Dylan Janos
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My tri career didn't start until much later in my life. Up until my second year at university I was a competitive swimmer. A competitive breaststroker, where I swam my whole life with and against some top athletes/Olympians. In 2008 I swam at the 2008 Olympics trails against Cameron van der Burgh and many other top guys. And shortly after that I decided to take a break from that side of the sport, the competitive side.
After a couple of months, I started doing some running to keep fit and by the end of 2008 I tried some road cycling with my dad and the local cycling club in somerset west. By the end of 2009 I completed my first of my many, many Double Century bike races. That's where I started the athlete lifestyle and soon fell in love with it all.
After a couple of years of social running and cycling, a friend asked me if I was keen to do the 2014 Absa Cape Epic. At the time I was a financial student and had to use my financial studies to make some money on the JSE to pay for my entry and my new bike. I managed to buy a specialized stump jumper and that's when I started to fall in love with mountain biking. The thrill, adrenaline and excitement from the technical trails to the epic views that only a mountain bike can offer. Even though I didn't have the skill set yet I was very much in heaven.
Post epic, I started running more and more, and riding my bike more and more. So I was entering triathlons and noticing that my swim abilities really helped my results. By 2015, I did my first big boy off road tri - the Xterra Grabouw and ended 4th place in my age group. I promised that I would one day win this age group.
Year by year I started started improving. In 2015 at Slanghoek I finished 5th and then by 2016 I moved up to 3rd. The Woolworths tri was the same, in 2015 I managed a 3rd place against the pros and then by 2016 I improved that position to 1st. Year by year I could see that the more I put in the better I got. By 2017 Xterra SA champs in Grabouw I felt so excited. I managed the goal of winning my age group, same age group from 2015 and getting an entry to world champs in Hawaii. That was a major thing in my life and one that happily say I can share it was the Orca brand.
What does the future hold? For now I am working on getting stronger, faster and meaner so when the next summer comes, I will be ready to turn some heads. I feel like everyday and every week I'm slowly catching up to the top guys in this sport. I can see that when I do some trial runs or when I train with some of these guys in Stellenbosch.
For 2018, I aim to be a big threat come the Xterra races all around South Africa. I feel that I have to potential inside to complete with the top guys of this sport like the Lords, Weiss and Stoltz's of the world. Any maybe crack it into the pro ranks by 2019. Looking forward to what the future holds.