another and my motivation grew each race. After I finished first at SA champs, I was very motivated to go to Africa Champs to get a world ranking.
‘My second place resulted in my ranking moving up to 24th in the world in PTS5.’