By Thandi de Beer
Two Rhodes University students, Michael Canon and Natalie Ross are heading to Edinburgh, Scotland at the end of the month to compete against the best sportsmen in the world.
Canon and Ross have been selected to take part in the 2010 International Triathlon Union’s (ITU) Duathlon World Championship.
The race comprises a 10km run, followed by a 40km cycle and ending with a 5km run. The Human Kinetics and Ergonomics students are two of the 60 athletes who have been selected to represent South Africa.
It will be their first international event after making the cut at the provincial and South African championships earlier this year.
The pair needs to raise R20 000 each as Triathlon South Africa does not fund their travels. Their families have helped out and they have approached a number of companies around town for sponsorship.
Albany Sports, Tekkie Town, Wallace's Pharmacy and Rhodes University have all helped with cash and kit donations.
However, they are still in need of funds and don’t know where else to go. “We are nearly there but the last stretch is the hardest because we have exhausted all our recourses,” said Canon.
Although this is their first year taking part in such a major event, they have always loved running. “A lot of the other competitors have been doing this for years,” said Canon. “We’re rookies going in for the first time but it’s nice to be able to compete against the very best.”
Ross added that she is very excited as she has never gone overseas before. She is looking forward to the experience and opportunity to improve.
“I just want to do better and improve my previous time.” Warming up for the event has not been easy and their training sessions have been very intense.
“We’ve been working incredibly hard, waking up very early, training until we hit the ground,” said Canon whose training involves about 170km of cycling and 70km of running a week.
Ross added “Morning to evening, it’s only sport.”Canon is aiming to do triathlons eventually. “My goal is to get to the triathlon world champs one day.”
Source: Grocott’s Mail