In a recent blog post, Conrad Stoltz intimated that 2015 marks his final year as a professional triathlete.
The sport of professional triathlon without the “Caveman?” Inconceivable, yes, but all good things do eventually come to end. Now in his early forties, the friendly and engaging South African is moving on with life, the new addition to the Stoltz family being perhaps foremost on his and wife Liezel’s agenda.
But where did it all begin?
The header photo encapsulates the focus and concentration a seventeen Stoltz circa 1991. The location is that Greeker-than-Greek resort known as Club Mykonos, situated just outside the West Coast fishing village of Langebaan. The race is the South African Olympic Distance Triathlon Championships.
Held in gale-force winds and the baking sun of mid-February of that year, this event marked the big breakthrough for the then high school student from Pretoria. Resplendent in his Northern Transvaal provincial vest, the wiry Stoltz raised eyebrows with his seemingly “out of the blue” third place overall. In a similar fashion to fellow-countryman Simon Lessing a few years earlier, podium-placing at senior level was the logical step to shaping a long and illustrious professional career at an international level.
Stoltz, Lessing and Raynard Tissink make up a formidable trio of juniors that went on to excel well into their later years. Born and raised in the sporting isolation of day, these three guys were ready and hungry enough to pursue professional athletic careers once the doors of international sport were opened to them. Unsponsored and unknown, it took varying lengths of time - with not a little resilience – for Conrad, Simon and Raynard to find their feet internationally and thus become the recognizable names that they are to this day.
Back to Stoltz and what set 1991 apart from previous years was the construction of a heated pool in his hometown of Pretoria. Winter swim training was now possible and, with his scraping together enough funds from bamboo and tribal grinding stone sales for a set of clipless cycling shoes, finally made a serious assault on the national circuit a reality.
In the high winds of that day back in 1991, Stoltz was right up in contention on the bike leg, eventually running down the lone leader – and future mentor – Kevin Richards with the other podium placers. Life as he knew was markedly different from the day on, in a similar vein to striking it big or realizing one’s true vocation.
And as Stoltz related in a magazine article a while back:
“It was a huge breakthrough for me. I found it hard to concentrate on schoolwork after that!”
*Note: Header image courtesy of Shawn Benjamin and Ark Images.
