The Swakop Half Iron Triathlon will be held on the 6th of December at the main beach in Swakopmund.
To view pictures of last years event click here.
If you have any questions please post a comment or send an email to yvonne@otbsport.com.
"Feeling Ecstatic I did it. I will probably be last but a last is better than a Did Not Finish and a Did not Finish is better than a Did Not Start". - blog"Nothing will come of nothing" William Shakespeare
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The history and birth of modern triathlon was rather a dry read on Wikipedia and other such sites, but then I came across a "memoir" from one of the founding fathers. It was 1974 West Coast America - California. Jack Johnstone:" I (first) conceived of a run-swim biathlon ....the initial run could be done in racing shoes, but subsequent running legs would have to be barefoot .... I designed a course, then called Bill Stock, the San Diego Track Club Calendar Chairman, and told him of my plans. He said he would put it on the calendar, and the rest was up to me. As an afterthought, he suggested I call Don Shanahan, who also had some strange event in mind. Maybe we could combine our ideas so there wouldn't be too many "weird" races on the schedule.
I called Don and he told me that he wanted to include a biking leg. I wasn't too thrilled with the suggestion, having never cycled competitively (I didn't even own a bike). But what the hell, I thought, let's go for it.
Neither Don nor I had put on a race before and we had a lot to learn.
Our brief notice in the September Issue of the San Diego Track Club Newsletter read as follows:
RUN, CYCLE, SWIM: TRIATHLON SET FOR 25TH
The First Annual(?) Mission Bay Triathlon, a race consisting of segments of running, bicycle riding, and swimming, will start at the causeway to Fiesta Island at 5:45 P.M. September 25. The event will consist of 6 miles of running (longest continuous stretch, 2.8 miles), 5 miles of bicycle riding (all at once), and 500 yards of swimming (longest continuous stretch, 250 yards). Approximately 2 miles of running will be barefoot on grass and sand. Each participant must bring his own bicycle. Awards will be presented to the first five finishers. For further details contact Don Shanahan (488-4571) or Jack Johnstone (461-4514).
It seems strange to me now that we thought it necessary to include the sentence about bringing bikes. I think someone must have asked me if they'd be provided".
46 people competed in the first triathlon.
By the end of the 1970's the first Ironman was held in Hawaii. 15 Athletes competed and 12 finished. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
The rest as they say is history.... In 2000 triathlon made is debut on the Olympic program at the Sydney Games. Last year there were over 3000 competitors in Hawaii alone. And today its the fastest growing sport in the UK.
And in Namibia.......This year annual Swakop Triathlon, which goes back over 20 years (my brother in law did it 1986), will be held on Saturday 6 December. Pupkewitz, FNB and Puma will again be the sponsors. __________________________________________________________________________________________________Swakop Half Iron (sponsored by Pupkewitz, FNB and PUMA)
Distances:
Sea swim of 1.9km (3 loops of 630m).
Cycle of 90km. (3 x 30km)
Run of 21km run. (3x 7km)
Remember triathlon is not only for the extreme athlete.............If you don't want to do the whole thing but want to partake there is "THE FLEXIBLE TEAM CONCEPT".You can enter a team of up to four people. And you can substitute your team members as often as you wish so long as it is at a transition point or loop. You choose the discipline and distances to suit the team members.(if you are looking for team members post a blog on http://www.otbsport.com/)
There will be Puma t- shirt for first 100 entrants.
Prizes to value of N$20,000 plus.
Trophies, medals, lucky draws.
All details available on website www.otbsport.com or contact me.
To assist in your training, Otb Sport will also be organising a Tri Series. No pomp, no ceremony, just fun events to keep you motivated and better than training alone.
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For all the recreational athletes (or those who would like to do a triathlon but find it a bit intimidating) - you may enjoy the blog and comments posted below
I may not be fast, but.....(w)hen I'm out there on the race course, I'm suffering just as much as the next guy. Only thing is...I just may be having a little more fun. What's my secret?
I had to swallow my pride a long time ago as fellow tri club members zipped past me on the swim, bike, and run. If I were in this to win, or even PR at every race, I would have given up a long time ago. In fact, I had to dig a little deeper and find out the true meaning of why I go out there and race. It's become more of a spiritual journey and an adventure than a race to win.
I was listening to an interview with Chris (Macca) McCormack (Ironman Talk) and he said confidently that he shows up on the start line expecting to win. He then retorically asked why other athletes show up if they don't expect to win. Of course, Macca is gifted so he hasn't had to search for an alternative reason for racing. But I don't show up expecting to win the race, not even come close. I show up on race day expecting to have fun, get some good exercise out of it, and maybe even learn something about myself or my place in the world through the struggle of getting to the finish line.
Then, I listened to an interview between Roman Mica and Mark Allen (on 3/30/06 at http://www.everymantri.com/), an absolute legend. In the first part of the interview they talk about spirituality and triathlon, and it really hit home for me. He said that most athletes are preoccupied with their lactate threshold, heart rates, and VO2 max but that on race day, none of that matters. How you will perform is up to you, as a person. Mark Allen comments on the importance of mental toughness: "Especially in the longer races.... You have a thousand moments where you want to quite and a thousand moments where you don't feel good. You question what you're doing out there and what your motivation is. Being able to draw strength from somewhere in those moments to make it past them is really what peak performance is all about."
To hear an Ironman legend like Mark Allen speak about the spirituality in triathlon made me actualize why I'm out there every day, kicking my ass (slowly). It's not about the speed. It's not about the finish line. It's about the adventure along the way.Posted by Rachel at 11:50 AM
comments:
RunBubbaRun said...I think in any sport or activity there will be some hard core know-it-alls. But the rest of us (99%) are there to just finish our journey
Chad in the Arizona Desert said...Great post! What the Macca's of the world fail to remember sometimes is that if it wasn't for that back-of-the-pack person willing to shell out the money to do the race, there would be no race to begin with and no prize money for him to win. Triathlon isn't the NFL, there is no billion dollar TV contract. The sport's survival lies in the agegroupers footing the bill so the elites have a place to play.
Anonymous said...I don't mind people like you entering races. Just stay to the far right.
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Yvonne Brinkmann
OTB Sport Craft Market
Otb Sport Wernhil
Otb Sport Swakopmund
Otb Sport Oshakati
Tel: 061 260 312
Fax: 061 260 322
www.otbsport.com
