Sonja Terblanche-Otto

 

 2000, Hano Otto and Sonja Terblanche met through Adventure racing, being in the same Team that prepared for the Borneo Eco Challenge. After the Race (a huge test for their relationship), they got married and started their own Company, the Adventure Centre of Excellence, focusing on Event Management, Corporate Team Building, Leadership Development, Training and Adventure Tourism. Since 2001 they have been organising numerous events in and around Africa.

From 2000 to 2003 they raced in Team Drifter (sponsored by Mazda) ranked as one of the top 3 Adventure Racing Teams in South Africa, winning numerous Events. In 2004 they took on the task of organising the BULL of Africa, South Africa’s premier Adventure racing Event. The field included 2 Canadian teams and took the Racers over the Witteberg & Drakensberg mountain ranges. The 2005 BULL took place in the remote Richtersveld National Park and included 15 International Teams in the field. In 2008 the Eastern Cape & Transkei Wild Coast played host to this prestigious Event with 18 different countries represented in 25 International Teams, racing over rugged terrain against 27 South African teams. The Otto couple was focused on making the BULL one of the biggest and most exotic Races in the World. They had the opportunity to host the Adventure Racing World Championships in 2011, but serious Sponsorship issues derailed their dream.

Hano & Sonja spent the next 2 years working at a big Diving Resort in Mozambique, Hano as Resort Manager and Sonja as Marketing Manager. They returned to SA to pursue their passion for Sport and Sonja started her Company, TRISPORT, specializing in Triathlon & Duathlon Events. Hano initiated Southern Cross Adventures www.southerncrossadventure.co.za and together with Sonja, they will continue their love relationship with sports people, adventurers and the young leaders of our communities.
 

Hano Otto:

Hano has been a Sport freak since he can remember. At a very young age he already excelled in various disciplines with rugby and athletics (cross country) his main focus.
After school he spent some time in the Army – Special Forces, before going to University to study Law. When he started working as PA for one of the High Court judges, he focused more on Road Running with numerous achievements which include: 12 Comrades marathons (5 silver); 2nd place in Rhodes Mountain marathon and 9th place in the Karoo 80km marathon (sub 6 hours).

 In 1999 he was introduced to Adventure racing and his first Race was the Cederberg 500km, which they finished – Hano hates quitting. He was invited to race with the only SA Team competing in the Borneo Eco Challenge, only his second Adventure race, and after more than 11 days of racing through the jungles of Sabah, and losing 10kg in body weight, the Team finished officially in the top half of the field.
After 11 years of practicing Law, his last few years as a State Prosecutor in the Drug Court, the opportunity arose to start his own Sport Business, together with the love of his life, Sonja.

 The Adventure Centre of Excellence was born, organizing Adventure races, doing Corporate Team Building and also Training and personal Development. Hano has a passion for Adventure racing, people & sport in general and developing personal skills in young Leaders. After a short stint as a Resort Manager in Mozambique and sailing for 2 months to Croatia, he is excited about the new opportunities and exciting changes that TriSport and Southern Cross Adventures (www.southerncrossadventure.co.za) will bring to the clients way of living! SCA motto: "changing your way of living forever!" ...

 Qualifications:
High Ropes Director (Ropes Course Development - UK)
Abseil Supervisor
Rope Skills Instructor
River Guide
Skipper (40 nautical miles)
Advanced Diver (PADI)
Sailing - Competent Crew (8000+ nautical miles)
Various Facilitation Course 

Landie Visser

After finishing school in 2001, Landie braved the borders of England where she worked and travelled for two years. Upon her return to South Africa she enrolled for the B Com Degree at the University of Pretoria. It was during her study years where she picked up her running career again and started training seriously in 2007. Landie initially started out as a road runner, but in May 2008 she was exposed to her first off-road event, an adventure race in the Gauteng area. Her second race resulted in a win, followed by a number of podiums in the off-road races to follow.

Landie completed her B Com Honours degree in 2007, where after she started working for Pricewaterhousecoopers to complete her articles. She started competing in trail running events in 2009, immediately stamping her authority by obtaining podium positions in every race.

Landie qualifies as a Chartered Accountant at the end of 2010, whereafter she was seconded to work in the USA for 4 months. During this time she competed in numerous trail runs, winning the female category in every race.

Upon her return to South Africa, she moved to the George area, where she continued her winning streak, victorious in 7 of the 8 trail running events she competed in.

Landie was also introduced to Adventure Racing and was chosen as the female member of the South African Adventure Racing Team Cyanosis that competed in the extremely challenging Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge at the end of 2010. She was also approached to represent South Africa at the Adventure Racing World Championships at the end of October 2011 in Bernie, Australia.

Landie is part of the organizing team of the Diamond Dash off-road events which is held in the Seringveld Conservancy in Gauteng. She is also currently enrolled in her final year of her Masters in Taxation at the University of Pretoria to further her academic career.

Landie is Trisport's sports ambassador and with her passion for the mountains and the outdoors, as well as her financial background, she is promises to be an invaluable asset to the Trisport Team

Christiaan Greyling (26) a farm boy from Mpumalanga, have found sports adventure and outdoors very attractive since his childhood days. At school he excelled in cross country, road cycling, rugby and athletics. After he matriculated, he invested in his professional qualification as an Industrial engineer and concluded with an honours degree. It was during his studies when he discovered off-road sports such as mountain biking, adventure racing, trail running and sailing. One of his sports career highlights was to represent a sponsored South African team which took part in the 6-day Abu Dhabi Adventure challenge in 2008.

Living his dreams as an adventure enthusiast, Christiaan together with Landie Visser (wife to be) started the Diamond Dash events in Gauteng, whilst working full time in 2010. The participants’ satisfaction inspired them to commit fulltime towards organising quality events. With four years of experience as an industrial engineer in processes and systems, Christiaan’s contribution towards Trisport is crucial to ensure the logistics and flow of the events as well as that organising takes place in the most efficient way. His aim in life is to live every day as if it is his last, and to not regret the things which you didn’t do! His skills and qualifications which contribute towards growing Trisport includes:

• Industrial Engineer (B.Eng Honours),
• Yacht day Skipper (SAS),
• MS office and access database systems,