Garden Route's own triathlon golden girl

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GEORGE NEWS AND VIDEO - Wilderness resident Karli Lötter is preparing to depart on a busy few weeks of triathlon competition in Zimbabwe and Benoni, and then up the West Coast to Swakopmund in Namibia.

Lötter's journey into the competitive world of triathlon started at age eight when she attended a youth development event hosted by Eden Triathlon.

She immediately showed her promise, and by age 12, she was representing her province at national level. Her star has been on the rise since then.

Stop one in Troutbeck, Zimbabwe, is the African Junior Cup on 8 March, where Lötter has moved up to the u.19 category. A team of four junior men and four junior women have been selected, and she is the youngest.

Then it's to Benoni for the South African Championships, where she will compete in the u.17 age group. The African Triathlon Cup in Namibia sees Lötter racing back in the u.19 age group, but she smiled confidently when asked if she was feeling more pressure competing in an older age group.

"The girls are really strong, so there will always be a certain amount of pressure for me, but because I'm the youngest, it also takes away some of that pressure. I'm just super excited for this journey," she says.

The race distances in all the events are 750m swim, followed by a 20km cycle and a 5km run.

"This means super high intensity racing," laughs Lotter. "It's super fast." Her coach is working closely with her on a two-year plan, and her build-up and training have been running smoothly.

As for the future, Lötter has her sights set on the Olympic Games and also a possible move to the professional ranks. The shorter competition distance triathlons will remain the focus, but Lötter hasn't ruled out a possible Iron Man event in her future. "That really looks tough, but certainly something I would like to try one day."