{"id":20222,"date":"2015-04-07T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T09:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2015\/04\/07\/from-zero-to-hero-what-drove-songo-fipaza-to-do-the-ironman-r2337\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T11:05:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T11:05:55","slug":"from-zero-to-hero-what-drove-songo-fipaza-to-do-the-ironman-r2337","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/from-zero-to-hero-what-drove-songo-fipaza-to-do-the-ironman-r2337\/","title":{"rendered":"From zero to hero: what drove Songo Fipaza to do the Ironman?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six months ago Songo Fipaza could not float, let alone swim. On Sunday the 29th March he completed open water 3.8km swim – then topped that with the 180km cycle and 42km run in the Iron Man championship in Mandela Bay. A great cyclist and runner, Songo\u2019s dream of competing in Triathlons would remain that \u2013unless he could learn to stay afloat and then to swim.<\/p>\n

He was first identified by Triathlon coaches Kent and Claire Horner, professional athletes, ambassadors for Virgin Active and owners of Mytrainingday Triathlon Academy. They organised his first swimming lesson at Virgin Active in Stellenbosch and if the world seemed to be his oyster it was a very difficult one to crack open. He would need serious coaching and inspiration to continue.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-68183900-1428402497.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In December last year, Songo met Sir Richard Branson and demonstrated his then very basic swimming skills at the Point pool in Greenpoint. Branson was thrilled to hear that Songo had completed the Ironman and warmly encouraged him to continue his training.<\/p>\n

However, it wasn\u2019t all smooth swimming from the start. Brett Wood, Songo\u2019s swimming coach says when Songo first started treading water he was in the Coetzenberg indoor pool which is 2.5 metres deep. He sank. \u201cHe was in no man\u2019s land, too far to push off the bottom and unable to use the water to come up,\u201d says Brett. \u201cHe obviously panicked and I had to reach down a full arm\u2019s length to pull him up.\u201d Songo\u2019s courage was such that he tried again immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is his character, his determination. Someone who refuses to let failure or fear master them,\u201d says Brett.<\/p>\n

“There is so much more to learning to swim in an adult rather than a child. An adult comes with baggage especially if you have grown up thinking it is dangerous or something to fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brett says he spent a lot of time with Songo focussing on being comfortable; experiencing the environment of the water, sinking down to fetch things off the bottom and developing special awareness and breathing. \u201cI knew if I could control his breathing and simple stroke focus, he could control the emotional response to fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October 2014 Songo completed his first length unaided and without stopping at the Virgin Active pool in Stellenbosch under the watchful eye of Brett. It is nothing short of a miracle that this young athlete went from zero to one of the most gruelling open water swims in the world in just six months.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-51373300-1428402493.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sir Richard Branson meets Songo.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Songo thinks would be a miracle is to compete in the Iron Man World Championships in Hawaii \u2013 considered the most gruelling in the world and his mentors at Virgin Active have no doubts he can.<\/p>\n

So what drives Songo? Not only is he mentored but he is a mentor himself. \u201cSongo lives and leads by the example of his life,” says Brett. \u201cEvery day he works with kids who are facing massive challenges to the dreams they have for their lives \u2013 and he doesn\u2019t just say to them, hang tough you can make it happen. He says that and then goes out and shows them by his active example.\u201d<\/p>\n

Songo believes that if he doesn\u2019t succeed, “I\u2019ll drop the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the kids he means the eighty five, 5 to 14-year- olds he teaches from 3-5 in the afternoon on a BMX track in Kayamandi. After studying tourism he decided to start a charity organisation in his home town of Kayamandi meaning \u201cSweet Home\u201d. It is a vibrant community of 33 000 people who live in various structures from formal houses to shack dwellings. Approximately 70% of the community live in informal settlements without access to services such as water and toilet facilities. Unemployment is high and total income per family is significantly low.<\/p>\n

Songo has recognised the value in creating a community for children and a safe place for them to grow and develop.<\/p>\n

Brett says, \u201cHe is a role model those kids, and someone everybody can believe in. There is so much integrity in his example.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of Songo\u2019s achievement, Brett says, \u201cIt is important to understand that even when Songo could swim laps, the challenge wasn\u2019t over. Swimming a distance in the sea is a completely different animal. The sea is unpredictable, rough, there are currents and winds. Claire had to teach him \u2018sighting\u2019 – being able to swim and look up to see where you are going. There are no lanes to guide you. I always knew Songo would get better and better and firmly believed he would eventually be able to do the 3.8km swim but it was a huge ask \u2013 so soon!\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Hardy, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Sponsorships at Virgin Active says \u2018We really understood the meaning of our role as official health and wellness partner to the Standard Bank Ironman African championship when we were able to help Songo achieve his goal of participating in the race,\u201d says Patrick \u201cI had heard of Songo and his legendary determination and simply by offering this extraordinary man a race entry, access to train in our clubs and a meeting with Sir Richard Branson, we felt we could play a small role in helping him to accomplish his lifelong dream of competing in this gruelling challenge. Songo has demonstrated extraordinary will power and commitment. He is a true inspiration and ambassador for not only the youth of South Africa but for all of us faced by what may seem an insurmountable challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claire Horner, who coached Songo for the Triathlon, says \u201cI have over 70 athletes I coach. Songo is totally refreshing \u2013 it so humbling to be involved in his dream. He is awesome \u2013 just watch this space\u2026. \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six months ago Songo Fipaza could not float, let alone swim. On Sunday the 29th March he completed open water 3.8km swim – then topped that with the 180km cycle and 42km run in the Iron Man championship in Mandela Bay. A great cyclist and runner, Songo\u2019s dream of competing in Triathlons would remain that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[151,4199,4200,1806],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-ironman","tag-sir-richard-branson","tag-songo-fipaza","tag-triathlon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20222"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}