Banker beats obstacles, closing on Olympics dream

By the time Johannesburg banker Ashley Benatar reached the beginning of the road race in the Open Masters Games in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last weekend, the start gun had already gone off. Benatar had stopped on the way to take part in the Presidential Guard Running Championships in Sharja in the UAE, where he won a silver medal for the 5km. 

Benatar, who is passionate about obstacle course racing, had flown in to Dubai two days earlier, won his age group in a 10km obstacle race in Abu Dhabi, sprinted into a 2km event straight afterwards, and won that too. Then he found out about the running championships in Sharja and travelled there to participate. Now, without a warm-up and without his race number, he lined up anyway. 

“I landed up coming second in the 50-plus category,” he says. 

At the Open Masters Games last week, where he participated in the international event for athletes over 30s, he entered three races without realising they started half an hour apart. He ran the 10km first and, although he won his age group, he placed second overall across all the age categories. As he finished, he saw the 2km start, and ran straight into it. He won that as well. 

For Benatar, the pursuit of podium finishes is a continuation of a goal that began in the swimming pool. As a teenager, he trained four hours a day with the national team under the guidance of his grandfather, who was his coach, and competed at the 1996 Olympic trials. 

“My dream was always to go to the Olympics,” he says. The demands of doing his Chartered Accountancy Honours forced him to stop. “It left a big gap in my day.” 

That gap was later filled by touch rugby until a serious leg injury just before his 40th birthday led to hospitalisation and ended his involvement in the sport. He was then encouraged to enter a Warrior Race, South Africa’s largest obstacle course race series, and finished eighth in his first attempt. 

“I wanted to improve,” he says. Two second-place finishes in amateur races followed before he moved into the elite division. 

He has since travelled across Europe and the Middle East doing obstacle course racing. In 2023, competing on his Italian passport, he finished eighth at the European Championships. In February this year, he and his racing partner won gold at the Deadly Dozen Africa Championships and recorded what he describes as the fastest time in the world for their age group. 

Benatar maintains that his girlfriend, Sabrina Daolio, a professional obstacle course racing athlete who regularly wins elite women’s events, is central to his sporting progress. 

“She got me to train harder by making sure I trained at least eight or nine times a week,” he says. They met through the sport, and now travel and compete together. 

Because there are only a handful of major races locally each year, most of his competition takes place overseas. “Obstacle racing in South Africa is quite weak,” he says. “In Europe there’s a race every weekend. In the Middle East, there’s big prize money. We have to travel to race.” 

His approach to competition is direct. “Going for gold is the key. I hate coming to events just to do them for fun,” he says. After winning a bronze medal at the Spartan Beast World Championships, he returned the following year aiming for the title and finished sixth. “That was disappointing.” 

What stood out for him at the Masters Games was not only his own results but the athletes around him. “We met a 68-year-old who runs a 35-minute 10km. There was even a 90-year-old who won the 200m,” he says. “If you stay healthy and keep fit, the longevity you get out of it that is incredible. You can choose how you want to live your older age.” 

Although he qualifies for age categories, he often chooses to race in the professional division. 

“Sometimes it gets easy to beat guys my age,” he says. “You race pro and they destroy you, but the goal is still to run within the limitations of my age.” 

Alongside his sporting career, he has built a career in investment banking, private equity, and structured finance, and is currently head of Structured Lending and Mezzanine Finance at Standard Bank. Training sessions are fitted around a demanding work schedule and international races are often short trips built around tight timelines. 

The Olympic dream from his swimming days remains the reference point. “I’ll give up when I’m world champion,” he says. “You never say never. I hope I don’t have to wait until the 90-plus age category to do it.” For Benatar, the objective isn’t only to compete, but to continue improving.