Benonians take on Ironman challenge

The idea of the Benoni Brick Sessions is to do the distance of a full Ironman over three days.

February 13, 2020

Jemma Buys 1 minute read

Matthew Willis (left), Francois Hattingh, Will Heystek, Kristian Fesel, Craig Dingle, Justin Bothma, Mark Dingle, Michael Busschau and Chris Tucker after completing their marathon on Sunday and putting a great end to their Benoni Brick Sessions. Absent: Jazz van Rensburg.

Eight locals decided to hold their very own Ironman Triathlon challenge last weekend, which they called Benoni Brick Sessions.

“The idea of the Benoni Brick Sessions is to do the distance of a full Ironman over three days,” explained Jasper ‘Jazz’ van Rensburg, the 2019 Senior Sportsman of the Year at Benoni Northerns.

He formed part of the eight-man team who took on these sessions, his teammates being Matthew Willis, Francois Hattingh, Mark Stevens, Kristian Fesel, Mark Dingle, Micheal Busschau and Bryce Hennessey.

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An Ironman triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organised by the World Triathlon Corporation, consisting of a 2.4 mile (3.9km) swim, a 112 mile (180.25km) bicycle ride and a 26.22 mile (42.2km) marathon, raced in that order.

The group after completing their 180km cycle.

Jazz van Rensburg running the Johnson Crane half-marathon (21.2km).

Matthew Willis (Left), Francois Hattingh, Mark Stevens, Jazz van Rensburg, Kristian Fesel, Mark Dingle, Micheal Busschau and Bryce Hennessey before heading out on their 180km cycle.

The group before doing their 3-3.8km swim.

This Benoni group began their journey with a 3km to 3.8km swim at Homestead Dam on January 24, followed by 180km of cycling on January 25 and then they competed in the Johnson Crane Marathon on January 26, with some of them competing in the 21.1km (half-marathon) and others in the 42.2km (marathon).

Their efforts quickly inspired others and the team grew over the three days, Jazz explained, even including two women, Kaylin Verreyne and Chanelle Birch, who are also from Benoni.

Team members who ran the 42.2km full marathon were Mark Dingle (3:28), Matthew Willis (3:28), Marc Daniel (3:29) and Micheal Busschau (3:50).

Half-marathon Benoni Brick Sessions runners were Jazz van Rensburg (1:32), Chris Tucker (1:38), Frederick Pilch (1:54), JC van Heerden (2:01), Mark Stevens (2:08), Francois Hattingh (2:10), Justin Bothma (2:10) and Craig Dingle (2:25).

Verreyne and Birch also did the 3km swim, a 130km cycle and competed in the 42.2km marathon on Sunday, both securing a time of 4:43.

“A weekend of 10 hours or more of training sounds daunting, but having a fantastic group of guys and girls to share it with makes it so much easier,” said Willis.

“It sounds very strange, but there are very few other ways I would prefer to spend my weekend.”