Patrice seventh in world for half Ironman

Recently he received the news that his race performance in the 2013 half IronMan earned himself a place in the Top 10 percent in the world in his age group.

Patrice was born in France in 1969 and immigrated to South Africa when he was a toddler.

His first school he attended was in Sasolburg, where he completed half of grade 1, then as a family moved to eMalahleni and completed his primary school career at Robert Carruthers.
“Mr Peach was the school principal and I now do some training on his single tracks he has laid out for us cyclists,” said Patrice with a smile.

Patrice then completed his high school years at Witbank High School.
In 2013 Patrice did the half Ironman completing a distance of 70.3 kilometers and he finished the race in third place.

Last week, a year after the event Patrice received an email from Ironman International to inform him of his latest achievement.
On the official Ironman results it puts him in seventh place.
“I was quite surprised to receive an email from them informing me of my achievement. It lets me realize that the Lord has given me a wonder talent that I can use,” said Patrice.

Patrice was not expecting anything as he only started doing triathlons in November 2012 and did his first Ironman 70.3 in January, where he came third. His times from this race were he swam the 1.9 kilometer swim in 37 minutes and 45 seconds, the bike ride of 90 kilometers was done in a time of two hours, 32 minutes and 15 seconds and then the run over a distance of 21.1 kilometers was competed in one hour and 34 minutes.

“I said to my friends that I am going to get a podium position and I did it,” said Patrice.
Patrice has his eye set on the full Ironman next year; once again he wants a podium finish. He also wants to go to World Championships in Hawii, comprising of a 3.8kilometer open water swim, 180 kilometer bike ride and 42.2 kilometer run.

Patrice is a very busy man; he works a nine hour day from Monday to Friday. Then he has to fit in his training.
“I really enjoy training and laying out mountain bike trails. I also do my own garden work and then I’ve got four boys, Polixie (24), Jeandre (13) and the twins Jonathan and Nicholas (9) and they also keep me busy. Then there’s my lovely wife Heidi. She my wife, my friend and my support and back up crew (Love you lots),” said Patrice.

According to Patrice fitness and health go hand in hand and a person should have a balanced in life.
“I also think most people over train and push themselves to hard and work without a plan. I’ve been helping and coaching for a while now and most people can’t believe it’s all they need to do when they get their training plan. But train smart and not hard is my motto,” said Patrice.