In the latest installment of Mandy's story, we find out about life in France circa 1989, chasing the dream of being a pro triathlete.
"There was a constant stream of SA athletes who would come over for short stays with us. Andreas Lombardozzi used his Italian passport and was a regular, as were Harald Zumpt, Louanne Rivett and others. They had to keep it very quiet that they had SA passports.
"I remember we stuck a huge map of France up on the wall and would sit around for hours discussing who was going to which race and how to get there and how much prize money was up for grabs. We would share food and cooking skills, had loads of fun and trained hard in the beautiful French countryside. Through fields of sunflowers, lavender, poppies, vineyards, orchards of apples, pears, peaches etc. Many nights we would go "shopping 4 fruit", with bags on our backs stealing fruit from the fields and using our bikes as 'get away vehicles!' We lived very humbly but always had enough to share. We really trail blazed our way through Europe with no help from home and only our bodies, bikes and wits to rely on."
