EPWORTH MUDMAN 2011

RESULT: 1st OVERALL

After last weekends result at XTERRA Grabouw, I arrived at the Epworth Mudman on a bit of a high. It was so great to get to the venue and see all the familiar faces and happy families getting ready for loads of fun in the sun. Things have changed at the mudman events since last year, there is no longer a clear favourite and there are a number of athletes who could be out front depending on the day they having, this definitely keeps things exciting.

The swim got going and it was the usual frantic scramble to get to the first buoy unscathed. Thanks to the many boats driving round the swim course it felt like I was doing a sea swim and was battling to find a rhythm in the oncoming swells, I even resorted to trying The Zohans swimming maneuver and double the swells. Obviously this didn’t work out well for me. Need to watch Zohans style more carefully.

I exited the water 4th individual and during the run upto transition I heard a team cyclist shout out with a taunt of “Im coming for you” I soon realized this was World Downhill champion Greg Minaar when he came running by with his bike while I was getting my helmet on. I set off after him and Ryan Redman up the first climb. I got settled into a good pace and could already see the leader Ryan Redman who had another strong swim up ahead. After catching him we worked together for the rest of the lap and I had the chance to bring my heart rate back down after the initial push. We started the second lap straight into hundreds of back markers beginning their first lap and I used this chaos to make my break from Ryan. Knowing my run is far from the strongest around I used the bike to get a comfortable gap over the chasers.

Onto the run I just had to keep a consistent pace to hold onto the lead I had built up. It felt good to back up my result at XTERRA with a win at the MudMan. But even better was getting to watch the huge number of young Mudskippers enjoying what multisport has to offer. Hopefully the bug has bitten for them and they will continue with the sport and enjoying what the outdoors has to offer.