Race2Hermanus Triathlon

Thank you!

The real reward which we hope every participant, commercial partner, safety official and staff member involved received was the joy & satisfaction of being fulfilled or making that happen for others.

Crossing the line is the ultimate reward, even for those of us who watched you from different vantage points throughout the day, many from behind the scenes.

Prize giving is really the cherry on top where we take a moment to pay respects to those who excelled in their category and those who’s stories deserved special mentions

It’s also to thank our valued commercial allies, especially Prescient our generous headline partner and Seesa who assist us and local community.

There were some emotional tears shed, there was lots of laughter and even more applause.

Thanks to you the athletes, sponsors, supporters and staff. We had so much to celebrate 🏁🇿🇦🥳👏🏽💸🏆📣

Athletes are always reminded by coaches to ‘focus on the finish line’ and we kinda concur cos a solid race plan is one that ends with a satisfied smile.

We also always remind our participants that our events, hosted in beautiful places, surrounded by happy faces, are there to soak up the joy of being filled with vitality and privileged to be able to afford the time and cost of a fun filled energised day out, harvesting the fruits our daily training.

And so the final moment crossing the line is like the climax of a story and one we always try hard to make a happy ending for each and every one of you.

Judging by these finishline photos and so many subsequent messages of thanks, most of you really enjoyed a fun fest , even those who spent every last watt of energy to give their absolute all.

You succeeded and we hope you’re proud of this picture that proves you’re a winner! 🏁🇿🇦👏🏽🐳⭐️

For most of us it’s the training that truly provides us with the reward we most value, optimal health and daily time outside.

That said racing is the icing on the cake - where we get to test our fitness against our kindered souls.

There can only be one winner and that’s usually the one who puts in the most hours and trains smart. It takes dedication and we respect and reward that. To the winners the spoils.

The racing was exciting and with over 500 entries these worthy champions rose above some very deep fields.

The category podiums each received generous Prescient_SA Unit Trusts, with the winners taking the lions share plus holding aloft the biggest granite whale tail.

A special congratulations to our flagship Ultra distance champion Hanni van Wyk who defended her title and to Tim Hayward with a break through performance dominating on the bike to christen the new road in style.

Each of these winners are now course record holders of the new Prescient R2H course which athletes absolutely loved. This one’s a keeper!

🏁👏🏽🏆🐳

In golf they say drive for show, putt for dough. Triathlon is not too different, after a long swim and bike ride to drain your energy reserves it’s the run that challenges us most.

The new course was an interesting mix of fun scenic cliff path trail and all fast flat road racing.

The paths are a hikers dream, perched right above the dramatic cliffs winding through fynbos overlooking the open ocean whale sanctuary, but the undulating twists and turns took concentration and measured effort.

Once runners had enjoyed the scenic harbour pier out & back warm up the real running started. Once you reached the turn around point at the crowd energised finish area those that held back could turn on the taps and motor back down to the new harbour.

It was fast, furious and fun 🥳🏃🏾‍♂️💨

Prescient_SA SEESA (Pty) Ltd

An open ocean swim is the unique ingredient that makes the sport of triathlon so epic.

Huge swell was predicted and showed its fangs midweek with massive waves off the point. We then met with water safety and moved to the plan B swim course to stay inside the new harbour.

Then a potent North Wester wind arrived and blew up to 70kmh gusts on Friday, even breaking our barrier fence and shredding some branding.

That flattened out the swell but also dropped the water from 16 degrees to well under 15 making it wetsuit compulsory.

Race day dawned windless, welcoming swimmers to a glassy smooth, sun-kissed pearler of a day.

As the peach orange sun rose over the Overberg mountains swimmers danced arm in arm to African tunes, rejoicing being alive and healthy, playing swim-bike-run together in a magnificent south african setting. 🏁🇿🇦🐳

After a very fresh water acclimation and warmup the 6 start waves went off swimmingly well with only 1 swimmer returning to shore to fight another day.

Cold but stoked swimmers emerged, many carrying on the hip swinging high 5’ing as they ran up through the cheering crowds on the slipway.

What a way to start the day! 🏁🕺💃🏼🌅

They say “it’s not about the bike” but we all know it is.

There's nothing like stripping off your wetsuit and mounting your TT bike with fresh legs and streaking out of Transition and onto the bike leg. This is the feeling most of us triathletes love most.

Our theme song this year was Vulindlela by Brenda Fassie. It means ‘open the road’ which we did as the first race on the widened, open and freshly resurfaced road out of Hermanus towards Stanford.

Riding along the cliffs, then beaches and along the lagoon on your right hand side with the Overberg mountains stacked on the other is a bike riders dream course.

The undulating rises and gentle breeze heading back to town made power and cadence strategy important, especially with a tricky run course lying in wait.
🚴💨

They say “it’s not about the bike” but we all know it is. Theres nothing like stripping off your wetsuit and mounting your TT bike with fresh legs and streaking out of Transition and onto the bike leg. This is the feeling most of us triathletes love most.

Our theme song this year was Vulindlela by Brenda Fassie. It means ‘open the road’ which we did as the first race on the widened, open and freshly resurfaced road out of Hermanus towards Stanford.

Riding along the cliffs, then beaches and along the lagoon on your right hand side with the Overberg mountains stacked on the other is a bike riders dream course.

The undulating rises and gentle breeze heading back to town made power and cadence strategy important, especially with a tricky run course lying in wait.

🚴💨

We the organisers of the Prescient Race2Hermanus supported by SEESA are extremely sad to advise of the passing of one of our treasured event participants.

Dewald van der Berg suffered cardiac arrest during the cycle leg of the race. Fast response by medical and safety staff got him to hospital where they were sadly unable to save him.

His wife Hayley was still out racing on course and was informed of his tragic passing post finishing, after she arrived at the hospital accompanied by our race staff.

Our sincere heartfelt condolences go out to Hayley and the 3 kids plus other loved ones and everyone affected by this tragic loss.

The last time we saw Dewald he was standing arm in arm with Hayley on the swim start slipway, listening to african music and celebrating being healthy, doing what they love, together.

May he Rest In Peace 🌈

An open ocean swim is the unique ingredient that makes the sport of triathlon so epic.

Huge swell was predicted and showed its fangs midweek with massive waves off the point. We then met with water safety and moved to the plan B swim course to stay inside the new harbour.

On Thursday night a potent North Wester wind arrived and blew up to 70kmh gusts on Friday, even breaking our barrier fence and shredding some branding.

That flattened out the swell but also dropped the water from 16 degrees to well under 15 making it wetsuit compulsory.

Race day dawned windless, welcoming swimmers to a glassy smooth, sun-kissed pearler of a day.

As the peach orange sun rose over the Overberg mountains swimmers danced arm in arm to African tunes, rejoicing being alive and healthy, playing swim-bike-run together in a magnificent south african setting. 🏁🇿🇦🐳

After a very fresh water acclimation and warmup the 6 start waves went off swimmingly well with only 1 swimmer returning to shore to fight another day.

Cold but stoked swimmers emerged, many carrying on the hip swinging high 5’ing as they ran up through the cheering crowds on the slipway.

What a way to start the day! 🏁🕺💃🏼🌅

Prescient_SA SEESA (Pty) Ltd

What a day!!

Wow the overwhelmingly positive feedback has been poetry to our souls.

After 7 years of roadworks and weather inspired tweaks we finally arrived at what seems to be our sweet spot happy place! 🥳🏁🇿🇦🌈🐳🌻

A huge big heartfelt thank you to each and every athlete. To our proud headline partners Prescient_SA and local community supporters SEESA (Pty) Ltd.

You all stood by us and we hopefully justified your faith in us. You have no idea how much we appreciate your support 🙌🏽

This is the first of 2 highlight albums, the first couple of many that will be loaded throughout the week to enjoy some nostalgic pride from behind your desks as you look back on such a special South African experience.

🕺💃🏼😍🐳

Tomorrow looks good with less swell than predicted, light NW, no rain and clear ocean water holding at 16 degrees.

To be cautious of a swell push we have opted to set up our Plan B swim course which is 500m.

We will start in 2 waves for each race based on age, not gender which is how your race numbers were allocated - apart from our 1 - 10 seeded ultra athletes.

The number range for each group will be announced before the start of each race.

1 more sleep 🏁🇿🇦🐳

Each time you ride and run past the tall building above the finish area, overlooking the ocean, with a glass top floor, picture yourself celebrating your big day out.

The after party at SkyBar Hermanus kicks off with live music from 4pm, the Prescient R2H supported by SEESA happy hour from 6pm, then bop til you drop babies! 💃🏼🕺🥳