South African teen Connor Botha’s journey from shark attack capital to Northcliffe
The youngster now lives solo on the Gold Coast, an ocean away from his life back home in KwaZulu-Natal – South Africa’s most dangerous province for Great White Shark attacks.
Surf Lifesaving
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Rising Northcliffe surf lifesaving star Connor Botha understands what it means to sacrifice to follow a dream.
The 18-year-old South African has left friends and family behind in Durban to train with Australia’s strongest surf lifesaving club.
The youngster now lives solo on the Gold Coast, an ocean away from his life back home in KwaZulu-Natal – South Africa’s most dangerous province for Great White Shark attacks.
Botha says moving to Australia and competing on the ironman series has been his dream since his 15th birthday.
“Durban is a coastal city and there is a (lifesaving) culture there but not nearly as big as here,” Botha said.
“The sport itself is smaller but there’s still surf clubs along the coast and a lot of competition.
“My dad represented South Africa and he used to race against Wally (Northcliffe manager Mark Williams) in Australia, so he contacted him and I came over to Northcliffe last year for my first season.
“I’m loving it so much that I want to study here so I can continue to race with Northcliffe.
“My goal long-term is to qualify for the Nutri Grain Ironman Series and race in the professional series.
“It feels like I can reach this goal with the people and training facilities I have around me.”
Botha has achieved great success since transplanting his life, winning the Queensland under-17 ironman and belt races last year and a gold at the world championships.
Rubbing shoulders with some of his heroes at Northcliffe has shown him the path to converting that junior success to senior competition.
“I’ve got a lot of people around looking after me and looking out for me to make me feel at ease,” he said.
“Everyone around me at Northcliffe, (coach) Kev Morrison and my training partners really do push you to become better.
“To be able to train with top open guys like Mitch Coombes and Bayden Botha (no relation) is inspiring because they were the reason I joined Northcliffe.”
Botha’s journey towards competing as a professional draws him to North Kirra beach tomorrow for Round 3 of the Oceans 38 carnival,
“It’s a nice carnival to see where I am racing-wise and leading into the top end of the season now,” he said.
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