Ironman 70.3 Durban 2016

[Mylolylo]

read some posts on Twitter (wont mention the names) bitching about the swim being canceled - especially an certain Cape town tri person claiming Cape Town folk train in the cape of storms every day (I kid you not, ps: I am from the Cape)

What these titanium-men dont remember is that if even 50 swimmers from the entire field find themselves in trouble at the same time then there is serious problems to ensure everyones safety. Easy to crunch through a couple of breakers when you and four of your training buddies head out for a 1 k swim; different story with few hundred people kicking and pulling at you with bodies literally crashing into you due to waves.

I believe the organizers do not make these decisions lightly, as the entire experience is what they are ultimately trying to sell. 

I have to totally agree with you. I was super bummed when they originally cancelled the swim. Having grown up doing lifesaving at Battery Beach and being a strong swimmer (really not trying to be vain but I was hoping to be the first age grouper out of the water due to my surf swimming background) i was angry when they announced the swim cancellation but as soon as it became light and i could see the size of the surf, how it was breaking and the wash it became apparent they had made the right decision. As much as I would have loved to have swam in that because it would have been a huge advantage for me i suspect about 10% of the field would have actually been able to complete it without issue and in a  race like that all you need is one person to be missed by a lifeguard for the situation to turn fatal and i respect the organizers for not wanting to take the chance. Having said that I am not sure i will go back next year because i know Battery beach and there is no way that they can guarantee conditions that are conducive to race in. If they want to make it swimmer friendly they should somehow move it to DUC, next to Ushaka Marine where the harbor shelters the beach from most of the swell.     

[Garfield2010]

I went swimming on Saturday just before they cancelled it and I struggled to get out.  Definately hte right decision.  This will however hurt the brand as I am not paying that money for a duatlon again.  They should make a plan to move the swim to the harbour or have an optional dam or something I dont know (or move the race to "dooiegetui").  Last years was also rough an I woul dnot be surprised if the swimmed is canned again in future years.

.

"self seeding bike start" is crap.  It was not self seeding.  it was first come first serve.  I could only manage to start at 09h10 and the amount fo traffic on route was ridicilous.  They let 5 guys go every 5 seconds and then expect 12 meter gaps.  Maybe not.  Some guys made clear bunches.  I even memorised some race numbers that really drafted but in hindsight its about money so the organisers wont really care about this.

.

As mentioned before the second little loop is dangerous.  Some british oke decided at the water point at the bottom of the cours to put his bike down in the middle of the road and walk to the aid station causing havoc.  I say he was british as my head literally made contact with his race number as I was passing between him and his bicycle.

.

Could have biked faster had I not had to sit up when "bunches" passed me as I did not want to get a drafting penalty.  When an o]ke shouts "roll through" in a bunch then you know....

.

Biked 02h45 and ran 01h45.  Run was hot and I saw hundreds of guys walking.  Late start was unfair as the heat definately had an impact later on.  Water points ran dry which is unacceptable.

.

Venue is shaky like EL70.3.

.

Ironman need to reconsider their options.  I really think a race in the inland region could do very well.

.

Anyways all in all it was a good race and all things considered I achieved what I wanted.  I am however done with Ironman racing for now.  Just not worth the money for me personally and it feels over commercialised.

 

Congrats to everyone else finishing.  You are 2rd's of a half ironman or rather 33% full ironmen.

 

Do not wear your finishers shirt.  Only wear your expo Ironman labelled gear indoors.   

[kingalton]

can we not petition to get Merrel removed as the clothing brand? not sure if everyone else agrees?

[Garfield2010]

can we not petition to get Merrel removed as the clothing brand? not sure if everyone else agrees?

 

They can shove both the shirt and the bag and make the entry R100 cheaper (coz R50 per item is probably what they pay for them if you consider the quality)

[kingalton]

They can shove both the shirt and the bag and make the entry R100 cheaper (coz R50 per item is probably what they pay for them if you consider the quality)

agree

[Bianchi Baby]

The bag is a pitiful excuse and I for one as a business owner would not put my name on it at all - the colour for this years DBN is shocking ????????

 

The shirts - well ya they are crap! For us ladies there is NOTHING ladylike about them - once again SHOCKING!

[fanievb]

long report by one of the pro's

https://www.facebook.com/nico.sterk.9/posts/252235008485720 
 

 

70.3 Durban 2016

9th Overall of the Proffesional Males – Lets be frank – Last Male bassically!!!
(I shouldn’t be alive story)

This past Sunday I took part in the 70.3 Durban Ironman event. 
I was so excited to take part in this event as it would have been my first road Triathlon for many years racing as a professional. Unfortunately, the event turned out to be anything but a joyful occasion for me.

Just my final 5 weeks building up towards the event was a hell of challenge. I first of all managed to tear my Plantaris Tendon (MR Scan confirmed) in my right leg. I then developed unusual knee pain in my right patella as well. Not sure if the Tendon tear and knee was linked or two isolated problems. But it meant that for 3 weeks (From week five to week two before the race) I did not run much, for 2 weeks (week four & week three) I struggled to cycle with my knee pain being at times 9/10 sore while pedalling….and making matters worse two weeks before the race I crashed cycling over a pothole. Causing my left knee to get irritated and inflamed until race day. 
For each of these single issues I had a more than valid reason to pull out of this race long before the start…But I fought against each issue and figured a plan to get around each one of them. Why was I so stubborn? Mostly because 5 weeks before this race I had the best form of my life. If the race was a month earlier and I had no physical injury concerns I would have been in shape for a sub 4 hours 15 min. I was so confident in my form and fitness that I looked past my issues to something bigger. Regretfully now I look back at huge disappointment and in some sense embarrassment at this result. As it will dilute my last few top performing racing results in many athletes and bystander’s eyes. Not that I should care about these things. But it does play a role in endorsements, sponsor opportunities and overall athlete profile. The one positive thing I take from this build-up to the race was I have learnt to stay motivated and believing in myself regardless of the amount of issues I pick up preparing for an event.

The race proved to be a real disturbing experience for all the professional athletes who took part in the event.

In the one Picture attached - Race director Paul Wolf explaining to me the way we should swim - don’t swim towards the buoy, go straight and the rip will take you to the buoy is what he said…
Look at Stuart Marais face (just left of Paul Wolf) while he was looking at the ocean.

The Sea Swim of 1.9 km was cancelled for all the Age Group Athletes the morning of the event. But as we were told on the Friday already at our own race briefing for the professional athletes – we will swim!

So what really happened:

The sea proved again that it is not something we should take lightly when entering. The morning of the race the period between each wave was 20 seconds plus. Meaning that compared to the usual 10 – 13 seconds period between each wave (Like the Saturday before the race) the strength and speed of each wave on the morning of the race was a lot more than what any non-expert realized.

The Life Guards battled to do their Job in which they are trained to do – safe swimmers in trouble… They knew the sea was not safe to go swim in that morning (later the afternoon two swimmers drowned at the very beach we went in for the start of the sea swim).

At the start area I have never seen that Life Guards stand guard/tunnel for us to run into the sea. I then tough to myself that if they do not want to go into the water…then something is not right. Unfortunately, most of us are not experts in reading the sea conditions so we were blissfully unaware of what we were going to experience.

When the gun went off and I ran behind Kent Horner into the Ocean I immediately realized the sea was today a lot rougher that the previous day when I manged to do a short swim warm-up. I couldn’t see the first buoy we had to swim left around while I was making my way through shallow surf into the sea. I just followed Kent Horner the whole way. The first few waves were nothing near troubling for me. But then, the waves got bigger and stronger. Me and Kent at that point did not swim much, we basically just kept on going underneath each massive wave one at a time…. I manged to swim trough these set of waves only to see people on Jet ski’s pointing to us to swim right against the direction we should have been swimming. This meant that the rip current dragged some of the best open water swimmers in the country a couple of hundred meters to the left of the first buoy.

My reaction then was to stop racing and swim for safety. At the first buoy was a big boat and I swam straight towards it to get out of the sea. Once I got there I was informed I am in one of the leading positions and should just keep on swimming… So like an idiot I kept on swimming, full knowingly I was in trouble.

At some point swimming towards the last buoy I was almost taken out by a massive wave. I then turned 90 degrees to the right and swam another 50 – 100 m deeper into the ocean as I was not ready to take on these waves again.

A good couple of hundred meters before the last buoy I saw guys on Jet Ski’s riding up and down the sea just screaming to me “swim straight back to the beach for safety”. I thought to myself this is crazy…how on earth do they want me to do that? The next moment a big, no a massive, no a F*&%ing big wave came and I went as far down to the bottom of the ocean to avoid this wave. Did my underwater swimming skills help? Not at all…the sea just played with me. I cannot explain people how strong these waves where. I will never forget how dark it is under that water with the wave crushing down on me.

As soon as the darkness disappeared and it became light again then next wave came at a tremendous speed. Again I do not think people understand! After a similar experience of pitch darkness and terrifying thoughts I managed to come up for another breath of air and then I saw a guy on a Jet Ski…

I screamed to him “Please I am so scared, safe me” his response “Bud I cannot safe you now”. For the record I do not blame him, the conditions were not so that he could have done it without putting himself at risk. I have no problem with what he said or did!

I then realized I had to swim for my own life - I really really do not know how I managed to swim back to the beach but I did!

I got out the water 300 m further down the exit point. Meaning that the rip current took me down more than 600 m from the point where I started swimming towards the beach for safety.

Can you believe that I was among the top 5 Male swimmers out of the water…what an experience the other swimmer must have had to deal with – especially the girls?

The rest of the race: I decided just to finish. I tried for about 20 – 30 km on the bike leg to race. But me left knee was to sore and more so I was to rattled to carry on racing as I realized what could have almost been….

For those of you who think I am soft or I feel sorry for myself;
• I have been shot at by criminals with an AKA-47.
• In a separate occasion held gunpoint for hours in my own house with my whole family.
• Safed by life guards in East London from a shark.
• Attacked by a Male Lion in Kruger park in a private camp. 
• Attacked by a kudu bull on our farm in Namibia that I managed to shoot meters away from me and few more other close encounters.

Sunday over shadows all of these near death experiences…

MARK MY WORDs – never again will I go into the sea in such severe conditions to take part in any form of swimming event!!! For those idiots who said “you guys are getting soft”, “you do not know how to swim” or they “we are disappointed to not have had the opportunity to swim”. Next time please swim in my place….

Here is some of the other Pro Men comments on what they experienced:

Stuart Marais (Who I regard as one of the toughest athletes ever in our sport):

“Thanks for all the support out there today – life and death situation in the final 150 m of swim got me DQ’ed! The rest of the race was great”

Freddy Lampret: (Personally directed to me)

"Nico Sterk, well done man! When I exited the water i shook my head and thought "How on earth could we swim in there?" then I said a little prayer: "Lord please let nobody die, and thank you that I am still alive!"

When people hear that the swim was rough, I dont think they REALLY understand. Last year I was surprised that people struggled because of how easy I found the conditions.

Yesterday was the closest i have ever come to dying. In fact when I was on the sea floor being held down by a combination of wave and rip current, then fighting through meters of whitewash, unable to breathe, I thought that it was the end.

It was a strange feeling to have to continue racing after that. Sitting on the beach crying would have been an appropriate and totally normal response.

Again Nico, well done bud! We live to tell the tale."

Gerhard De Bruin

“Happy to be alive" is how a fellow pro athlete described the swim at Ironman 70.3 Durban yesterday!  I feel the exact same way!!  I am thankful that Ironman in South Africa  with Race Director Paul Wolff at the helm cancelled the swim for the AG athletes as I am confident the outcome would have been nothing short of a disaster, ultimately risking the lives of all athletes.

So what happened? The water looked rough, but manageable. Here is what I experienced: Immediately as we hit the water, the rip current dragged us to the far left of the first turnbuoy, forcing the entire field to swim south along shore for 100+ meters against the strong current. The first casualty of the swim came quick as my friend Lynette Van Der Merwe withdrew from the race due to the swim conditions. On the way north towards the second turnbuoy, we all got continually pounded by the waves and the current. I got dragged under a few times, and almost passed out once in the water. In the words of James Cunnama, it was "disaster swim territory".  I could feel the fear creep up and got to a point where I thought this was it, but thankfully caught a quick breath in the foam of a wave.  I saw one athlete call for help from the lifeguards! My friend @clint.gravett88 was in front of the field, and used his past as a pro surfer on the world tour to navigate the waters - we all could have used some pointers from him! Seeing the turnbuoy drift, Clinton went for shore in an effort to stay safe and get out of the surf. About a minute behind, fellow athletes and myself powered though towards the last buoy, but it kept moving in the massive waves. We got separated, and I continued around the buoy while the rest of the athletes got beached by the lifeguards. All in all, we got lucky. I was the only athlete to hit the last buoy, but I can say with certainty that we all did more than prescribed, and that we are all happy that no one got injured. In short, it was a dangerous swim that should never have taken place.”

Safe Training,
Nico Sterk
www.sterkspan.co.za
0741004280

[IceCreamMan]

perspective is a funny thing, I thought the Durban shirt the best of the lot from a graphics point of vierw

[Sidekick Racer]

Hahaha... that race bag though....

[Sidekick Racer]

I went swimming on Saturday just before they cancelled it and I struggled to get out.  Definately hte right decision.  This will however hurt the brand as I am not paying that money for a duatlon again.  They should make a plan to move the swim to the harbour or have an optional dam or something I dont know (or move the race to "dooiegetui").  Last years was also rough an I woul dnot be surprised if the swimmed is canned again in future years.

.

"self seeding bike start" is crap.  It was not self seeding.  it was first come first serve.  I could only manage to start at 09h10 and the amount fo traffic on route was ridicilous.  They let 5 guys go every 5 seconds and then expect 12 meter gaps.  Maybe not.  Some guys made clear bunches.  I even memorised some race numbers that really drafted but in hindsight its about money so the organisers wont really care about this.

.

As mentioned before the second little loop is dangerous.  Some british oke decided at the water point at the bottom of the cours to put his bike down in the middle of the road and walk to the aid station causing havoc.  I say he was british as my head literally made contact with his race number as I was passing between him and his bicycle.

.

Could have biked faster had I not had to sit up when "bunches" passed me as I did not want to get a drafting penalty.  When an o]ke shouts "roll through" in a bunch then you know....

.

Biked 02h45 and ran 01h45.  Run was hot and I saw hundreds of guys walking.  Late start was unfair as the heat definately had an impact later on.  Water points ran dry which is unacceptable.

.

Venue is shaky like EL70.3.

.

Ironman need to reconsider their options.  I really think a race in the inland region could do very well.

.

Anyways all in all it was a good race and all things considered I achieved what I wanted.  I am however done with Ironman racing for now.  Just not worth the money for me personally and it feels over commercialised.

 

Congrats to everyone else finishing.  You are 2rd's of a half ironman or rather 33% full ironmen.

 

Do not wear your finishers shirt.  Only wear your expo Ironman labelled gear indoors.   

 

I share these sentiments.

Very well summed up.

[shaper]

perspective is a funny thing, I thought the Durban shirt the best of the lot from a graphics point of vierw

Much better than the navy one from last year.  The must rethink the cheap bag that is only good for putting flyers and whatever you buy at the expo in and do something that you will use and promote the brand and the event.

 

I have 3 now Durbs 15, EL 16 and Durbs 16, as much as I would like to use the bags, they are just dumped in the cupboard.

[Garfield2010]

perspective is a funny thing, I thought the Durban shirt the best of the lot from a graphics point of vierw

 

Why do they make it so "look at me I am an IRONMAN" like?

 

I would like a nice golfshirt with a small IM logo on the chest maybe.  The in your face is overwhelming.  I wear my finisher shirts at home only

[hboli4]

Why do they make it so "look at me I am an IRONMAN" like?

 

I would like a nice golfshirt with a small IM logo on the chest maybe.  The in your face is overwhelming.  I wear my finisher shirts at home only

I agree. I don't want a 'shouty-look-at-what-I-did' shirt. 

[kingalton]

the problem I have with the shirts, and its all the Merrel IM shirts, are the necks are too small, I had to force my head through the hole, I could actually hear the stitching pop and I don't have a big head..

Its a pathetic brand and it seems they take their reject stock that should go to a factory shop and then brand it with IM branding, pathetic.

[IceCreamMan]

Why do they make it so "look at me I am an IRONMAN" like?

 

I would like a nice golfshirt with a small IM logo on the chest maybe.  The in your face is overwhelming.  I wear my finisher shirts at home only

 

never thought of it that way and I guess you are right there. Branding for IM I guess. YOu wear it , you advertise the brand.

 

I wear them to gym and sometimes out an about. They handy when you travel as they take up very little space and dry quickly.

[Garfield2010]

I agree. I don't want a 'shouty-look-at-what-I-did' shirt. 

 

Yes it should be a small neat logo.  No words, no distances nothing.  Almost like fight club.  Only people in fight club recognise other people in fight club.

 

Rule number 1 .................

 

The other problem is a cheap running hat that normally costs R80 costs R370 with an IM logo on it.  Compression Sports sold proper hats for R400 at the expo - now that was quality.  I know its willing buyer and all but they are making a killing on emotional buyers................