About Simon

Simon PortraitSimon was born in Cape Town in 1971 and Table Mountain was the backdrop to his formative years. Cape Town's beauty is legendary and very different to the rest of South Africa in many ways. Its climate is Mediterranean, its music is jazz, its surrounded by vineyards and Capetonians have a tendency to say "relax, the mountain's going nowhere" when confronted with the big city dynamism of Johannesburg. Having an ocean on either side of the city and a mountain in the middle means that people who grow up in Cape Town tend to get in to outdoor sports from a very young age. Simon was no exception and with a mother who is a swimming coach it wasn't long before he was into competitive sport.

By the end of his fifth year at school he had won provincial colors in swimming, sailing and biathlon and made his name as a cross-country runner. When Simon was 9 his family moved to Durban. Durban is a port city set on the tropical East Coast. It's warm all year round and close to both the towering Drakensberg mountain range and the wild, unspoiled beaches of Northern Natal and Mozambique. It is home to the Zulu people as well as the largest Indian population outside of India. Durban used to be more famous for its beach culture and marijuana (Durban Poison) than anything else but these days it's getting an international reputation for both its sporting excellence and its music. Cricket, rugby and soccer are the three biggest sports in South Africa and Durban has the champion team in all three of these sports. Durban's music, which ranges from traditional African to hip hop, pop, blues, reggae, jazz, metal and rock took off when the Apartheid state lost control of the airwaves and it's become a vital part of life in the city.

Table MountainWhen Simon was growing up surfing and rugby were the two sports that white Durban considered to be cool. Simon resisted the pressure to switch to these sports and continued with his swimming, sailing, track, cross-country and duathlon. He also developed a real love of hiking and spent a lot of time in the Drakensberg Mountain range.

South Africa was not a happy place in the eighties though. The iron fist of the Apartheid state was crashing down on all opposition, all TV and radio were state run, the press were subject to heavy censorship, schools and residential areas were segregated and major efforts were being made to indoctrinate white youth through school programs like cadets. Since democracy has come to the country it's become very difficult to find any white South African who will admit to having supported Apartheid but the truth is that the majority of white South Africans made no effort to look beyond the lies that were being fed to them.

The record shows that Simon was a brave exception. He took a lot of flak from some teachers and pupils for his stance but he never backed down and was prepared to take risky actions. On one occasion Simon and a friend removed all the duplicate books from the storeroom of the school library and gave them to a nearby black school that, until that day, had no library. Simon also made sporting sacrifices for his beliefs. He was, of course, unpopular with Afrikaner dominated selection committees and when, in 1987, a black pupil from a private church run school was prevented from participating in the country's most prestigious schools athletics meeting Simon was one of a few white pupils who pulled out in protest.

Simon - Running Stellbosch, South AfricaSimon's High School career was about a lot more than politics and refusing to play rugby. He spent an average of 3 hours a day training and excelled in swimming, duathlon, sailing, track and cross-country. His swim coach, David McCarney, was one of the top triathletes in South Africa at the time (1985) and he was the first to recognize Simon's multi-sport talent. He encouraged Simon to try one of the family orientated races that he organized at Kloof High School and Simon borrowed a bicycle and gave it a go. He remembers that "At the age of 14 it was good to try something new and exciting and I found that I adapted well to the multi-sport demands. On top of it I made some pocket money which is more than I can say of the other sports that I was involved in at the time."

By 1988 Simon was the South African triathlon champion and had been awarded national colors. He was also selected to represent South Africa in biathlon but he suffered a broken leg when a delivery van knocked him off his bike during a local triathlon and he had to forgo the opportunity to represent his country.

Siomn Runing - Stellenbosch, South AfricaSimon completed High School in November 1988. In those days all white men had to spend two years in the South African Defense Force (SADF) doing what was euphemistically called "National Service". It actually amounted to occupying Namibia, supporting reactionary movements like Unita in Angola, Renamo in Mozambique and Inkatha in South Africa as well as suppressing dissent in townships and squatter settlements. Simon, as a long time supporter of the, by now illegal, End Conscription Campaign made an easy decision to leave South Africa and try to fulfill his athletic dreams in Europe. Simon explains, "As an 18 year old it was a huge eye opener as I had never left isolated South Africa before. It was also an opportunity because at the time South Africa was banned from competing in international sport and moving to England gave me the chance to purse an international sporting career under the British Flag. Simon's mother was born in England that entitled him to duel citizenship from an early age.

He very soon had major sporting success and although it is strange for his many South African friends and fans to see him carrying the Union Jack as he breaks the tape they still support him enthusiastically.

Career Highlights