GLENS BEST AND WORST OF TRI

Added Extra BEST EVER

Established one of South Africa’s first Pro Triathlon Teams in 1999 after a long lull dating back to the days of the Longmile boys early 1990’s.

Energade gave me some cash to spend and I managed to rope in some of the best boys available. Raynard Tissink, Carl and Brad Storm and I formed the backbone of the first team put together. I later added on a female in Caroline Koll and the team expanded from there. I approached Mike Morehen at once stage and got a joint sponsorship from Nestle in the form of Powerbar. That was our strongest year (2001 to be exact). After that Mike went his own way and started up a Nestle Team while we carried on with the Energade team for another 2 years or so. It then became too time consuming and I ended up disbanding the team. I was happy though as we were definitely the first team to put race and team tactics into the Energade series. That’s how I won the title and Energade Final at Germiston in 2001. All the other boykies used to bitch and complain, but we had one over on them for quite a few of the races to follow. Great times for the team and we actually each made some money out of it, can you believe that?

Best moment ever?

Well I have a few but the one that sticks the most is my victory over Conrad Stoltz during the 1997 Energade Series Final. At one of the first legs of the series, Conrad whip’s our asses by 2 minutes and goes on to tell the audience at prize giving that we should be embarrassed to be beating by such a large margin. I take his exact words, write them down when I get home and stick them on my cupboard door. For the next 6 weeks, I wake up each morning, read his words and go out and train like a madman. I then proceed to give Conrad a beating in return during the final, win the SA title and overall series. Thanks very much Conrad Stoltz. I still use that as a prime example when I do motivational talks.

Greatest SA Triathlon Achievement?

Winning all 3 SA titles (Sprint, Olympic and Long Distance within the space of 4 months during the 1997-1998 season

Worst Race Ever?

I was racing the SA Ultra Distance Champs way back in 1999 (3km swim, 120km bike, 32km run). I came off the bike about 7 minutes behind Raynard Tissink and 4 minutes behind Jan Van Rooyen. By 4km on the run I had dropped Jan, and then managed to pass Ray at 6km (he still says to me, the win is mine!). I then look at the lead car, see the timing board and work out in my head what time I have to run for the last 26km to smash my own SA Record (because you get more cash, that’s why!). By 8km I was starting to feel funny, by 19km my head was spinning and Jan had retaken the lead. I then lost a further 8 minutes and fell over the finish line in 2nd place completely smashed. 2 Drips later and some major recovery, I finally realise that the race is not over until you cross the line. Ever since that day, I have always kept a little juice in reserve just in case I have a dose of deja vu!!

Biggest kick in the pants?

1998 (you must have figured by now that these were my prime years).
I win all 3 SA titles and am on the Olympic triathlon team geared towards Sydney in 2000. I was told before the SA Long course champs that I had been granted permission to race by the coach. I win the race only to be told a few days later that I had subsequently been dropped from the squad for not abiding by the rules. It was a bitter pill to swallow, as at that time I was the best triathlete in SA over any distance. I quickly learnt that politics in sports will always rule and the athlete generally comes off 2nd best

Craziest moment ever? 1997

I go and compete in the all Africa Triathlon Champs in Mauritius on the Saturday. I also want to do the SA Ironman Champs in SA which takes place on the Sunday. No problem. I smash the competition on the island, rush straight from the finish line to a waiting taxi and rush off to the airport (I only have 1hr to make the flight). I leave my bike and all my gear behind, no time for that (I have a special TT bike waiting for me back in SA). I get on the plane and everything is running according to plan until? Some idiot is refused entry into the country on the inbound flight. Of course he does not want to fly back with us. 4 hrs later, we eventually get going and land in JHB at 12am. I get home at 2am only have to wake up at 5am to make the start of the race. I actually go through with it, have a semi decent swim, a tough bike and finally I crack and DNF at 10km on the run. If it were not for that delay, I always wonder what might have been. Sigh!!!