Travis

I was very much a sporty person at school and played provincial water polo, captained the hockey side and swam . I was whole man and lived for the days of putting my war stripes on(Zinc haha)! I loved every thing about the game polo and then when school stared to end, it faded off. I never worried about my weight in high school till early 2012 when I realized I couldn’t carry on like this! I never followed what I ate and you could say I owned shares in the school tuckshop and coffee shop hahha.. in 2012 I weighed 113kg and in 2013 it was my goal to at least loose some kilos. Only in July 2013 I slowly started with cycling and swimming and then moved on to some running. I couldn’t run 500 meters with ought stopping and walking another 1km. It was bad, real bad ahah! Cycling was okay, but sho did those hills kill me!

September came and my brother and his GF had entered Half IM in East London and it got me thinking. The next morning I woke up and jumped in the shower and as I was getting in, I looked at my self in the mirror and said I can’t carry on like this. This not who I want to be. So I did the unthinkable and entered the Half IM. I trained and concentrated on what I ate a bit haha.. I went from 113kg-95kg on race day. It was a tough day out. The bug had bitten and as soon as I got back to PE, I wrote some goals down in my diary:

Lose 10kg by the end of the year
Run 4:40km Avg for 5km
Swim 1:20sec per 100m over half IM distance

Little did I know I was going to absolutely demolish those goals. I trained hard that year and Half IM came and I had lost 20kgs, was running 4:15km avg and swimming was strong! I ended up having the fast age group swim and 4th on the day out of the pros. I led the race for the first 30km and then bombed out in the run hah! None the less the support I got was incredible and made me want this even more! 2015 I made the SA Olympic Distance team and raced at World Champs in Chicago. I did okay and came back with allot of experience.

2016 I joined Blu Smooth and what we achieved together was remarkable. With Dr Sally Watetworth and Kevin Richards help I won my first Tri series and running sub 3:45min per km was the usual! Never did I expect to be on this sort of level. I notched up some solid results in the year and after a forced break out in August before worlds in Cozumel. I returned and raced 5150 NMB and came 2nd. This was the deciding factor that has taken me to today. This year alone with a balanced diet and the correct training. I have brocken my PBs in almost every race I par take in and weigh 38kg less then when I started the sport.Not only has the program made me a better sportsman, it’s made me a happier person! I’m always on the go, doing things with friends and meeting new people on the roads and at races.

This year I leave in May to go race in Europe for 4 months and will be taking part in some of the most well known races in the Tri calendar. This would not have been possible without the help of the people around me!

To sum my challenge up. A healthy lifestyle leads to happy life and not everything is about podium finishers, but about beating the odds and a achieving your goals.