No holding back Umdloti’s iron woman

Umdloti has been home to many formidable female athletes, but when it comes to all round natural talent, few can compete with Robyn Wigget.

After learning that Wigget represented South Africa at last year’s Masters Hockey World Cup in Cape Town, the Courier caught up with her to find out more.

Wigget is about to start preparing for another Masters World Cup after having been selected for the 2024 squad to New Zealand. She is also a former manager of the SA women’s indoor hockey team,

Wife to airline captain Richard and mother of three boys, she is the deputy principal at Virginia Preparatory in charge of sport and marketing.

She accepted the post in January this year after resigning from Reddam House Umhlanga.

“I went from private to government school, a move hardly anyone makes.”

But looking at her many sporting achievements, trying new things is part of who she is. Her seemingly infinite supply of energy makes her stand out.

She is effervescent and full of pleasant surprises, like a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.

After playing SA U21 and KZN hockey for a couple of years, Wigget gave up hockey to try canoeing and run the Comrades.

She ended up completing two Comrades Marathons and has been racing in the Dusi Canoe Marathon for more than 20 years.

“It started off as an iron woman challenge consisting of completing a Comrades, the Dusi and the Midmar Mile.”

Wigget’s approach to competing in sport is quite unconventional and perhaps an indication of an above average natural ability.

She prefers to train as little as possible and rely more on muscle memory.

She trained hard for her first Comrades, an up run she found demanding. She completed her second Comrades with very little training and found it a lot easier.

Wigget and her husband have completed the last five Dusi races.

“My first Dusi was the hardest when I was young and I trained hard. It’s a mental thing.”

Wigget has also tackled and finished the Cape Argus cycle tour a few times, as well as the four-day Port Elizabeth to East London surfski race which she describes as her toughest event ever.

“The one day we spent eight and a half hours paddling into the North-East wind and I got stung by bluebottles all over my body.”

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