About Go Multi magazine

About Go Multi - A new beginning

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A new beginning by complete accident

An interview with Go Multi founder and publisher Deon Braun:

I became a multisporter in 1992 and I haven't looked back. Back then it was duathlon that caught my eye after an unfortunate altercation with Mother Nature. I really wasn't looking for trouble, but you know Her... She's quite impartial and in Donald Trump style, it wasn't personal, it was just business.

There I was, riding a 2m winter wave on a paddleski. The wave was a solid wall of slow-crumbling H2O that was breaking along a harbour wall. Suddenly I ran out of water, and the groyne curved in front of me. I was upended by the wave, and then the full force of many tons of water drove me into the barnacle-infested concrete blocks.

The force ripped my paddleski waist-belt clean off, tore holes right through my 2mm wetsuit, and as a free bonus, peeled a 25cm crescent of scalp and left it hanging like a third ear. (Yes, I only have two, just like you).

Lying on my back as the waters receded, to say that I was seeing red stars would be a good description. Two red fish flapped over my face and then I realised they were my arms trying to re-learn proper usage.

After being hauled up the 3m abyss by one of three medics who happened to be fishing right there (how lucky was that?), I lay bleeding on the sand. As they adjusted my neck brace while dozens of onlookers craned their necks to get a better view, I decided that surfing is best left to the lucky ones who do it from an early age.

Now bicycles... that's another story! That's where I have the advantage of experience since youth, and it wasn't long before I was doing triathlons. A few years later I was just riding road bikes, then mountain bikes and finally I got roped into doing a real multisport event - with trail running, mountain biking and kayak paddling! Now that's the best of all worlds.

That's multisport.

So... if you're already hooked on one of the endurance sports, I'd like to encourage you to explore the others - and reap the benefits in every area of your life.

One last thing... remember to stay away from big waves!

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Deon Braun, Publisher