Yvonne Jonker: “I was never going to give up; even if it meant trying 10 times.”

Yvonne Jonker, now 36, started running to lose weight when she was 19. What started with her battling to run around the block – without having to walk – became a serious hobby and eventually got her started with another sport: triathlon. With the support of Team Vitality and the benefits of belonging to the Vitality wellness programme, Yvonne is now heading to Miami to take part in the Half-Ironman there. She’s also planning on taking on the Full Ironman in South Africa next year. Here’s her story.  

Taking back control over ME

“Once I got hooked on running,” says Yvonne, “there was no turning back.” In fact, Yvonne went from battling through a 5km fun run to running the Comrades. But it took her a few tries to get her medal. “I attempted my first Comrades in 2001, totally unprepared,” she says. “I missed the 20-to-go cut off and I was devastated.” But she says, even though she didn’t get the medal that day, it was an important milestone for her. “During those 11 hours on the road, I grew more as a person than in the 22 years of my childhood and young adulthood.”

When Yvonne was a child, she was raped twice. She says that the experience of running the Comrades made her feel as though she had control over her life again. “And I wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from me,” she says. Her experience was a breakthrough for her. “It was as if that day in 2001 taught me everything I needed to know about life. It also took away all my pain and the emotional damage done from being raped. Taking back control over ME was what motivated me. I proved to myself that anything is possible if I just put my heart and mind to it. If you are passionate about something, you live that passion out every day.”

The next year, she entered the Comrades again but this time she missed the 5-to-go cut off, getting closer and closer to the finish line (and her own personal victory).

“I was never going to give up,” she says, “even if it meant trying 10 times.”

She went back and finished her first Comrades with two minutes to spare in 2003. Then the next year she finished the up run and took an hour off her time. All of her new knowledge about nutrition and training had paid off.

Yvonne now had a new challenge

She desperately wanted to be a mother, but had to undergo various surgeries for recurring endometriosis to become pregnant. She also had a unicornuate uterus and studies found that about 50% of patients delivered a live baby, the rate for miscarriage was 34% and for preterm delivery it was 20%. Thus, woman with this rare condition are at a higher risk for pregnancy loss and obstetrical complications. After four laparoscopies, two artificial inseminations and three in vitro ICSI fertilisations, she eventually got her wish. But her twin babies were born three months premature in December of 2008 and had to spend two months in the ICU before she could take them home. “They fought for their little lives every day while weighing just over 1kg each. They were perhaps reminding me again that anything is possible.”

Her babies’ will to survive was another inspiration in Yvonne’s life and she soon moved on to the personal challenge of triathlon. She had finished a sprint triathlon in 2006 before triathlon was a big sport in South Africa. She progressed to Olympic distance triathlons and soon entered the Half-Ironman in 2012. She recommitted herself to becoming healthy and to lose the 37kg she had gained over the course of her pregnancy. She initially lost 22kg and then another 15kg by race day. But racing itself wasn’t her only challenge; she had never swum in the sea before and never in a wetsuit either. The day before the race she did both for the first time. Race day came and she finished with an hour to spare; and so she was hooked on triathlon.

Training for triathlon

Yvonne managed to train for all her events by herself; even training for the Half-Ironman swimming in the pool at her gym. As she progressed through her sporting career, Yvonne learned a lot. “I made a lot of mistakes during my first few years of running, especially nutrition wise, but also because of my lack of knowledge of correct training methods and training gear.” In fact, she contends that these three vital aspects might have contributed to her being deprived of her first two Comrades medals.

For Yvonne, it’s her children that inspire her and they are already begging for her to let them come along on races. “This way I am teaching them about a healthy lifestyle and in their own little way, never to give up.”

Yvonne joined Team Vitality because, for her, it made perfect sense. “I’m a Diamond status member on Vitality and I love sports so I had to join Team Vitality for running and cycling. I think this is a great initiative by Discovery,” she says.

Yvonne’s next goal is the Full Ironman in 2016.

Her advice for anyone who’s just starting out on their way to a fitness goal is to try to educate yourself, especially, she says, about nutrition and gear. Nutrition plays a vital role, but so does the correct running shoes. She also advises that you do it for yourself. “Don’t do it for your partner or to prove a point to your ex or anyone else; just for yourself. I might have dedicated my first Half-Ironman to my children who so bravely fought for their lives; but I still did it for myself. I had to be a healthy mom before I could teach my children a healthy lifestyle. I had to persevere and not give up before I could teach them about good morals and values and to never quit. It all starts with you.”

She further advises to start small and not to jump into a big goal. “Start your cross training with the correct advice and enter for the sprint triathlons,” she advises those who want to start triathlon. “Gradually build your way up to Olympic and Ultra distances.”

“But the most important,” she says, “Is to enjoy it. Enjoy every minute. It is an absolutely epic feeling crossing the finish line at Comrades or Half Ironman – you feel like the biggest champion in the world. Which you are!”