Drama Princess, you're an Ironkid

 

It's Ironman weekend in Port Elizabeth and the vibe in town around this iconic event is absolutely mind blowing.  In addition to the main event on Sunday, there are also two events taking place on Saturday.  First off was the Corporate Challenge followed by Ironkids in the afternoon.  Drama Princess entered Ironkids after missing last year and this year had to do the slightly longer 100 meter swim and 2 km run as she just turned ten and thus moved up into the "senior" group.  Spur Ironkids South Africa is the biggest Ironkids event in the world and with 1 000 children between 6 and 13 years old taking part it isn't hard to understand why.

The swim took place at McArthur's Pool and then they ran along the beachfront promenade to finish under the same arch at Hobie Beach where the Ironman competitors will on Sunday.  The kids set off in waves of 20 which meant that we had a bit of a wait for Drama Princess to get her turn.  Swimming isn't her strongest discipline so we could see how she made sure she was close to one of the lifeguards accompanying the kids during the swim before the even got into the water.  Once in the water she quickly decided to take a breather and grabbed onto the floaty, catching a lift for a while before swimming the last bit to the transition area.  I meanwhile changed camera lenses and made sure I was in front of her on the running course by the time she had her shoes on and came flying up the ramp to the promenade from the pool area.

This year I'm a lot fitter (and lighter) than the previous time I ran this with her so I could stick with her without huffing and puffing like a steam locomotive.  Her run went very well and I'm starting to realise more and more that she is a middle distance runner in the making (in addition to her netball, cricket and now also tennis).  All in all it was an awesome day and we're all looking forward to watch some Ironman action tomorrow.

Drama Princess... You're an Ironkid!!!