A quarter-of-a-century has passed since Simon Lessing first graced the shores of Cape Town for pre-season training. Although he was born in the 'Mother City,' Simon grew up in Durban before taking himself to Europe straight after high school. Initially based out of a London youth hostel, he ended up in the South of France, where he would remain until the late-nineties. Not allowed to even train back in South Africa after those first two European seasons, the lifting of the sporting boycotts saw Simon trade Zimbabwe (off-season '90/91) for Cape Town as his pre-season base for 1992.
Constantia is one of the most upmarket and affluent suburbs in Cape Town, if not the whole world. Nestled beneath the backside of Table Mountain, it was here that Simon and Canadian athlete John Westdal based themselves from January until April. Utilising the nearby swimming facility and soft running trails, they would also make a tri-weekly trip to Stellenbosch for 100km rides in the company of the local cycling studs.
Simon's presence was interesting for many South African triathletes. It had been only a few years since he was a regular feature on the local circuit before disappearing overseas. And now here he was: a Nike-sponsored, Cannondale-powered international racing prodigy with consecutive top-ten placings at World Championship-level, not to mention a European crown. His lanky frame and hair beads complemented a highly articulate and supremely confident manner, far beyond his then-twenty-one years actually. Sure, his accent had changed a bit (typical international South Africans!) but that was part-and-parcel perhaps of years spent finding his way around deepest darkest Europe and fitting in there.
At the request of the coach, Simon even obliged by giving the local swim squad a talk one evening on his international exploits, detailing everything from his initial difficulties with all things French, the sophisticated triathlon club structure, duathlon dismissal ("a sport for triathletes who can't swim") as well as an insight into his training. Running as the first session of the day ("you have better running form first thing in the morning"), heart-rate monitored training rides and his favourite swim sets (8x100m on a 1:05 interval, sometimes freestyle, sometimes IM) were all contrary to what the overseas magazines preached at the time. But hearing it from Simon Lessing, it just made sense. Needless to say that he rarely ran over 45min in training, but mostly at 3:30/km!
So it was with much anticipation – and not a little persuading from the organisers – that Simon eventually elected to race the end-of-season Prestige Triathlon at Gordon's Bay. This was an annual event where South African national teams competed against each other, in the absence of international competition. With the doors of world sport finally having been opened late the previous year, this event was the last of its kind, but not without some international flair. Zimbabwe's Mark Marabini, a regular fixture on the European and UK scene in the eighties, headed an invitational team from that nation.
As far contests go, Simon completed the swim and bike with old SA buddies/fellow Euro travellers Kevin Richards and Harald Zumpt, both resplendent in their Springbok colours. He then scorched the fast and flat 10km run in a shade over 32min, not bad off of base training as he put it.
By then it was time to head back to Europe and the exceptionally difficult racing scene there. Come August, Simon had won all of his races but was still regarded as an outside contender for the ITU World Championships in Muskoka. An outside contender? That's right, the North American media were largely oblivious to the level of racing in Europe. Not the North American athletes though, many of whom had already been pulverised by the former 'Bananna Boy' in Embrun (pictured above) shortly prior. The final men's podium reflected this observation and was a changing of the tide really; Simon Lessing outlasted Rainer Mueller and Rob Barel for World Champion glory making it a European clean sweep and signalling the start of a new era.
Simon Lessing: Champion du Monde 1992 en passant par le Western Cape.
*Note: Header image first seen on Triathlon : plongée dans l'histoire avec les légendes à bord
