Now a fully-fledged professional triathlete, Mandy is living the dream and representing her adopted country at world championship level.
"I did literally hundreds of races over those years. Every weekend was a different race in a different place; it all became a bit of a blur! Racing for West Germany meant that I got to compete in the first ever Olympic distance World Champs in Avignon, France in 1989, and Orlando, Disneyland the following year.
"At the end of the European season, we would normally came back to SA for a break. But in 1990, the European Triathlon Federation took a stand and banned Simon (Lessing) and I from even training in SA! So we went to Zimbabwe and trained together there for 3 months. Everything was going well until I got a terrible phone call, which changed my life and will to compete: my little sister of 19 years old had been tragically killed in a car accident. I took it really, really badly and struggled to continue. I wanted to give up triathlon, but had signed contracts back in Germany and was obligated to return. It was a very hard season and, considering my situation, a good one. But my heart wasn't in it. I became more focused on winning prize money than anything else, saving it all to start my life over again in SA and build my dream house.
"My last race was an international in Morocco. After a good race where I finished second, I walked up to the nearest dustbin and casually threw my running shoes into it, retiring on the spot and vowing to never race again. And all these years later I never have. We shared a very special time of our lives together and will always remain close because of them."
