Could 2017 be Mortlock’s year?
Roger Mortlock competed in his first triathlon last year January as part of his training for the Dusi Canoe Marathon.
Little did he know that he would fall in love with the sport and represent South Africa at the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Cozumel, Mexico, in September.
The local athlete finished in 17th place in the 30-to-34 male age group, a rather impressive performance considering it was little more than a year since he had started training in the sport.
“Mexico as a whole was definitely one of my best experiences as it is an amazing country. The actual event was also incredible as it was so well-organised. It was also amazing to see so many triathletes in one place,” Mortlock says.
“My wife, Charlotte, and I arrived a week before the World Champs in order to acclimatise and recover from the jet lag. We used this time to experience some local cuisine and extremely hot beach days. We also travelled for 10 days after the ITU event in Cozumel.”
The thirty-year-old farmer adds that he is incredibly pleased with his 17th-place finish.
“I wasn’t sure what position I was aiming for before the event but I thought a top 50 would be great. Looking back, you always wish you could have done better. I was two and a half minutes from a top-10 finish.”
Mortlock, who has lived in the Lowveld since he was just three years old and matriculated at Uplands College, has much to look forward to in the new year with the Mpumalanga trials on February 5, which will allow him to qualify for the South African Championships.
“If I have a great race there, it will qualify me to be selected to represent South Africa at the World Champs in Rotterdam next year September. Right now, those are my goals and I’ll have to take them one step at a time,” he explains.
He also admits that Christmastime is always tough on his training.
“Motivation naturally drops and my routine is broken. The training, therefore, takes a slight back seat. I’m on a big training block going into Christmas and then I’ll go onto a maintenance programme for two weeks until I get going again on January 10.” If you take a look at his weekly training schedule, maybe he is in need of a ‘slight’ break.
“I’ll average about 14 to 15 hours of training a week. It’s not calculated on distance but more about time and intervals. On the weekends, I’ll do my longer sessions like a long ride and run on Saturday and then a long distance run on Sunday.
“During the week it’s short and sharp training sessions. I ride four times, run six times and fit in four swim sessions per week,” says Mortlock.
Watch this space, Lowvelders. Roger Mortlock may be up for a top-10 finish at the World Triathlon Championships in 2017.
