Lauren ‘dances’ to silver medal in African Sprint Tri Cup

She recently also won the Central Gauteng Provincial Triathlon Championships.

Dance finished 35 seconds behind Bermuda’s two-time Olympian and Xterra World Champion Flora Duffy, who completed the race in 1:08:48.

Japan’s Aoi Kuramoto took the final spot on the podium.

The Tri Cup is contested over a 750m swimming leg, a gruelling 20km cycle leg and a lung-busting 5km last leg.

Dance completed the respective legs in 10 minutes flat, 35:43 and 22:26.

Austrian international Sara Vilic had the fastest swim, finishing in 09:56; Dance had the quickest bike leg and Duffy was fastest on the run, completing it in 21:52.

“I am really happy about my performance, as well as the result,” said Dance.

“I had a good swim, coming out of the water in the lead pack, which set me up for a solid race. No big impact was made during the bike leg, which saw seven of us go into transition together.

“The lead bunch was quickly cut to five out on the run and I soon found myself fighting for second with Flora, 30-odd seconds ahead, with the other athletes behind myself and Aoi.

“This gave me confidence and I managed to make a surge and get away in the last 400m to win silver.

“The result is good for me as a confidence-builder and for my coach to get an accurate reflection on my current form.

“I am looking forward to the rest of the 2015 season and hoping to build on this performance.”

Dance is a member of Mad Multisport and has trained with coach Mike Moriarty since her days at Boksburg High, in 2008.

“Lauren is in good shape and she has just come off a solid base preparation phase,” said Moriarty.

“This has set her up to endure a really hectic year of competing internationally, to make it to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the 2016 Olympics host city.

”It is really rewarding to see her racing well and delivering a world-class performance like this one: being the first South African home and beating a number of highly-ranked international athletes.”

Dance is currently gunning for her Honours in Psychology at the University of Johannesburg.

Her main sponsor is Schaldor Plastics, a Boksburg-based company.

Her 2015 race plans include travelling to Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Mexico and South Korea.

A budget shortfall of R380 000 has her holding fund-raising events throughout the year and her coach is requesting any parties interested in assisting with financial injections to contact him on 083 666 1714, or at coach@madmultisport.co.za. – @SabeloBoksburg