You’d be wrong. Sheer determination and true grit are words that are nearer the mark when describing this Lowveld farm girl, whose only goal is to make her mark as a world champion. Alicia has loved sport since an early age, participating in as many different events as possible. Hard work, lots of training and a dedicated coach earned Alicia her first provincial colours in primary school, along with armfuls of medals in athletics and cross-country. “My whole life revolved around sport. I had never even thought about a life doing anything else,” she says. “Unfortunately, due to the financial implications involved, that dream faded when I was encouraged to pursue a more ‘practical’ career path.”
Alicia decided to swap the small-town life for the big city lights and headed to Johannesburg. With a degree in live performance under her belt, she got involved in the entertainment industry, doing part-time modelling for top SA fashion designers and landing roles in Isidingo and a number of local musician’s music videos. In 2010, she started RuggaChick Productions, becoming one of SA’s first YouTube vloggers and securing none other than SA Rugby as her first client. Within a few months, Alicia was South Africa’s leading YouTube reporter, with over 1000 000 views.
Alicia had found her groove and was working with some of the biggest digital agencies in the country. She was given the opportunity to run an award-winning digital agency in London, but declined as she did not want to leave South Africa or her family. A wise decision, as it turned out. On September 17, 2015, the Rugby World Cup had just kicked off when she received a devastating phone call from home. “It was the most shocking news, my parents had been in a brutal farm attack,” she recalls. “My life changed in that instant. I had almost lost both my parents, whom I saw so little of due to me becoming career-driven and obsessed with being successful. So I decided to go back home.”
Settling in quickly, Alicia started helping her dad with the farmwork, learning the ropes firsthand and getting into the swing of family and farm life. “My mother is also an avid runner, and after recovering from the farm attack, said she wanted to start running again. I wanted to support her in that, so I started driving her to events and races. To keep myself occupied while waiting for her, I entered the fun runs and soon realised how weak and unfit I was. I started training, and while the sessions weren’t long, they were gruelling. I also started actively pulling my weight physically on the farm, driving tractors with massive 20-tonne trailers.”
I almost died doing that race, due to my unpreparedness and not being close to the level of fitness you need to take part in something as tough as the OCR
Training went from strength to strength and Alicia turned her gaze back towards her first love. She started with something she had always aspired to, competing in a Warrior Race. She got a small team together to take part in her first-ever obstacle course race (OCR), then raised the bar to do a Spartan Race later on that year. “That was the biggest eye-opener ever,” she says. “I almost died doing that race, due to my unpreparedness and not being close to the level of fitness you need to take part in something as tough as the OCR.”
Alicia’s training intensified after that, and the following year she cut her team down to two. “I was working hard, but nowhere near hard enough,” she says. “I realised that when I did my first Elite Warrior Race. I was nowhere close to the fitness level of my competitors. And that was the wake-up call I needed. I had a serious chat with myself about my future goals. I knew that if I wanted to be the best, I had to train like the best.”
Winning my first Warrior Race after having Covid myself was the start of everything for me
It was soon after this that Alicia achieved her first podium place, which gave her the motivation to work even harder. Then Covid hit and the world shut down, a massive shock to her system. “From a huge high to a devastating low, every event I had been training for was cancelled,” she says. “It took me a long time to get my mind around the concept of training without having a specific goal in mind. To focus on being the best I could be for me, not for any one race or competition. Winning my first Warrior Race after having Covid myself was the start of everything for me. OCR was back on the map and I smashed my first big goal in 2022 with two big wins, then in 2023, the IFBB [International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation] World Championships came along, and I thought it couldn’t get any better. I was over the moon!”
This year topped all expectations. Alicia achieved first place in the Sunfest Africa Speedfit Fitness Challenge and was the only South African invited to Saudi Arabia as an ambassador, to take part in the Tough Mudder Infinity Endurance Series. The cherry on the cake, however, was being officially capped and getting her Protea colours in August. In November, she is once again heading to foreign shores to represent South Africa in the World Championships.
It’s not all glitz and glam, though – this lifestyle doesn’t come easy. “This is what I do full-time, it’s my job,” she says. “I get up at the same time every day and ‘go to work’. I train hard, for around six hours, six days a week. I don’t have a secure income; unfortunately, my chosen sports are not well known and so are not government-funded, despite me bringing back so many medals for my country. I am extremely grateful to my sponsors, and my parents have played a huge role in my success. It’s definitely not a luxurious lifestyle, but on the flipside, I do what I love. I’ve come a long way, I’m smashing my goals and I’m in in the best physical and mental shape of my life.”
Alicia laughs as she pivots, swinging her green and gold jacket over her shoulder with pride. “This jacket is earned, you know, it’s not something just anyone can wear! It comes with blood, sweat and tears, and exceptionally hard work.” One thing is for sure, the hard work has been worth it – the Protea jacket sits well on her shoulders, as if she was born to wear it. We cannot wait to see where life takes this superstar home-grown farmer’s daughter.
