Rural farming communities tend to produce amazing sporting talent. More often than not, agriculture and athletics seem to complement one other, where a childhood spend roaming wild and free lays an aerobic foundation second to none. One only has to think of the nations of Kenya and Ethiopia to draw such comparisons; a simple upbringing combined with manual labour, transport-afoot and exposure to abundant fresh air being the recurring attributes evident in the great athletes of East Africa.
Perhaps less-known is that the above description extends to
shores of Southern Africa, where a fresh bundle of multi-sport talent has been
nurtured in rural simplicity. Situated on the outskirts of Cape Town, the hills
around Durbanville are home to many a
wheat and dairy farm. Effectively a gateway to the greater Swartland region
of the Western Cape, the area has a distinctly rural feel yet is but a stone’s
throw from the Mother City’s northern suburbs.
“The gravel road leading out of our farm was my daily
training run,” remembers Richard Murray. “We would run to the main gate and
back with the dogs, which prepared me well for school cross-country meetings.”
Richard Murray’s use of the term “prepared” needs to be put
into proper context though. One of the fastest runners currently on the ITU
World Series Triathlon circuit, Murray’s formative years roaming barefoot at
his parent’s farm has prepared him both physically and mentally for life as a professional
triathlete. His innate athletic ability in tandem with naturally sound
biomechanics plus a “never-give-up” attitude have propelled him into one of the
world’s top triathletes in the draft-legal Olympic distance format.
Yet Murray’s emergence as one of the sport’s leading
exponents has not exactly happened overnight.
“My international career began when I was sixteen,” he
explains. “I started off in Germany competing for a second-division Bundesliga club, which was a tough
but great experience. I was fortunate to gain promotion to the first division
fairly quickly off of some great initial results and this set the ball
rolling.”
As is the case in neighbouring France, Germany has a highly
organized and fiercely competitive club system, where athletes race on a weekly -
and sometimes twice-weekly - basis. Effectively employees of a professional club,
the athletes are exposed to perhaps the toughest of proving grounds, the
incessant travel and the maintenance of peak fitness testing their resilience
to the fullest. Those who succeed against this sort of backdrop develop a unique
sort of toughness, perspective and attitude that cannot be taught, and which
can be difficult for an outsider to interpret at face value.
“Some people may have thought I was a bit cocky initially,
but I would say that I’m a positive person by nature,” says Murray. “I treat
everyone as an equal and don’t have any airs and graces. On and off the race
course, I have immense respect for all of my competitors, no matter what their
ranking or status. While this is a result of my upbringing, those first years
competing and travelling in Europe taught me a lot about maintaining
relationships and earning respect, especially when you are living and
travelling with a group of strangers for half the year.”
While several of the more developed nations have state-funded
programmes complete with coaches and backup staff, it is perhaps incorrect to
view Murray and his fellow South Africans on the ITU circuit as a team. Whilst
they are all friends and see one another at the races, the South African
triathletes are pretty much individuals in a branch of the sport that is
increasingly becoming specialized and team-orientated.
“Not all,” he responds when asked if he views the South
African triathletes independent route as detrimental to performance. “I
actually see it as a positive. Each of us has our own identity and we have
become more street-smart through necessity. Sure, things have become better for
some of us with increased personal sponsorship, but the South African
triathletes as a whole do retain a more independent status than many of our
competitors.”
The increased specialization of Olympic-format triathlon has
led to the emergence of several training squads, which are headed by coaches
neutral to any particular national allegiance. These squads are multinational
in make-up, where many athletes who are in direct competition with each other
fall under the same coach.
Murray is as part of Canadian Joel Filliol’s stable, which includes the
likes of Mario Mola who, like
Murray, is intent on achieving regular WTS victories. Having athletes of
similar abilities and aspirations in the same training squad can pose potential
problems, where training sessions become overly competitive and even detrimental
in the long run. Proper management ensures that this not the case though, with
Filliol ensuring that both Murray and Mola save their best for race day.
“Mario and I don’t actually train together that much,”
confirms Murray. “Joel’s approach is such that each athlete is on an individual
training schedule. Like a lot of high-performance squads, very little of our
high-intensity work is done together. Otherwise training just becomes a race.”
And race he certainly has. Having produced fifth and third-place
finishes in the Cape Town and Yokohama stops of WTS 2014 respectively, Murray has
continued his upward progression with a close runner up position in London on
31 May, incidentally behind his friend and sometimes training partner Mario Mola.
With a full schedule of WTS and European club racing commitments ahead, it
surely is only a matter of time before the upbeat Capetonian produces a winning
performance reminiscent of his triumph
in Hamburg two years ago.
But first is the matter of an extended training camp in in the
quietness and simplicity of rural Spain. Not that this worries Murray though,
who revels in an environment so similar to that of his childhood.
"Next week would be best, I think," he enthuses when setting up a time for further correspondence. "I won't have internet in Spain for three weeks though, but I'm sure we can make a plan."
