Former Lenasia Extension 5 resident, Ismail Ayob (Ishy), from Funtri and Jozi X Sports Clubs in Mayfair is having a year to remember.
He has just been selected to represent South Africa at the Duathlon World Champs in Denmark in 2018.
At the Gauteng Duathlon Champs, which comprises a 10km run, a 40km cycle and a 5km run, he surprised everyone.
Ishy, as he is affectionately called by his mates, took third place in his age group.
He had the fastest 10km run in his category at 42 min and both his changeovers were the fastest as well.
That qualified him to represent Gauteng and participate at the SA Champs in July for the first time, where he had a stammer in very tough conditions and a tough route. He achieved fourth position in his age group at SA Champs.
One statistic that he his happy about was the “30 seconds”, the 3rd best run to bike change over time, among the best Duathletes in South Africa in the standard and long distance events.
30 seconds is a few seconds from what they achieved at World Champs.
“This has been an incredibly rewarding year. I am over the moon at being selected. What a privilege and an honour to represent my country and to have the Protea colours as motivation. I am looking forward to the challenge. I believe I can still improve a lot in all the disciplines,” Ishy said.
One of his best results this year included a first place overall and a first in his age group at a Long Distance Duathlon event in North West at Buffelspoort, which was a 7km run, an 80km cycle and a hard hilly 21km run, finish.
He came first again in his age category at the Pick n Pay 8km run in Bedfordview in February, and took overall 5th place, the run having 800 athletes that morning.
It is incredible if one considers he only passed the startline 1 minute after the start of the race.
He was the third veteran finisher at this year’s Sarens 10 km race in Edenvale with a time of 43min for the 10km.152 veterans ran the race.
For fun, he participated in his first Park Run while on holiday in Durban in April, and came overall 13th in 20 minutes.
Over 1 700 athletes particpated that morning… and again he was the first veteran finisher.
At the ‘Red Hub’ Cradle of Humankind event in April, he was placed fourth overall in the Duathlon event… again first in his age group for the 5km run, 30km cycle and 5km trail run.
At one of the Pretoria 10km races, which he participates in occasionally, he emerged in overall 23rd position, the number of athletes who participated that morning totalled 1 100.
At the Vaal Marathon in Vereeniging, Ismail at 45 years of age, raced to his fastest 21 km in over 12 years… 1 hour 32 minutes. His best 5km time trial run, in more then 10 years came soon after, at 17 min 40 seconds.
At the Jeppe High School for Girls Fun Run, he raced to an overall fourth position out of 1 806 runners.
He followed that with another first position finish. He achieved first position and was the first veteran home at the trail run and road bike Duathlon at the Cradle in September. This was his second win in a race this year.
“Alhamdullilah, I have been blessed this year with great results, good health and no injuries. My family is really supportive of this journey as well. Having a club like Jozi x with so much support and motivation, makes a big difference,” added Ishy.
Submitted by Zaiboonisa Moosa
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