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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
FOR 30 years, Pamela Fulton has been involved in triathlon and it’s her passion that drives her to keep contributing to the sport she loves.
She began her journey in triathlon as an athlete and rose through the ranks to be involved in development and coaching for Triathlon Zimbabwe.
She was recently voted the vice president of the national association.
“I have been involved in triathlon now for 30 years. First, as an athlete, then I moved into the coaching side,” she said.
“I took over the development role four or five years ago. Last year, I was voted onto the board and I guess its natural progression for me to be voted in as vice president.
“I feel, I am ready for a new challenge. As you can see, triathlon has been a huge part of my life for many many years and it’s a real privilege and honour to be able to assist in the leading of a sport I have loved so much.
“And, just hopefully, guide the sport to even higher levels. We have had a great reputation for many years and hope we can maintain the reputation.”
Fulton said they will continue practising good governance and will do everything to ensure the sport remains safe from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some of the programmes she has been involved in include aquathlon, which she is hoping to take to various schools across the country.
“It has been interesting to watch our sport develop over the years. First, when I used to race, it was a predominantly adult sport,” she said
“Then, it became predominantly kids-oriented and, in the last few years, it’s been awesome to watch the adults coming back to our sport.
“And, I think, we realised that we need to start catering more for our elite adults, creating longer courses, longer races for them to try and encourage more of our adults to come back.
“So, there will be many changes, or many additions, to our sport this year.
“And there is also the elite aspect of our sport. We have had some fantastic junior elites coming through the rankings, thanks to the ATU development plan, where they have been hosting camps in the North and South of Africa.
“These camps are aimed at supporting African athletes who are of Olympic standard but just haven’t been exposed to that kind of racing.”
The likes of Andie Kuipers and Matthew Denslow, who are some of the promising triathletes for the future, have benefited from these camps.
Zimbabwe hosted one of the camps in February and Fulton was one of the two head coaches in charge.
“Matt is now moving into the Under-23 ranking, we really look forward to seeing how he progresses and Triathlon Zimbabwe will do as much as we can to support our athletes to ensure that they get to Paris 2024,” Fulton said.
The national mother body have set the 2022 Youth Olympic Games, to be staged in Senegal, as a priority for young athletes and are targeting those born in 2005 or 2006.
Last year she led the triathlon team to the African Games where two of the athletes, Laurelle Brown and Kuipers picked a silver and bronze medal.
The new executive board is led by David Ellis while Jason Bennett is the treasurer and Christo Jacobs is the fourth member.
Online Reporter