SURFERS 18KAY MARATHON
EAST LONDON
SATURDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2010
I had to be home in Port Elizabeth by 09.30 as we were leaving for East London to run the Surfer's Marathon. Tommy Satchwell and two young ladies that I had met on a MPRG run came along: Megan Knipe who did the Iron Man in East London recently and Liezl Saunders. We left at 09.30 and had an easy drive to Kingwilliamstown where we stopped for a toilet and eats break. In East London, more by luck than anything else we found the parking area at the end of the run. Nahoon Beach. Look out for the Palm Cell Phone Tower and you are on the correct road.
Maria, work colleague, collected us and drove us out to Khwelera River Mouth. Here we met up with Dave Gassner and his merry team of men and women who had run from Port St Johns since Monday. This six day, 270kay event had started off with two very hot days of 50kays each then a 40kay and lastly two thirty kay days with the last day being a morning of 30kays and ending upw with a Grueling 18kay Surfers Marathon. This year the tide was particularly high and all of us took a lot of strain.
Ian Ross was there. He loves the adventure runs. At the start we realise that we have not done the correct Registration thing. We should have visited Mr Price Sports to collect a Chip. We should have written our race numbers with a Koki Pen on our arms and we should be wearing the Chip around our ankles. But despite all of these problems the offical lady assists us and it appears that we are going to be "registered runners"
There were very few people from PE who ran this race today. Tommy and I went to the front of the group to have a reasonably easy start. The first couple of hundred meters are narrow and the two thousand runners tend to bunch and bottle neck. We were soon having to run on rocks, boulders, soft sand and wet beaches. There was no way that we were going to have a fast or easy run today. The weather is reasonably kind to us. There is a West Wind blowing into our faces and the sky is overcast.
This is a particularly well supported run in East London. There are huge numbers of spectators both along the beach, cheering on their friends and family as well as in the village of Gonubie. The first section of the run is the hardest. There are no easy pathways and we were forced, on a number of occasions, into a single file walk. As we run over the rocky area's we hear the sound of feet falling onto the rocks. This is a particular sound that is then complimented by the sound of the Waves rolling the rocks up and then back down.
Unfortunately we are not able to look up as to do so would mean certain tripping and a fall now would not be pleasant. So on we trod watching, not the wonderful scenery, but our own ugly takkies and the beach just one meter ahead of us. As one of the "Jong Bokkies" pass us we are not able to focus on their form but have to keep our eyes oinned on the beach, rocks and boulders which is the only way we maintain our balance. By the way, when you reach my age, most of the women I meet fall into the categorie of "Jong Bokkie".
After about 45 to 60 minutes, I dont wear a watch and there are no distance marker boards on this run, we reach the Gonubie River. This afternoon the tide was pushing in and, despite the ropes and the many lifesavers, there were a number of distress call of: "please can you help me?". For myself, and I heard later, from all of our little PE group, this was a relief for us. The swim cooled us off and gave our legs a break. I swam at an easy stroke, allowing the tide to push me upstream but steadily making my way accross to the other side of the river.
Immediately after this crossing we ran into the village of Gonubie. There was a little up hill and then a down back to where the run used to enter Gonubie. I hear that the reason for this was that the authorities did not want the runners to use the boardwalk leading from the beach to Gonubie. As we ran past the Gonubie Hotel we were greeted by many people cheering and encouraging the runners. Abe CIllers (work Colleague) was there.
It was clear that there was no Water Restrictions in EL. Everywhere we ran there were hoses cooling off the runners. There was even a slippery slide which Megan and Liezl said that they used. The atmosphere is very festive. If you are trying too hard you may miss the cameraderie and enthusiasm from the crowds. I was not trying too hard at all. I was merely trying to get to the finish. My legs were extremely tired. I was feeling empty and nauseous as a result of the early moring and the tragic news that we had received from Cape Town.
The run along the tar roads of Gonubie was quite exhausting. I had worn my very oldest and most worn out takkies. This did not help as I ran through the village. I did some walking and a little jogging and finally made it to the exit out of the village and back onto the beach. Now the going is relatively easy. The beach is a little firmer and flatter. But the end seems forever. Inevitably there is mist around where the finish is located. We seem to see some cars parked but no sign of the finish. People all around are tossing their shoes away. They are fed up and complaining of weariness. One step forward is a meter closer to the finish says one may as I pass him.
The runners do not wear their Club Colours. There are no Licence numbers. Infact very little formalities. So all kinds of clothing is thrown away as the wet T-shirts become a burden and as heavy shoes, filled with water and sand, are too akward to carry on weary legs.
Finally we reach the second river crossing. As I approach the river I see that most people are walking accross pulling on the support rope. For me this is another chance to swim. I dive in and enjoy the change of activity. The lovely swim is short and we are soon back on the soft sand beach. I know that the finish banner is in site but for me to no walk takes superhuman effort. I jog my way to the finish where I am greeted by the lady who assisted me at the start. She records my name and time.
Tommy greets me and informs me that he was in about 15 minutes before me. I collect my T-shirt and make my way to the drinks tent. These T-shirts are collectors items, especially in East London. As we drove through to EL earlier on we had been talking about how we would give Tshirts away. Later on I heard Liezl saying that this was one T-Shirt that she would wear with pride.
Tommy has gone for a cool off swim. Finally Megan and Liezl arrive and I am able to go off to purchase a Boerrie Roll. The cold Drinks have run out but Tommy arrives with a cold beer. It does not even touch sides. I see Dave and Chel Gassner, Patrick who was my running partner at the wild coast event a number of years ago and Siegfried who also ran with me and who is one of the very few who have run all four of these events. There were about 23 finshers at the Wild Coast Ultra this year. They stayed in Hotels and that is one of the reasons that the first two days were so long and tough.
A friend of Megan's joins us. He ran a second place and tells us that he won the Cape Town Surfers Challenge and that he was sponsored to come to EL. Young and fit looking man. We have now recovered our composure and walk back up to the car. The car is a little further than we had thought but we are athletes and can walk an extra 50 meters! I have developed a chaffing on my legs which is quite painful. We change out of the wet stuff and head for Kingwilliamstown where we fuel up the car and buy ourselves a Wimpy Coffee which really settles us down. There are a couple of snacks, sandwiches and muffins which make the trip home more pleasant. The ride home is easy with the excitement of seeing a number of Warthog Families grazing on the side of the road just after crossing the Fish River.
We had left the finish at around 6pm, taken about 30 minutes to work through the traffic and then with the Refuelling stop in King we arrived home at around 21.30. I receive this SMS: "Hi Peter, there were 868 in front of you and you have missed out on 2.21.45 of Beer Drinking time" Probably the most original SMS'd race time I have ever received. As we had travelled home we had swapped stories of the run, I had related the story of Graham Richards and the Coomb's Arsonists. Amid all of this Liezl and Megan had been setting up their social evening activity while poor Tommy had still to attend a 21st Birthday Party. I was going to be in bed as soon as possible. I had a bike ride planned for the morning.
I later discover that I am position 870 / 1874 finishers with a time of 2;21. It appears that they have a cut off of around 3;30. The results show about another 50 non finishers.
.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
ADDO MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE 30KAY 6 FEBRUARY 2010
The Addo Mountain Bike Cycle
SATURDAY 6TH FEBRUARY 2010
Mark and I got stuck into Barbara's bike. First we had to fit knobblies and then make sure the bike was perfectly tuned with no sticky points. We fitted him out with cycling gear. We loaded the bikes into the Corsa Bakkie and were set for our mountain bike ride. I had arrived home late and this meant that I was only able to get to bed after 11pm. This is very late for me. Saturday morning we were up at 04.00am and drove to Gerald. He picked Alf Zemkhe up and we drove too fast to Addo.
We arrived with over an hour to the start of our event. There were three races: the 85kay technical and tough event. Then the 65kay which was as technical but would have been more manageable for me. But we had decided to tackle the 30kay Family Fun Ride. I was amazed at how many people were doing this event who we know: Pat, Gerald and Ronel; Alf; Bob Howlett and brother Neil; Jonathan Coffey and friend Nico from Nippers; Peter DC; Tracey Brink (Leah was there in support); Rob and Michelle Elfick and Fred Allabone; Darryl and Avril Smith. Nicky's old diving friend Cathy and husband Neville; There were probably more people that we knew that I cannot remember.
I had asked Gerald to register me for the event. I had entered on line but was stuck in Jhb and would not be back in time. He made the mistake of entering me for the Saturday Fun Ride and not the Mountain Bike event. This meant that I was entered twice but not for the correct event. Sounds very complicated. I tried to explain this to Jenny who was in charge of the entries. She understood but said that she would have to refer this complication to some committee. I dont blame her.
This was both my and Mark's first ever attempt at mountain biking off road. Mark was not fit for this type of exersize and while I am reasonably fit for cycling; this was new territory for me. We started off reasonably slowly. I saw Ronelle ahead and tried to stay with her but I had determined that Mark and I would ride together and so let her get ahead. Pat passed us. Gerald and ALf would bring up the rear.
There were no really tough mountain climbs. Merely a gradual hill that was a downhill compared to Brickies. We rode through the orchards of oranges. If it had been season we could have picked fruit on the ride. Occasionally there was a downhill that allowed us to have some real excitement. I saw Cathy and Neville having a huge amount of fun on one of the downs. There were some speed bumps which Cathy ramped and flew a good few feet into the air.
There were just a few sections where the track narrowed and we would have to watch where we rode. We scaped bast thorn trees and bumped over ditches, skidded around wet patches and tried to avoid the stony parts of the road. Then there were plenty of soft sand area's that made us watch our way. With Mountain biking you have to watch just ahead of you much more that you do when you are on the road. On the road you should be looking ahead to see where you are going.
This was a Family affair with lots of Dad's, Mom's and children. I would often hear a child talking to the parent and the parent advising of the route to take. It was a healthy atmosphere of people taking care of others more than themselves. I had fitted a bell to Mark's bike and he would ring it every now and again to let me know that he was right behind me.
We were fortunate to be in shade for most of our 90 odd minutes of cycling. We had a cool breeze to add to our comfort. We thought of those doing the bigger events and the heat that they would have to suffer later on this morning. We approached the half way feeding station. There was a menu that would have made a restuarant envious: Banana's; Potato; Powerade; Borrie Rolls and a willingness to help everyone as much as they could. And this was just the 30kay fun event. This made me feel embarressed as how shoddily we had treated our fun runners last weekend at the Achilles event.
We rode on with the smells of fresh manure, dusty fields, Orange trees and the sweat of fellow cyclists. There was a great cameraderie and chatting going on as we came to the end of a great (for us) first time off road on the mountain bike. Rob Howlet came up to me later and said that I was surely a convert and would not go back to road running. Not quite, but certainly I will be looking out for more of these events.
Mark and I loaded up the bikes and headed home.
SATURDAY 6TH FEBRUARY 2010
Mark and I got stuck into Barbara's bike. First we had to fit knobblies and then make sure the bike was perfectly tuned with no sticky points. We fitted him out with cycling gear. We loaded the bikes into the Corsa Bakkie and were set for our mountain bike ride. I had arrived home late and this meant that I was only able to get to bed after 11pm. This is very late for me. Saturday morning we were up at 04.00am and drove to Gerald. He picked Alf Zemkhe up and we drove too fast to Addo.
We arrived with over an hour to the start of our event. There were three races: the 85kay technical and tough event. Then the 65kay which was as technical but would have been more manageable for me. But we had decided to tackle the 30kay Family Fun Ride. I was amazed at how many people were doing this event who we know: Pat, Gerald and Ronel; Alf; Bob Howlett and brother Neil; Jonathan Coffey and friend Nico from Nippers; Peter DC; Tracey Brink (Leah was there in support); Rob and Michelle Elfick and Fred Allabone; Darryl and Avril Smith. Nicky's old diving friend Cathy and husband Neville; There were probably more people that we knew that I cannot remember.
I had asked Gerald to register me for the event. I had entered on line but was stuck in Jhb and would not be back in time. He made the mistake of entering me for the Saturday Fun Ride and not the Mountain Bike event. This meant that I was entered twice but not for the correct event. Sounds very complicated. I tried to explain this to Jenny who was in charge of the entries. She understood but said that she would have to refer this complication to some committee. I dont blame her.
This was both my and Mark's first ever attempt at mountain biking off road. Mark was not fit for this type of exersize and while I am reasonably fit for cycling; this was new territory for me. We started off reasonably slowly. I saw Ronelle ahead and tried to stay with her but I had determined that Mark and I would ride together and so let her get ahead. Pat passed us. Gerald and ALf would bring up the rear.
There were no really tough mountain climbs. Merely a gradual hill that was a downhill compared to Brickies. We rode through the orchards of oranges. If it had been season we could have picked fruit on the ride. Occasionally there was a downhill that allowed us to have some real excitement. I saw Cathy and Neville having a huge amount of fun on one of the downs. There were some speed bumps which Cathy ramped and flew a good few feet into the air.
There were just a few sections where the track narrowed and we would have to watch where we rode. We scaped bast thorn trees and bumped over ditches, skidded around wet patches and tried to avoid the stony parts of the road. Then there were plenty of soft sand area's that made us watch our way. With Mountain biking you have to watch just ahead of you much more that you do when you are on the road. On the road you should be looking ahead to see where you are going.
This was a Family affair with lots of Dad's, Mom's and children. I would often hear a child talking to the parent and the parent advising of the route to take. It was a healthy atmosphere of people taking care of others more than themselves. I had fitted a bell to Mark's bike and he would ring it every now and again to let me know that he was right behind me.
We were fortunate to be in shade for most of our 90 odd minutes of cycling. We had a cool breeze to add to our comfort. We thought of those doing the bigger events and the heat that they would have to suffer later on this morning. We approached the half way feeding station. There was a menu that would have made a restuarant envious: Banana's; Potato; Powerade; Borrie Rolls and a willingness to help everyone as much as they could. And this was just the 30kay fun event. This made me feel embarressed as how shoddily we had treated our fun runners last weekend at the Achilles event.
We rode on with the smells of fresh manure, dusty fields, Orange trees and the sweat of fellow cyclists. There was a great cameraderie and chatting going on as we came to the end of a great (for us) first time off road on the mountain bike. Rob Howlet came up to me later and said that I was surely a convert and would not go back to road running. Not quite, but certainly I will be looking out for more of these events.
Mark and I loaded up the bikes and headed home.
FEBRUARY 2010
FEBRUARY 2010
TRIP TO JHB AND STAY OVER WITH KEITH BRAATVEDT
ADDO MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE 30KAY WITH MARK.
HERALD ROAD RACE.
SURFERS MARATHON EAST LONDON: TOMMY SATCHWELL; MEGAN KNIPE; LIEZL SAUNDERS.
OCEAN SERIES SWIM AT HOBIE BEACH
MARINE DRIVE CYCLE
DOMINIC GIDDY: 13.02.2010
Howard Waterfall 15.02.2010
HOWARD WATERFALL FUNERAL: KEMSLEY HALL, MICK SCHECKTER, NIGEL EVERINGHAM, CHARLES MOORE, KEITH FINNEMORE, LOIS AND MARYLIN WATERFALL, LINDA WATERFALL.
NICCI GIDDY AND PASTOR FRANCIS
JACQUI ZIVOR BLOGS FROM ISRAEL ABOUT THE FAMILY
MARK DU PIESANIE
BUSHMANS RIVER MOUTH
BARBARA, CHARLES & INGRID DU TOIT GO MTB RIDING
DOMINIQUE DRYDING FROM FISH HOEK NIPPERS WINS THE RIVER MILE
REDHOUSE (SUNDAYS) RIVER MILE
NIPPERS EAST CAPE CHAMPS AT PLETT
ALLY IS 27/253 AT SUNDAYS SWIM
Monday I was able to get back into running: the slow runners (me included) did the whole of Dias road and Langenhoven. The next morning I managed to do the whole of the Susan's Route. This evening I met up with Charles and we took out his mountain bike and did the same tuning and cleaning thing that I had done on my bikes. Wednesday morning we did a slower and shorter route.
Thursday morning I was so happy to see some rain (drizzel) that I decided to stay in bed. Charles' bike had a inch thick layer of dust and the chain derailer was out of line. But again with not too much effort we soon had the bike going like a charm. I arranged to meet Charles on Wednesday for an afternoon cycle. We rode down to the beach and back. It was great. I had spent the previous weekend cleaning, tuning and setting up my mountain bike. I was completely confident that the bike would be 100% for the Addo ride that I had entered for Saturday.
Thursday I flew to Johannesburg where Suzanne collected me from Malibongwe drive. I love this family. Suzanne fed us a Venison (Kudu) supper. We sat chatting and finally I fell into bed exhausted. Friday morning Keith and I went to their school swimming pool complex and he and I did a really healthy swim. He must have done over two kays non stop. I did about 1.3kays but with plenty of stops. I would swim four lengths (25m) and then recover. Mark moved into our house on Friday. I was still in Jhb. In fact my plane was delayed and I only arrived home after 21.30.
The Addo Mountain Bike Cycle
Mark and I got stuck into Barbara's bike. First we had to fit knobblies and then make sure the bike was perfectly tuned with no sticky points. We fitted him out with cycling gear. We loaded the bikes into the Corsa Bakkie and were set for our mountain bike ride. I had arrived home late and this meant that I was only able to get to bed after 11pm. This is very late for me. Saturday morning we were up at 04.00am and drove to Gerald. He picked Alf Zemkhe up and we drove too fast to Addo.
We arrived with over an hour to the start of our event. There were three races: the 85kay technical and tough event. Then the 65kay which was as technical but would have been more manageable for me. But we had decided to tackle the 30kay Family Fun Ride. I was amazed at how many people were doing this event who we know: Pat, Gerald and Ronel; Alf; Bob Howlett and brother Neil; Jonathan Coffey and friend Nico from Nippers; Peter DC; Tracey Brink (Leah was there in support); Rob and Michelle Elfick and Fred Allabone; Darryl and Avril Smith. Nicky's old diving friend Cathy and husband Neville; There were probably more people that we knew that I cannot remember.
I had asked Gerald to register me for the event. I had entered on line but was stuck in Jhb and would not be back in time. He made the mistake of entering me for the Saturday Fun Ride and not the Mountain Bike event. This meant that I was entered twice but not for the correct event. Sounds very complicated. I tried to explain this to Jenny who was in charge of the entries. She understood but said that she would have to refer this complication to some committee. I dont blame her.
This was both my and Mark's first ever attempt at mountain biking off road. Mark was not fit for this type of exersize and while I am reasonably fit for cycling; this was new territory for me. We started off reasonably slowly. I saw Ronelle ahead and tried to stay with her but I had determined that Mark and I would ride together and so let her get ahead. Pat passed us. Gerald and ALf would bring up the rear.
There were no really tough mountain climbs. Merely a gradual hill that was a downhill compared to Brickies. We rode through the orchards of oranges. If it had been season we could have picked fruit on the ride. Occasionally there was a downhill that allowed us to have some real excitement. I saw Cathy and Neville having a huge amount of fun on one of the downs. There were some speed bumps which Cathy ramped and flew a good few feet into the air.
There were just a few sections where the track narrowed and we would have to watch where we rode. We scaped bast thorn trees and bumped over ditches, skidded around wet patches and tried to avoid the stony parts of the road. Then there were plenty of soft sand area's that made us watch our way. With Mountain biking you have to watch just ahead of you much more that you do when you are on the road. On the road you should be looking ahead to see where you are going.
This was a Family affair with lots of Dad's, Mom's and children. I would often hear a child talking to the parent and the parent advising of the route to take. It was a healthy atmosphere of people taking care of others more than themselves. I had fitted a bell to Mark's bike and he would ring it every now and again to let me know that he was right behind me.
We were fortunate to be in shade for most of our 90 odd minutes of cycling. We had a cool breeze to add to our comfort. We thought of those doing the bigger events and the heat that they would have to suffer later on this morning. We approached the half way feeding station. There was a menu that would have made a restuarant envious: Banana's; Potato; Powerade; Borrie Rolls and a willingness to help everyone as much as they could. And this was just the 30kay fun event. This made me feel embarressed as how shoddily we had treated our fun runners last weekend at the Achilles event.
We rode on with the smells of fresh manure, dusty fields, Orange trees and the sweat of fellow cyclists. There was a great cameraderie and chatting going on as we came to the end of a great (for us) first time off road on the mountain bike. Rob Howlet came up to me later and said that I was surely a convert and would not go back to road running. Not quite, but certainly I will be looking out for more of these events.
Mark and I loaded up the bikes and headed home. on our way home Samantha phoned. It was her birthday the previous day. She was at a Wimpy with Crystal. It appears that their dad (Mark Snr) had been released from jail and that Crystal had flown Samantha to Jhb for this event. Mark had a short conversation with Mark Snr. I was supposed to drop Mark off at his Grandparents but somehow the lines got crossed and his Grandfather locked him out of the house. I collected him and took him to the office where he met up with Michael who was doing some moving.
This afternoon Mark and I cleaned up the bikes. I had realised how important it was to ride a bike that was in good shape. Not that there was no chance of a puncture or mechanical problem but having the bikes tuned and clean meant that we reduced the chance of being caught on the side of the track fixing punctures or loose chains etc. We dropped Pat's bike off with her later. She told us that she had ommitted to clean her bike after her last ride and that the gears were sticking.
I dropped Mark off with a friend in Rowallan Park. And spent the afternoon at home. Barbara had been in Uitenhage the whole day with Ally at a Gala.
Sunday morning we spent with Charles and Ingrid on the side of the road watching the cyclists ride past their home. They had made some muffins. Ian and a friend stayed in bed till the last minute before church. Ally slept in the car until we returned home. The cycle route had been diverted from Heugh Road due to the construction in that road to Villiers Road. We were able to cheer the people we knew and to give support to the many others who came past; some really fast and others out for a more leisurely pedal.
After church it was off to Nippers where the waves were big but manageable. The water was warm and everyone was in the water for as long as we possibly could be. Terry pointed out that there seemed to be chaos in the various training groups. Donald took a group of U14's for a long paddle on the Malibu boards way past the pipe and to the horizon that we could hardly see them. It seems that they wanted to catch some of the big swells that were coming through. We were trying to sort out teams for East Cape but little help from parents.
It was a very hot day. I spent most of the afternoon cooling off and watching cricket. But later washed the car when Barbara went off to try to catch cats to have them neutered.
Monday morning I ran the Langenhoven Drive route with Lyn (training for Iron Man) Suzanne and Theresa. I am not quite sure what happened to the rest of the group as there seemed to be lots of cars at the start of the running this morning.
Dropped Mark off at school for the first time.
Tuesday I had to be in East London for a meeting just for the day.
Wednesday I was back to running with our little group. Wednesday evening I attended a Summerstrand meeting with Body Concept.
Thursday We did our Walmer run. This evening Mark started Drama in Walmer.
Friday morning Gerald, Mike D, Mark and I did the Walmer circuit cycle. Mark did exceptionally well on the "old green bike" the pedals are suitable for clip on Shoes but Mark road with normal tackies and held his own. Friday evening Mark had his Valentines day party with Gilrfriend Kylie De Kock who live in the second half of Rowallan park.
Saturday morning: 13.02.2010: This morning at around 04.00am Marianne phoned to say that Dominic had been attacked while walking home with two friends to their Digs in Cape Town. Dominic was studying at UCT. His attackers stabbed him once in each lung and in his throat and he then walked to the hospital but did not make it and died.
This shocking news completely stuned everyone in the family. We tried to move forward but were for a while in a state of disbelief and non acceptance. I finally was able to speak to some of the family but everyone's reactions were the same. Disbelief, Disappointment, Sadness, Emptyness, nauseous.
Patrick, Patti, St John and Thomas flew from Durban and were in Cape Town on Saturday morning. Isabelle set up a beach Candles memorial on Muisenberg for friends and family. Marianne was already in Cape Town and had been the one who had passed on the news. I think that Isabelle had been the first one of the family to hear about this. It seems from what Patrick says that Isabelle is the person who is taking the loss the hardest.
Saturday morning: despite the terrible news, we had to carry on with arrangements taht we had made:
It was a Father and Son breakfast morning for Mark at Linkside high school. He and I arrived just before 8.00am. We listened to a lot of good advice from the teachers including Antoinette ... the Grade 12 head, The CAT (computer) teacher, THe headmaster and the deputy head.
Unfortunately we were not able to stay for Breakfast as I had to be home by 09.30 as we were leaving for East London to run the Surfer's Marathon. Tommy Satchwell and two young ladies that I had met on a MPRG run came along: Megan Knipe who did the Iron Man in East London recently and Liezl Saunders. We left at 09.30 and had an easy drive to Kingwilliamstown where we stopped for a toilet and eats break. In East London, more by luck than anything else we found the parking area at the end of the run. Nahoon Beach. Look out for the Palm Cell Phone Tower and you are on the correct road.
Maria, work colleague, collected us and drove us out to Khwelera River Mouth. Here we met up with Dave Gassner and his merry team of men and women who had run from Port St Johns since Monday. This six day, 270kay event had started off with two very hot days of 50kays each then a 40kay and lastly two thirty kay days with the last day being a morning of 30kays and ending upw with a Grueling 18kay Surfers Marathon. This year the tide was particularly high and all of us took a lot of strain.
Ian Ross was there. He loves the adventure runs. At the start we realise that we have not done the correct Registration thing. We should have visited Mr Price Sports to collect a Chip. We should have written our race numbers with a Koki Pen on our arms and we should be wearing the Chip around our ankles. But despite all of these problems the offical lady assists us and it appears that we are going to be "registered runners"
There were very few people from PE who ran this race today. Tommy and I went to the front of the group to have a reasonably easy start. The first couple of hundred meters are narrow and the two thousand runners tend to bunch and bottle neck. We were soon having to run on rocks, boulders, soft sand and wet beaches. There was no way that we were going to have a fast or easy run today. The weather is reasonably kind to us. There is a West Wind blowing into our faces and the sky is overcast.
This is a particularly well supported run in East London. There are huge numbers of spectators both along the beach, cheering on their friends and family as well as in the village of Gonubie. The first section of the run is the hardest. There are no easy pathways and we were forced, on a number of occasions, into a single file walk. As we run over the rocky area's we hear the sound of feet falling onto the rocks. This is a particular sound that is then complimented by the sound of the Waves rolling the rocks up and then back down.
Unfortunately we are not able to look up as to do so would mean certain tripping and a fall now would not be pleasant. So on we trod watching, not the wonderful scenery, but our own ugly takkies and the beach just one meter ahead of us. As one of the "Jong Bokkies" pass us we are not able to focus on their form but have to keep our eyes oinned on the beach, rocks and boulders which is the only way we maintain our balance. By the way, when you reach my age, most of the women I meet fall into the categorie of "Jong Bokkie".
After about 45 to 60 minutes, I dont wear a watch and there are no distance marker boards on this run, we reach the Gonubie River. This afternoon the tide was pushing in and, despite the ropes and the many lifesavers, there were a number of distress call of: "please can you help me?". For myself, and I heard later, from all of our little PE group, this was a relief for us. The swim cooled us off and gave our legs a break. I swam at an easy stroke, allowing the tide to push me upstream but steadily making my way accross to the other side of the river.
Immediately after this crossing we ran into the village of Gonubie. There was a little up hill and then a down back to where the run used to enter Gonubie. I hear that the reason for this was that the authorities did not want the runners to use the boardwalk leading from the beach to Gonubie. As we ran past the Gonubie Hotel we were greeted by many people cheering and encouraging the runners. Abe CIllers (work Colleague) was there.
It was clear that there was no Water Restrictions in EL. Everywhere we ran there were hoses cooling off the runners. There was even a slippery slide which Megan and Liezl said that they used. The atmosphere is very festive. If you are trying too hard you may miss the cameraderie and enthusiasm from the crowds. I was not trying too hard at all. I was merely trying to get to the finish. My legs were extremely tired. I was feeling empty and nauseous as a result of the early moring and the tragic news that we had received from Cape Town.
The run along the tar roads of Gonubie was quite exhausting. I had worn my very oldest and most worn out takkies. This did not help as I ran through the village. I did some walking and a little jogging and finally made it to the exit out of the village and back onto the beach. Now the going is relatively easy. The beach is a little firmer and flatter. But the end seems forever. Inevitably there is mist around where the finish is located. We seem to see some cars parked but no sign of the finish. People all around are tossing their shoes away. They are fed up and complaining of weariness. One step forward is a meter closer to the finish says one may as I pass him.
The runners do not wear their Club Colours. There are no Licence numbers. Infact very little formalities. So all kinds of clothing is thrown away as the wet T-shirts become a burden and as heavy shoes, filled with water and sand, are too akward to carry on weary legs.
Finally we reach the second river crossing. As I approach the river I see that most people are walking accross pulling on the support rope. For me this is another chance to swim. I dive in and enjoy the change of activity. The lovely swim is short and we are soon back on the soft sand beach. I know that the finish banner is in site but for me to no walk takes superhuman effort. I jog my way to the finish where I am greeted by the lady who assisted me at the start. She records my name and time.
Tommy greets me and informs me that he was in about 15 minutes before me. I collect my T-shirt and make my way to the drinks tent. These T-shirts are collectors items, especially in East London. As we drove through to EL earlier on we had been talking about how we would give Tshirts away. Later on I heard Liezl saying that this was one T-Shirt that she would wear with pride.
Tommy has gone for a cool off swim. Finally Megan and Liezl arrive and I am able to go off to purchase a Boerrie Roll. The cold Drinks have run out but Tommy arrives with a cold beer. It does not even touch sides. I see Dave and Chel Gassner, Patrick who was my running partner at the wild coast event a number of years ago and Siegfried who also ran with me and who is one of the very few who have run all four of these events. There were about 23 finshers at the Wild Coast Ultra this year. They stayed in Hotels and that is one of the reasons that the first two days were so long and tough.
A friend of Megan's joins us. He ran a second place and tells us that he won the Cape Town Surfers Challenge and that he was sponsored to come to EL. Young and fit looking man. We have now recovered our composure and walk back up to the car. The car is a little further than we had thought but we are athletes and can walk an extra 50 meters! I have developed a chaffing on my legs which is quite painful. We change out of the wet stuff and head for Kingwilliamstown where we fuel up the car and buy ourselves a Wimpy Coffee which really settles us down. There are a couple of snacks, sandwiches and muffins which make the trip home more pleasant. The ride home is easy with the excitement of seeing a number of Warthog Families grazing on the side of the road just after crossing the Fish River.
We had left the finish at around 6pm, taken about 30 minutes to work through the traffic and then with the Refuelling stop in King we arrived home at around 21.30. I receive this SMS: "Hi Peter, there were 868 in front of you and you have missed out on 2.21.45 of Beer Drinking time" Probably the most original SMS'd race time I have ever received. As we had travelled home we had swapped stories of the run, I had related the story of Graham Richards and the Coomb's Arsonists. Amid all of this Liezl and Megan had been setting up their social evening activity while poor Tommy had still to attend a 21st Birthday Party. I was going to be in bed as soon as possible. I had a bike ride planned for the morning.
Sunday morning 14.02.2010: Valentines day. This was also my Late Father, Allan Giddy's Birthday. I awoke feeling very tired but had agreed to meet Gerald and Pat for a Bike ride. They are training for the Argus Cycle on the 14.03.2010. We met at 05.15 and headed down into Target Kloof and then to Schoenies via 10th Avenue. Along the Marine Drive and then into Summerstrand. Up Admiralty way and then Strandfontien road. We returned home via Target Kloof again. We had cycled at an easy pace but had worked up quite a sweat by the time we got home.
I was home by 07.30 and agreed to swim the Ocean Series One Kay. Ally was not keen but I was eager to try my first swim. I know that I am very slow in the water. I registered and purchased a swim cap. Total R90 for this swim! The three kay swimmers headed off about 10 minutes before us and then it was our turn. This morning I saw Alec Riddle, Graham Richards, Adel, Mike Bosch, the Zeelie boys and Natalie Billson all lining up for a swim in the sea.
I was caught a little off guard as I was talking to John Kotze who had come to support his son Greg. I made my way out past the first Buoy. I tend to swim in a Zig Zag route as I continuously lose my way. I had an old pair of goggles but they worked perfectly. Let no one fool you, it is a very long swim just to the first buoy. I rounded this buoy and headed off towards Kings Beach. This was a long stretch. At times it looked like I was completely alone.
I could see no one ahead of me and heard no splashing or kicking behind me. I asked the life guard who was on a board if I was last. She replied that she could see swimmers behind me. As it turned out these swimmers must have been the Three Kay swimmers who were about to Lap me. She says: "Dont stop, Keep going". Now the problem with swimming in the ocean is that if you stop or do not keep going you will drown. There is no bailing and walking home.
So finally I round the second buoy. Now I head towards the shore. And again get lost. I seem to think that I am swimming in one direction but when I look up to check find that I have to do a complete 180 degree look around to find the next buoy. At last I turn around the third buoy to swim back to the Pier. Now here is a big "Land mark" or should I say: "Sea Mark"? And you would think that there is no way you can miss this. Not in my case.
First I am going in the direction of the Barneys tavern. This is not due to Auto Radar as I really am not a regular there. Then I am heading out towards Bluewater bay again. A life guard on a board sets me right. I am now right under the end of the pier and, just as I think that I am nearly at the last buoy, I develop a cramp in my left thigh. Now I try a bit of back stroke, side stroke, massaging and generally nursing the pain.
A lady comes up next to me and offers to stay with me. I am very grateful and we swim around the final buoy together. Can you believe it that now, instead of heading back to the beach, I swim in the direction of Summerstrand? Barbara and Jacqui later comment that they thought that I was taking a short cut to Nippers. At last this lady and I exit the water together with a group of men who are now competeing the 3kay swim. Kalvin tells his parents that he saw me in the swim as he lapped me. Ah well. I have now swum my first Ocean Series.
From here Barbara drops me off at Summerstrand for Nippers Training. I am ready to fall asleep in the chair where I am sitting. The weather is perfect. The swells are behaving themselves. Ant Skinner has a team of young men who train the Boarders while the Non Swimmers do sprints and flags. Ally is developing lots of skill on the board and is able to keep up with the group.
Unfortunately there is a sudden turn of wind direction from West to East and a group of the boarding Nippers are stung by Bluebottles. This continues for the rest of the morning and there is a lot of pain and suffering as children are stung all over their bodies. It has been a good session and before heading home we pack the trailer for the Plett East Cape Champs. Now I am really tired and look forward being in the cool of our home.
I am able to speak to Patrick who gave me some more details about Dominic. The funeral is planned for the following Thursday 18.02.2010 at the University Chapel at 18.00.
Cape Times and News South Africa:
UCT reels as another student is murdered
The UCT community has reacted with anger and deep sadness at the killing of the third student in five months on the streets of a city suburb.
Joseph Dominic Giddy, a 22-year-old social science student at UCT, was stabbed to death on Friday night in Observatory after returning from a concert at Zeekoevlei with two friends.
They had been dropped off on the corner of Main Road and Kotzee Road by a chartered Golden Arrow bus and were walking to their student commune in Winchester Road.
"They were attacked by three unidentified men who tried to rob them of their belongings," police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said. A fight broke out, in which Giddy was stabbed in the chest. He died on the way to hospital.
One of Giddy's friends was stabbed in the hand.
Giddy's assailants fled in a white Mazda hatchback with an unknown registration.
"It is a terrible crime that has been committed, yet another example of the gratuitous violence that besets our city and our country, with the life of someone who showed great promise being taken away in a senseless killing. Our hearts go out to the Giddy family as they face this tragic loss," UCT vice-chancellor Max Price said.
Extracts from Jacqui's Face Book:
Dominic Giddy
In all honesty, I didn’t know him very well. But am so deeply saddened? Maybe it is that I saw him again, after such a long long time, just this last christmas, and was impressed by a boy, who had grown into such a warm, bright, interesting man? It doesn’t really matter why I am so shaken by the violent passing of my cousin…I just am. The senseless loss. The violence. The idea that his footprints will never leave their impression on the ground again. No one will hear him laughing in a crowd again. All for? The irony of it is that the same night that he became a South African statistic, I was engrossed in completing a portrait painting of Mandela, all the while thinking of his dream for our beautiful land. It seems that dreams are as fragile as our bodies. If a life can be lost because too much blood was shed, maybe that too is how dreams are lost?
I am out of breath. I pray for the healing of a family, a community, a country
Posted by: zivor | February 11, 2010 Mr. Zivor is now a Doctor. Yesterday Michael sat for his viva exam following a 2 year journey to become a Doctor of Psychology. He did extremely well and I just couldn’t be prouder. He has been in London for the past five days, attending courses, and sitting for the viva and will return to Israel today. It is such a priviledge to be able to walk this path through life with person who you love and respect, and is ultimately your best friend. I feel so completely blessed in my life. This is just a small tribute to my family. My little girls, who are my companions, my treasures, my inspiration. My husband, who is my best friend, my little guru, my true love. My family, mom, dad, nix, michael, cathy, ally, thank you for all you are to me. I love you all.
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Posted by: zivor | February 3, 2010 Life in binyaminaIt has now been 1 month since arriving in Israel. So much has happened in this past month, it has been quite a whirlwind. Michael has started his job in Jerusalem, and travels there 1 a week, and the rest of the time is seeing private patients. He is doing very well so far and is really enjoying working with his own cutlure, with common experiences. The girls have settled amazingly well, and are my inspiration on how to live each day with joy and excitement. Emily has started at a Hebrew nursery and has already had her first friend over! Her hebrew has improved so much over the past few weeks, it is too precious to hear the hebrew words rolling out. She has settled beautifully in her new nursery, where the teachers have been so warm and welcoming. My settling has been more up and down, with still missing the family in SA. But I love Binyamina. It is quite rural. No shopping centres, I have no idea where the nearest cinema is. We are surrounded by orange groves and have been picking fruit and juicing every weekend. The weather is barmy warm, despite being mid winter, and the kids are loving the daily walks around the area. It is also amazing to see children running around the neighbourhood as we did as kids. Pulling bits and pieces into the nearby forest for fort making purposes. Walking their dogs without an adult in sight. It encourages me. I have also started advertising for my montessori, english nursery to start in september, and have had some good feedback. And two (hold thumbs) parents who will definitly be enrolling so far (aiming for 6-8). I have also had the chance to do some painting. so all in all life is good.
Will keep you all updated. Come visit.
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Posted by: zivor | November 23, 2009 Tearful Moment.When Michael and I got married he gave a speech, and at the end of the speech he said, ’some people choose to live their lives as if nothing is magic, and other choose to live their lives as if everything is magic, and Jacqui and I choose to live our lives as if everything is magic’. Well, recently Emily watched our wedding video and had obviously heard this part of the speech. She didn’t say anything about it at the time. A couple of days past and one night, while I was putting her to bed, she sleepily turned to me and said, ‘you know what mommy, I also think everything is magic like you and aba’. It took every bit of my strength not to burst into tears. It was just so tender and sincere. it is just amazing how she is absorbing her world and making her own decisions about what she sees and hears. I truely think she is about the wisest person I have met in my life. Also positive and upbeat. Always up for a laugh. Caring for those around her, with her prioriteis in place. Maybe God gives us our children as little angels to help guide us through the rigidity of adulthood. No matter what has happened in the day, one look at my children and my heart sings.
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Posted by: zivor | November 21, 2009 Me time…or so I thought?Michael is away at the moment in Germany. Its cold out, just finished putting Annabell down for a nap, Emily has just started watching her new Tinkerbell dvd. So, I run a nice warm bubble bath. Get my book and bowl of cold grapes….just about to climb in when I hear Annabell stirring. So, quickly go and tend to her. Back to sleeping soundly. Ah, bath time. Get back to the bath only to find Emily and my grapes soaking in the bath together….hmmmm! Not quite what I had in mind. So, ended up with Emily and I having a semi-warm, grape/bubble bath while playing barbie-barbie.
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Posted by: zivor | November 20, 2009 Emily’s beautiful imaginationJust finished having lunch with Emily…’ok mommy, now I am going to tell you a story. There were hundreds of wolvziz. They were so hungry. They ate my long blonde hair. They didn’t see the lunch for my grandmother. I was hiding it. I wasn’t scared really, it was just a story, I was running to my grandmothers house. She was actually a safta because she can’t walk brilliant (safta is grandmother in hebrew, and her hebrew grandmother can’t walk brilliant). The wolvziz are wearing her pajamas. And her grey hair. Its short like a boy…mommy, why do some boys have long hair like a girl and some girls are having short hair like aba? (I answer)…story continues….help, help, I am locked in a tower, someone is climbing my long long hair.
She is such a chatta-box! Woke up at 2am, whispering, mommy lets have a little chat. Which we did…all all night. Still haven’t slept, and she is still chatting….love my girl!
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Posted by: zivor | November 19, 2009 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”–Joshua 24:15Life is difficult. This is a well known and overly debated fact. But difficult doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing? If everything had to come easy, then how would we delight in those moments of pure joy? What would be the point of a holiday? How would we know when we are being showered by God’s grace? The truth is that if we were always riding the easy wave, then we would miss the beauty of life. Having grown up in a ‘hiking’ family, I find the analogy of climbing mountains works really well for me. You only truly appreciate a spectacular view after having climbed the challenging mountain, partly because you are out of breathe and anyway need to sit in silence for a while, but mostly because of the sense of accomplishment. Having persevered, supporting one another, and digging deep and realizing you have more strength than you thought. You enjoy the camp fire mostly because you can compare war wounds and laugh at the hardships and knowing that you have grown closer by sharing the experience. 2009 seems to have been a rough ride for most of the people I know and love. But the end of the year is in sight. I feel a lightness in my heart. I can’t wait to sit around the christmas tree with my dear family and laugh and cry together. I know we are all stronger for having shared the trials of the past year. I can honestly say, I thank God for trials, and I thank Him for healing, and I thank Him for letting me grow. Just as I let my children grow, watching them try new things, knowing they may fall a couple of times before they get it. The bumps and bruises will heal, but the lessons will never fade, life is surely for living to the full, good and bad. And through it all, ‘ me and my house, we will serve the Lord’
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Posted by: zivor | November 18, 2009 Being a parent to an under 5When I found out that I was pregnant, people began telling me how much my life was going to change. To be honest, I really didn’t like this sort of talk. I was confident that my life was going to just get better and that I was going to stay the same. I found comfort in this. The truth, however, is that little things change, more than big things. They sneak up on you. Like, when did I actually learn all versus of ‘postman pat’? I also can’t really say when I began spending so much time in the washing powder section of tesco, trying to decide which powder would do the best job and be non-bio at the same time. Trust me, this was not something I would have looked into before having kids. Going to the toilet is also something I used to do alone, now I comfortably pee with an audience…and very often answering some difficult questions at the same time. Instead of searching my bag for loose change, I now search for loose raisins. I automatically quarter sandwiches, even for my husband and I. I break up arguments for which the entire content consists of, ‘no’, ‘no’, ‘no’, ‘no’, and somehow find that I become part of the very rich debate! But there are other types of changes. Like having little hands resting on you. Feeling the comfort of a little body sleeping soundly on your chest. Seeing the world through fresh eyes. Loving someone so much you fear you will stop breathing, and having that unconditional love so generously returned. Having someone’s world light up just because you entered a room. Becoming a mother also means developing magical abilities, like blowing away bruises and kissing away pain. So I can confirm all those scary predictions, life does change, and its not about missing out on a social life, getting no sleep, or career suicide. Instead, its becomes so much more interesting, you see how ridiculous it is to be too planned and how not to take yourself seriously, in short, when your child is born so are you. Like a butterfly breaking free of a chrysalis you begin the next adventure in life.
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Posted by: zivor | November 17, 2009 swine flu :0Since the first mention of this strand of flu I have been absolutely terrified of one of my little girls catching it. We had the dreadful experience of having Annabell terribly ill in hospital when she was younger, for which I am still having panic attacks and nightmares, and am so scared to have to repeat that awful experience. So, I have religiously bought the antiseptic gels and creams, carrying them in all my bags, and being available in every draw in the house. Have been avoiding crowds, and steering well clear of the underground. But, it was not to be avoided. Annabell became ill last week, starting with a terrible cough, then spiking a high fever and being all round miserable with flu. For the first two nights I did not sleep, but kept vigil at her side monitoring her temperature and soothing her through the coughing fits. But by the third night I slept a deep sleep with her cool little body against mine. The tamiflu worked a dream, and eventhough she is still under the weather, and doesn’t have a good appetite, she is definitlly on the mend, and hopefully immune. So, we have survived the dreaded pig flu and hopefully that is the last of it for our household. Emily seems to be totally uneffected, as are Michael and I. Take care everyone through this nasty winter xoxo
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Posted by: zivor | November 15, 2009 OUR EMILY AND ANNABELL
Annabell is now 18 months, and just a dream. She has always been such a happy little girl, always with a smile on her face. She has such a good heart. She is just coping everything her big sister, Emily, does. Yesterday evening we had some friends over for dinner. Emily went upstairs to get one of her barbies and was dancing the barbie on the table, showing the visting little girl. Annabell had been watching this, then disappeared upstairs, and came down with her little doll and proceeded to dance it on the table saying, ‘hello, hello’. So cute! She has learnt from Emily that this is what dolls do, but because her vocab is still developing, she just dances the dolls around and repeats, hello, hello!
She has a shoe fetish at the moment, just loves shoes! I think that this is her sisters influence. They spend a gret deal of time trying on their clothes. We did some shopping the other day and Annabell was so chuffed with her new dress, which she calls pants, along with all other clothe items. I wish I could capture all her cuteness in writting. The sad truth is, however, that no photo or video or written description can capture their amazing personalities and cute little ways. I just love my girls!
Emily is 3 and a half. She is just too clever. I can’t get over how much her mind takes in, and the new bits of information she comes up with. Today, walking in the market she turns to me and says,’ Mom, I think a lot of people are visiting America now days’…not sure where she gets her information?? She also loves telling stories, reading books, and dancing, but her favourite is dress-up! She is really our little fashionista. She has always had her fingers in my make-up and jewlery, for as long as I can remember..
A little taste of a day in my life with my precious, beautiful, special girls. Life cannot possibly get better….I am complete!
Dominic:
Nicci spoke to the pastor who they knew from London: Pastor Francis. Francis asked the question: "Did he know the Lord?". This made Nicci think that this was too late to ask the question. So she decided to ask the question to the next person that she encountered who she did not know if the answer would be positive or negative. Stefan had given Nicci a night at a health spa and Nicci asked the masseus: Do you know the Lord? and then went on to explain about Dominic and Pastor Francis. She later heard from another employee at the spa that the masseus had asked the same question of her. So here is the challenge: Ask one person: Do you know the Lord? and then challenge them to ask another person: Do you know the Lord. I also suggest that you write down the peoples names and the response. Our Cell Group last evening took up this challenge and we will write down the names in Bobby's Black Book when we next meet.
Peter
16.02.2010
Thursday 18th February 2010
Barbara and I left early this morning for Cape Town. We stopped four times: Storms River, MosselBay, Albertina, Heidelberg and Sommerset West to change to our smart clothes. We then found Kemsley Hall's home next to the swiming pool before following them to the church where the Funeral for Howard Waterfall was being held. We had been listening to cricket (SA playing India in the second test). SA were trying to survive with their last wicket but were bowled out in the last over and lost the game to tie the series. At the funeral we met some of Howards Family and Friends: Kemsley Hall; Keith Finnemore; Mick Schekter; Russell Moore; Nigel Everingham; Wife Linda; two daughters and one son; Lois and Marilyn. It was a bit of a reunion for us. Seeing them brough back memories of us cycling around PE to each other's homes.
From there we found Cathy's new house in Milnerton and then we all went to the University where Dominic's Funeral was being conducted. The Funeral was held in a Catholic house. Patrick, Patti, Isabelle, Marianne, St John, Thomas, Mike and Jenny Dean with Debbie and Catherine; Alice and Ian Spence had brough Ena with them; Nicolette Holiday with Son Reggie who is studying Engineering at UCT; Jeanie (Patti's Sister) and Husband; Our Nicci and Stefan; Cathy and Saul; Marianne's aunt & Uncle. There were a huge number of students and other people who we did not know who were there to support the family and Dominic.
We slept the night at Nicci
Friday Morning we spent with Cathy and then headed off to Plett. We had arranged that Mark and girl friend Kylie would be collected by David Coffey and that Ally would travel to Plett with Deon Engelke.
Peter's Perspective:
What happened at Plett East Cape champs?
Well a whole lot happened that I am unaware of but I am able to give you my perspective:
THANK YOU TO THE PARENTS:
There are a whole group of Nippers and Parents who put a lot of their time and money into making Summerstrand Nippers the great organisation that it is. To each one of you who contribute to the ongoing success, thank you.
Here are just some of the volunteering duties that happen with little fuss or thanks.
Loading the Trailer, Sorting out the finances, Tuck shop and braai's, Craft Maintenance, Setting up of arena's, Club and Nipper administration, number ing and taking of entry fees, Level test administration, Carting the trailer to the venue, lost property, first aid, taking other peoples children to the competitions, clothing, sponsorships, coaching and general administration.
Each one of these duties are done for the benefit of you and your child.
Thank you to the adults who are not parents:
Lee and Warren who have "come to our rescue" when we most needed some guidance and direction. Lee took over a huge amount of the administration and has Summerstrand Nippers in her heart.
Volunteer officials who have, for many years, not had children at Nippers: Grant Breedske, Ant Cox and Ant Skinner, Dave Rayner, Charlene Davids, Clint Meintjies, the recorders and scorers and all of the lifeguards (Safety officers) who spend long hours in the water to ensure the safety of your child.
Thank you to PLETT who allow us to use their wonderful facility. Thanks for putting on a stunning weekend.
WELL DONE TO EACH NIPPER WHO TOOK PART IN AN EVENT.
You dont have to be first to be a winner. Look at events such as the Comrades, the Ironman, The Argus Cycle and many more events where there are thousands of participants. Only one person is first to cross the finish line but each person who takes part is a winner. This is how we (Adults) see you. Our hearts fill with pride when we see the first Flags participant to be eliminated, walk away with a smile and continue to support the team. Our hearts want to burst when we see you swimming and boarding all the way around those buoys in big surf and huge swells that make you dissappear out of sight. We cannot understand what it is to arrive on the beach and have to paddle on a body board, then give it all in a beach sprint team, from there move to paddling around the furthest buoy on a Malibu board, then being in the Taplin Relay team and finishing off with a long run where you know that every point counts for your team. Thank you for being part of the Summerstrand Nippers team who made East Cape Champs 2010 a really memorable event.
Barbara and I had been in Cape Town and drove through to Plett from the West. We stopped off at Nuy where we purchased a couple of cases of wine. Fortunately our friend Brenda was in Knysna and we loaded the wine (which took up the whol back seat) into her car. We stopped off at some farm stalls where we bought some fresh fruit, in particular a box of huge juicy plums. Some of you may have enjoyed them on the beach. We arrived on Friday evening. The Engleke's (with a K) had brought Ally and they were all having Pizza's at Cranzgots. Dave Coffey had brought the trailer as well as Mark and Kylie. We met them at the Plett Clubhouse. Dave discovered the Plett Deck for the first time and looked like he was there to stay for the evening. He phoned Sandy to explain why he would do this duty any day. I think that everyone of us who was able to spend some time on the Plett Deck fell in love with the whole clubhouse set up. It is little wonder that this club has grown and is now a force to be reckoned with. This is not a place to "Drop your child", this is a place where you want to spend time with your child and the Nipper Parents who all have a common interest.
EAST CAPE CHAMPS
Saturday morning: It was already hot as we set the tent up. Grant called a meeting where it was agreed that we would follow the program. Sunday would start at 07.30am. Dave went out for an hour of cycling. He tells me that he and Chris Lovemore are training for a 3day moutain bike event in KZN. It sounds like it will be a great challenge. Flags was the first event. Soft sand and the heat made it tough going for the Nippers.
We then moved to the Iron Nipper competition. This gave me an excuse to get into the water. The East wind made the sea and swell big and choppy. It was a tough event for everyone participating. The toughest event of the entire competition was probably the Beach Sprints. The Nippers and parents had to walk on this searing hot sand and wait under the scorching sun. Then the sprinters had to cover the distance on sand that made their feet burn with each step.
The heats (no pun intended) and finals were run without a break. This single event exhausted every parent and Nipper there. Back to the sea we were able to cool off with the Malibu relay and run-swim-run. It had been a long tough day and when we were given the opportunity to decide on a last event the majority agreed that we had all had enough.
Grant had decided to hand out prizes for events completed on the first day. This was an excellent innovation and kept spirits high (again no pun intended). Andrew, Leizl, Craig and I agreed to meet on Sunday morning for a run. Lee had booked a table at the Rod & Reel and we joined them there. Ant Skinner and Dave Rayner were staying with us and we had a great evening chatting on the deck. I know that some parents have the ability to spend a day in the sun and then a night under the moon but I was exhausted and looking forward to bed.
Sunday morning: I woke up with the wind blowing the curtains in a horizontal direction. It was a West wind which meant that the sea would be a lot flatter. I was concerned for those camping but nothing that I could do about it. After a wash I walked to the circle where we had arranged to meet. Liezl, Craig and I ran down to the beach and past the Piesang River and up the long pull to Castleton. It was already warm and I was drenched by the time we got back to the circle.
Later this morning Jacqui complained that she had been excluded from the Run. Please accept my apologies. Nippers Mom's and Dad's: There are always going to be running and cycling groups at Carnivals as well as in PE. These are not for the super fit (we stay together as a group) but for everyone who enjoys being outdoors in the mornings. We had to cut the run short as it was already 6am and we had to be on the beach by 7.00. It was great to see Luke Hepburn and Kyla Naude. They had been sorely missed the previous day.
Today it was a lot cooler on the beach. There was a bit of cloud cover and, while the westerly was blowing, we were completely sheltered by the hills. The sea was flat and swimming was a pleasure. Beach Relays were slightly marred by the number of false starts. We all hope that this would be a lesson learned for SA's in April. Some disciplined coaching is required.
Events ran smoothly and we started the Long Run by about 11.00am. Prize giving was held at 13.00. Well done to every Summies Boy and Girl. U10's have improved hugely since the last carnival and will soon be a winning team. The U12's and U14's won their age groups with Summerstrand coming second overall to Kings Beach with a points difference of 100points.
You would have been so proud of your little sister this weekend.
Nippers East Cape Chaps in Plett:
Not feeling well: extreme heat; with a fever; achieved four medals (top three).
Long Run = 1500m she came third, after running 1450m, neck and neck, with a Kings Beach girl, with an amazing sprint at the end to Pip the fourth place.
Run-Swim-Run. The same thing: Was being beaten swimming but with almost superhuman effort she overtook this girl, with an amazing sprint, at the end.
She ran a silver (second place) in the Beach Relay team event.
Remember that she is 12 in an U14 category and so, is in her first season, of two.
Your Mom and I were absolutely bursting with pride.
DAD
22.02.2010
Message from Varrin to all Nippers, Coaches and Parents.
EAST CAPE NIPPERS CHAMPS: PLETT 20 AND 21 FEBRUARY 2010
Well done to all of you.
The spirit was fantastic.
To all the coaches and Parents. I hope that you enjoyed the action. I saw a couple of hearts fluttering.
I am sure that you had not realised that things could get so tense?
Well done to all of you:
Allow me to single out some high lights.
To the Naude Family who woke up at 4am on Sunday morning to get to Plett by 07.30am. The U14 win, I think was worth it.
To the Under 14's
Well done to the Nippers and coaches
Lee: Nice one!
Warren: See above.
Terry; Karrin; Support Staff: Go for it. The experience and results speak for themselves.
A very special message to Layla and Anka: I am sorry you could not be there, we really missed you guys.
Tainne Finn; Get that shoulder ready if you want to get gold at SA's. Please get better soon.
To the Under 12's: Great
To the Under 10's: What an improvement.
Last word: We will win Nationals.
Thanks Guys
Varrin.
22.02.2010
The following weekend we left on Friday 26th for Bushmans River Mouth where Ingrid and Charles met us. They have this caravan/shack there where we had planned to stay for the weekend of Barbara's birthday. We arrived too late for a braai so had cold meats instead. It was not long before I was so tired that I was falling asleep on my feet. And was fast asleep as I hit the pillow. Barbara and I sleep in the outside lean to which is very comfortable. I had a really long sleep until about 7.00am. Barbara was feeling energetic and had a short jog around the village. I had a bit of a cold and was not feeling up to the running.
I had brought the bicyles and we all climbed onto bikes and had a short ride around the village and through some of the new developments that are spring up everywhere in the area. We were all so impressed with Ingrid (Lance Armstrong) DuToit. This was a first for Ingrid since school days. Barbara realised that she had a long way to go before she would be fit for cycling again. Barbara has done all kinds of races and was incredibly fit for cycling a number of years ago when she did the Argus and Herald tours.
A little later we headed off to Port Alfred to find the Brewery and after a short while we discovered the place in Wharf St just the other side of the river. It is not well marked and we had to ask around. It is housed in this beautiful stone building. From there we drove just outside of Port Alfred to the Cheese Factory. This was a bit of a disappointment as there was not a variety of cheeses. Charles managed to purchase a good cheese cutter.
Our lunch was at the Ocean Basket on the riverside. Very nice and cool. Later this afternoon, after a long sleep, we took the bikes out again. We rode up to the main road, crossed and cycled around the suburb. Again a relaxed afternoon out. This evening we had a braai and played some bridge.
Sunday morning we left fairly early, collected Ally and drove back to Sundays River where it was the Redhouse River Mile that had to be moved due to pollution in the Redhouse. Ally had an amazing swim placed at 27/253 Ladies. (29.20)(Last year = 22 minutes where she swam with Anja Bodish, Dee Kotze, Tara Meintjies) (The timing of the girls was all wrong). She swam next to Ali Mitchley (25th 29.10). A girl called Dominique who was the overall winner for the second year running. Dominique was the Fish Hoek Team leader when Fish Hoek won the Nippers Nationals in PE about 3 years ago.
Sundays River turned out to be a really good venue. I also had a fun swim (26 minutes and 312/378)(Last year =32 minutes but I think that I was not able to swim the whole way. This year I was able to swim Crawl from start to finish. We are not sure of the times as the timing chips were not that successful putting people who had been placed behind others at a better time.
Who was there?
Dominique Dryding; Michaela Barnes; Ali Mitchley; Christie Vaughan; Lauren and Carmel Billson; Roger and Christian Fraser; Ant Skinner who swum his 50th River Mile; Mally Richards (77) 56 River miles and who is Bob Richards cousin; Greg and family Kotze; Bradley Joubert; Shuaib and Imran, Muslim Nippers dads; Rogan, Nipper, Scheepers; Shimone (Nippers) vd Berg; Dee (KB Nipper) Kotze; Caitlin vd Berg Clarendon; Wayne, Jason and Daniel Jones; Adam and Luke Stevenson; Markus Burrie; Calvin and Jordan Zeelie; Rob & Jason Ermes; Laurence Hardman nippers; Keith Reading; Dickey Elliot (Round Table); Peter Schwartz; Dave Emslie; Brett & Debbie Kibble; Cathy Garde and Neville Duplessis.
As we left we met up with Bob and Mally Richards. Bob reminded us that we had taken him and Dee out to the Tap Dancing a few years ago.
Sunday had been a hot and busy day for us. I had to collect Mark from his Girl Friend Kylie later. And I was travelling to Queenstown and Mthatha then next week.\
Peter\
1.03.2010
TRIP TO JHB AND STAY OVER WITH KEITH BRAATVEDT
ADDO MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE 30KAY WITH MARK.
HERALD ROAD RACE.
SURFERS MARATHON EAST LONDON: TOMMY SATCHWELL; MEGAN KNIPE; LIEZL SAUNDERS.
OCEAN SERIES SWIM AT HOBIE BEACH
MARINE DRIVE CYCLE
DOMINIC GIDDY: 13.02.2010
Howard Waterfall 15.02.2010
HOWARD WATERFALL FUNERAL: KEMSLEY HALL, MICK SCHECKTER, NIGEL EVERINGHAM, CHARLES MOORE, KEITH FINNEMORE, LOIS AND MARYLIN WATERFALL, LINDA WATERFALL.
NICCI GIDDY AND PASTOR FRANCIS
JACQUI ZIVOR BLOGS FROM ISRAEL ABOUT THE FAMILY
MARK DU PIESANIE
BUSHMANS RIVER MOUTH
BARBARA, CHARLES & INGRID DU TOIT GO MTB RIDING
DOMINIQUE DRYDING FROM FISH HOEK NIPPERS WINS THE RIVER MILE
REDHOUSE (SUNDAYS) RIVER MILE
NIPPERS EAST CAPE CHAMPS AT PLETT
ALLY IS 27/253 AT SUNDAYS SWIM
Monday I was able to get back into running: the slow runners (me included) did the whole of Dias road and Langenhoven. The next morning I managed to do the whole of the Susan's Route. This evening I met up with Charles and we took out his mountain bike and did the same tuning and cleaning thing that I had done on my bikes. Wednesday morning we did a slower and shorter route.
Thursday morning I was so happy to see some rain (drizzel) that I decided to stay in bed. Charles' bike had a inch thick layer of dust and the chain derailer was out of line. But again with not too much effort we soon had the bike going like a charm. I arranged to meet Charles on Wednesday for an afternoon cycle. We rode down to the beach and back. It was great. I had spent the previous weekend cleaning, tuning and setting up my mountain bike. I was completely confident that the bike would be 100% for the Addo ride that I had entered for Saturday.
Thursday I flew to Johannesburg where Suzanne collected me from Malibongwe drive. I love this family. Suzanne fed us a Venison (Kudu) supper. We sat chatting and finally I fell into bed exhausted. Friday morning Keith and I went to their school swimming pool complex and he and I did a really healthy swim. He must have done over two kays non stop. I did about 1.3kays but with plenty of stops. I would swim four lengths (25m) and then recover. Mark moved into our house on Friday. I was still in Jhb. In fact my plane was delayed and I only arrived home after 21.30.
The Addo Mountain Bike Cycle
Mark and I got stuck into Barbara's bike. First we had to fit knobblies and then make sure the bike was perfectly tuned with no sticky points. We fitted him out with cycling gear. We loaded the bikes into the Corsa Bakkie and were set for our mountain bike ride. I had arrived home late and this meant that I was only able to get to bed after 11pm. This is very late for me. Saturday morning we were up at 04.00am and drove to Gerald. He picked Alf Zemkhe up and we drove too fast to Addo.
We arrived with over an hour to the start of our event. There were three races: the 85kay technical and tough event. Then the 65kay which was as technical but would have been more manageable for me. But we had decided to tackle the 30kay Family Fun Ride. I was amazed at how many people were doing this event who we know: Pat, Gerald and Ronel; Alf; Bob Howlett and brother Neil; Jonathan Coffey and friend Nico from Nippers; Peter DC; Tracey Brink (Leah was there in support); Rob and Michelle Elfick and Fred Allabone; Darryl and Avril Smith. Nicky's old diving friend Cathy and husband Neville; There were probably more people that we knew that I cannot remember.
I had asked Gerald to register me for the event. I had entered on line but was stuck in Jhb and would not be back in time. He made the mistake of entering me for the Saturday Fun Ride and not the Mountain Bike event. This meant that I was entered twice but not for the correct event. Sounds very complicated. I tried to explain this to Jenny who was in charge of the entries. She understood but said that she would have to refer this complication to some committee. I dont blame her.
This was both my and Mark's first ever attempt at mountain biking off road. Mark was not fit for this type of exersize and while I am reasonably fit for cycling; this was new territory for me. We started off reasonably slowly. I saw Ronelle ahead and tried to stay with her but I had determined that Mark and I would ride together and so let her get ahead. Pat passed us. Gerald and ALf would bring up the rear.
There were no really tough mountain climbs. Merely a gradual hill that was a downhill compared to Brickies. We rode through the orchards of oranges. If it had been season we could have picked fruit on the ride. Occasionally there was a downhill that allowed us to have some real excitement. I saw Cathy and Neville having a huge amount of fun on one of the downs. There were some speed bumps which Cathy ramped and flew a good few feet into the air.
There were just a few sections where the track narrowed and we would have to watch where we rode. We scaped bast thorn trees and bumped over ditches, skidded around wet patches and tried to avoid the stony parts of the road. Then there were plenty of soft sand area's that made us watch our way. With Mountain biking you have to watch just ahead of you much more that you do when you are on the road. On the road you should be looking ahead to see where you are going.
This was a Family affair with lots of Dad's, Mom's and children. I would often hear a child talking to the parent and the parent advising of the route to take. It was a healthy atmosphere of people taking care of others more than themselves. I had fitted a bell to Mark's bike and he would ring it every now and again to let me know that he was right behind me.
We were fortunate to be in shade for most of our 90 odd minutes of cycling. We had a cool breeze to add to our comfort. We thought of those doing the bigger events and the heat that they would have to suffer later on this morning. We approached the half way feeding station. There was a menu that would have made a restuarant envious: Banana's; Potato; Powerade; Borrie Rolls and a willingness to help everyone as much as they could. And this was just the 30kay fun event. This made me feel embarressed as how shoddily we had treated our fun runners last weekend at the Achilles event.
We rode on with the smells of fresh manure, dusty fields, Orange trees and the sweat of fellow cyclists. There was a great cameraderie and chatting going on as we came to the end of a great (for us) first time off road on the mountain bike. Rob Howlet came up to me later and said that I was surely a convert and would not go back to road running. Not quite, but certainly I will be looking out for more of these events.
Mark and I loaded up the bikes and headed home. on our way home Samantha phoned. It was her birthday the previous day. She was at a Wimpy with Crystal. It appears that their dad (Mark Snr) had been released from jail and that Crystal had flown Samantha to Jhb for this event. Mark had a short conversation with Mark Snr. I was supposed to drop Mark off at his Grandparents but somehow the lines got crossed and his Grandfather locked him out of the house. I collected him and took him to the office where he met up with Michael who was doing some moving.
This afternoon Mark and I cleaned up the bikes. I had realised how important it was to ride a bike that was in good shape. Not that there was no chance of a puncture or mechanical problem but having the bikes tuned and clean meant that we reduced the chance of being caught on the side of the track fixing punctures or loose chains etc. We dropped Pat's bike off with her later. She told us that she had ommitted to clean her bike after her last ride and that the gears were sticking.
I dropped Mark off with a friend in Rowallan Park. And spent the afternoon at home. Barbara had been in Uitenhage the whole day with Ally at a Gala.
Sunday morning we spent with Charles and Ingrid on the side of the road watching the cyclists ride past their home. They had made some muffins. Ian and a friend stayed in bed till the last minute before church. Ally slept in the car until we returned home. The cycle route had been diverted from Heugh Road due to the construction in that road to Villiers Road. We were able to cheer the people we knew and to give support to the many others who came past; some really fast and others out for a more leisurely pedal.
After church it was off to Nippers where the waves were big but manageable. The water was warm and everyone was in the water for as long as we possibly could be. Terry pointed out that there seemed to be chaos in the various training groups. Donald took a group of U14's for a long paddle on the Malibu boards way past the pipe and to the horizon that we could hardly see them. It seems that they wanted to catch some of the big swells that were coming through. We were trying to sort out teams for East Cape but little help from parents.
It was a very hot day. I spent most of the afternoon cooling off and watching cricket. But later washed the car when Barbara went off to try to catch cats to have them neutered.
Monday morning I ran the Langenhoven Drive route with Lyn (training for Iron Man) Suzanne and Theresa. I am not quite sure what happened to the rest of the group as there seemed to be lots of cars at the start of the running this morning.
Dropped Mark off at school for the first time.
Tuesday I had to be in East London for a meeting just for the day.
Wednesday I was back to running with our little group. Wednesday evening I attended a Summerstrand meeting with Body Concept.
Thursday We did our Walmer run. This evening Mark started Drama in Walmer.
Friday morning Gerald, Mike D, Mark and I did the Walmer circuit cycle. Mark did exceptionally well on the "old green bike" the pedals are suitable for clip on Shoes but Mark road with normal tackies and held his own. Friday evening Mark had his Valentines day party with Gilrfriend Kylie De Kock who live in the second half of Rowallan park.
Saturday morning: 13.02.2010: This morning at around 04.00am Marianne phoned to say that Dominic had been attacked while walking home with two friends to their Digs in Cape Town. Dominic was studying at UCT. His attackers stabbed him once in each lung and in his throat and he then walked to the hospital but did not make it and died.
This shocking news completely stuned everyone in the family. We tried to move forward but were for a while in a state of disbelief and non acceptance. I finally was able to speak to some of the family but everyone's reactions were the same. Disbelief, Disappointment, Sadness, Emptyness, nauseous.
Patrick, Patti, St John and Thomas flew from Durban and were in Cape Town on Saturday morning. Isabelle set up a beach Candles memorial on Muisenberg for friends and family. Marianne was already in Cape Town and had been the one who had passed on the news. I think that Isabelle had been the first one of the family to hear about this. It seems from what Patrick says that Isabelle is the person who is taking the loss the hardest.
Saturday morning: despite the terrible news, we had to carry on with arrangements taht we had made:
It was a Father and Son breakfast morning for Mark at Linkside high school. He and I arrived just before 8.00am. We listened to a lot of good advice from the teachers including Antoinette ... the Grade 12 head, The CAT (computer) teacher, THe headmaster and the deputy head.
Unfortunately we were not able to stay for Breakfast as I had to be home by 09.30 as we were leaving for East London to run the Surfer's Marathon. Tommy Satchwell and two young ladies that I had met on a MPRG run came along: Megan Knipe who did the Iron Man in East London recently and Liezl Saunders. We left at 09.30 and had an easy drive to Kingwilliamstown where we stopped for a toilet and eats break. In East London, more by luck than anything else we found the parking area at the end of the run. Nahoon Beach. Look out for the Palm Cell Phone Tower and you are on the correct road.
Maria, work colleague, collected us and drove us out to Khwelera River Mouth. Here we met up with Dave Gassner and his merry team of men and women who had run from Port St Johns since Monday. This six day, 270kay event had started off with two very hot days of 50kays each then a 40kay and lastly two thirty kay days with the last day being a morning of 30kays and ending upw with a Grueling 18kay Surfers Marathon. This year the tide was particularly high and all of us took a lot of strain.
Ian Ross was there. He loves the adventure runs. At the start we realise that we have not done the correct Registration thing. We should have visited Mr Price Sports to collect a Chip. We should have written our race numbers with a Koki Pen on our arms and we should be wearing the Chip around our ankles. But despite all of these problems the offical lady assists us and it appears that we are going to be "registered runners"
There were very few people from PE who ran this race today. Tommy and I went to the front of the group to have a reasonably easy start. The first couple of hundred meters are narrow and the two thousand runners tend to bunch and bottle neck. We were soon having to run on rocks, boulders, soft sand and wet beaches. There was no way that we were going to have a fast or easy run today. The weather is reasonably kind to us. There is a West Wind blowing into our faces and the sky is overcast.
This is a particularly well supported run in East London. There are huge numbers of spectators both along the beach, cheering on their friends and family as well as in the village of Gonubie. The first section of the run is the hardest. There are no easy pathways and we were forced, on a number of occasions, into a single file walk. As we run over the rocky area's we hear the sound of feet falling onto the rocks. This is a particular sound that is then complimented by the sound of the Waves rolling the rocks up and then back down.
Unfortunately we are not able to look up as to do so would mean certain tripping and a fall now would not be pleasant. So on we trod watching, not the wonderful scenery, but our own ugly takkies and the beach just one meter ahead of us. As one of the "Jong Bokkies" pass us we are not able to focus on their form but have to keep our eyes oinned on the beach, rocks and boulders which is the only way we maintain our balance. By the way, when you reach my age, most of the women I meet fall into the categorie of "Jong Bokkie".
After about 45 to 60 minutes, I dont wear a watch and there are no distance marker boards on this run, we reach the Gonubie River. This afternoon the tide was pushing in and, despite the ropes and the many lifesavers, there were a number of distress call of: "please can you help me?". For myself, and I heard later, from all of our little PE group, this was a relief for us. The swim cooled us off and gave our legs a break. I swam at an easy stroke, allowing the tide to push me upstream but steadily making my way accross to the other side of the river.
Immediately after this crossing we ran into the village of Gonubie. There was a little up hill and then a down back to where the run used to enter Gonubie. I hear that the reason for this was that the authorities did not want the runners to use the boardwalk leading from the beach to Gonubie. As we ran past the Gonubie Hotel we were greeted by many people cheering and encouraging the runners. Abe CIllers (work Colleague) was there.
It was clear that there was no Water Restrictions in EL. Everywhere we ran there were hoses cooling off the runners. There was even a slippery slide which Megan and Liezl said that they used. The atmosphere is very festive. If you are trying too hard you may miss the cameraderie and enthusiasm from the crowds. I was not trying too hard at all. I was merely trying to get to the finish. My legs were extremely tired. I was feeling empty and nauseous as a result of the early moring and the tragic news that we had received from Cape Town.
The run along the tar roads of Gonubie was quite exhausting. I had worn my very oldest and most worn out takkies. This did not help as I ran through the village. I did some walking and a little jogging and finally made it to the exit out of the village and back onto the beach. Now the going is relatively easy. The beach is a little firmer and flatter. But the end seems forever. Inevitably there is mist around where the finish is located. We seem to see some cars parked but no sign of the finish. People all around are tossing their shoes away. They are fed up and complaining of weariness. One step forward is a meter closer to the finish says one may as I pass him.
The runners do not wear their Club Colours. There are no Licence numbers. Infact very little formalities. So all kinds of clothing is thrown away as the wet T-shirts become a burden and as heavy shoes, filled with water and sand, are too akward to carry on weary legs.
Finally we reach the second river crossing. As I approach the river I see that most people are walking accross pulling on the support rope. For me this is another chance to swim. I dive in and enjoy the change of activity. The lovely swim is short and we are soon back on the soft sand beach. I know that the finish banner is in site but for me to no walk takes superhuman effort. I jog my way to the finish where I am greeted by the lady who assisted me at the start. She records my name and time.
Tommy greets me and informs me that he was in about 15 minutes before me. I collect my T-shirt and make my way to the drinks tent. These T-shirts are collectors items, especially in East London. As we drove through to EL earlier on we had been talking about how we would give Tshirts away. Later on I heard Liezl saying that this was one T-Shirt that she would wear with pride.
Tommy has gone for a cool off swim. Finally Megan and Liezl arrive and I am able to go off to purchase a Boerrie Roll. The cold Drinks have run out but Tommy arrives with a cold beer. It does not even touch sides. I see Dave and Chel Gassner, Patrick who was my running partner at the wild coast event a number of years ago and Siegfried who also ran with me and who is one of the very few who have run all four of these events. There were about 23 finshers at the Wild Coast Ultra this year. They stayed in Hotels and that is one of the reasons that the first two days were so long and tough.
A friend of Megan's joins us. He ran a second place and tells us that he won the Cape Town Surfers Challenge and that he was sponsored to come to EL. Young and fit looking man. We have now recovered our composure and walk back up to the car. The car is a little further than we had thought but we are athletes and can walk an extra 50 meters! I have developed a chaffing on my legs which is quite painful. We change out of the wet stuff and head for Kingwilliamstown where we fuel up the car and buy ourselves a Wimpy Coffee which really settles us down. There are a couple of snacks, sandwiches and muffins which make the trip home more pleasant. The ride home is easy with the excitement of seeing a number of Warthog Families grazing on the side of the road just after crossing the Fish River.
We had left the finish at around 6pm, taken about 30 minutes to work through the traffic and then with the Refuelling stop in King we arrived home at around 21.30. I receive this SMS: "Hi Peter, there were 868 in front of you and you have missed out on 2.21.45 of Beer Drinking time" Probably the most original SMS'd race time I have ever received. As we had travelled home we had swapped stories of the run, I had related the story of Graham Richards and the Coomb's Arsonists. Amid all of this Liezl and Megan had been setting up their social evening activity while poor Tommy had still to attend a 21st Birthday Party. I was going to be in bed as soon as possible. I had a bike ride planned for the morning.
Sunday morning 14.02.2010: Valentines day. This was also my Late Father, Allan Giddy's Birthday. I awoke feeling very tired but had agreed to meet Gerald and Pat for a Bike ride. They are training for the Argus Cycle on the 14.03.2010. We met at 05.15 and headed down into Target Kloof and then to Schoenies via 10th Avenue. Along the Marine Drive and then into Summerstrand. Up Admiralty way and then Strandfontien road. We returned home via Target Kloof again. We had cycled at an easy pace but had worked up quite a sweat by the time we got home.
I was home by 07.30 and agreed to swim the Ocean Series One Kay. Ally was not keen but I was eager to try my first swim. I know that I am very slow in the water. I registered and purchased a swim cap. Total R90 for this swim! The three kay swimmers headed off about 10 minutes before us and then it was our turn. This morning I saw Alec Riddle, Graham Richards, Adel, Mike Bosch, the Zeelie boys and Natalie Billson all lining up for a swim in the sea.
I was caught a little off guard as I was talking to John Kotze who had come to support his son Greg. I made my way out past the first Buoy. I tend to swim in a Zig Zag route as I continuously lose my way. I had an old pair of goggles but they worked perfectly. Let no one fool you, it is a very long swim just to the first buoy. I rounded this buoy and headed off towards Kings Beach. This was a long stretch. At times it looked like I was completely alone.
I could see no one ahead of me and heard no splashing or kicking behind me. I asked the life guard who was on a board if I was last. She replied that she could see swimmers behind me. As it turned out these swimmers must have been the Three Kay swimmers who were about to Lap me. She says: "Dont stop, Keep going". Now the problem with swimming in the ocean is that if you stop or do not keep going you will drown. There is no bailing and walking home.
So finally I round the second buoy. Now I head towards the shore. And again get lost. I seem to think that I am swimming in one direction but when I look up to check find that I have to do a complete 180 degree look around to find the next buoy. At last I turn around the third buoy to swim back to the Pier. Now here is a big "Land mark" or should I say: "Sea Mark"? And you would think that there is no way you can miss this. Not in my case.
First I am going in the direction of the Barneys tavern. This is not due to Auto Radar as I really am not a regular there. Then I am heading out towards Bluewater bay again. A life guard on a board sets me right. I am now right under the end of the pier and, just as I think that I am nearly at the last buoy, I develop a cramp in my left thigh. Now I try a bit of back stroke, side stroke, massaging and generally nursing the pain.
A lady comes up next to me and offers to stay with me. I am very grateful and we swim around the final buoy together. Can you believe it that now, instead of heading back to the beach, I swim in the direction of Summerstrand? Barbara and Jacqui later comment that they thought that I was taking a short cut to Nippers. At last this lady and I exit the water together with a group of men who are now competeing the 3kay swim. Kalvin tells his parents that he saw me in the swim as he lapped me. Ah well. I have now swum my first Ocean Series.
From here Barbara drops me off at Summerstrand for Nippers Training. I am ready to fall asleep in the chair where I am sitting. The weather is perfect. The swells are behaving themselves. Ant Skinner has a team of young men who train the Boarders while the Non Swimmers do sprints and flags. Ally is developing lots of skill on the board and is able to keep up with the group.
Unfortunately there is a sudden turn of wind direction from West to East and a group of the boarding Nippers are stung by Bluebottles. This continues for the rest of the morning and there is a lot of pain and suffering as children are stung all over their bodies. It has been a good session and before heading home we pack the trailer for the Plett East Cape Champs. Now I am really tired and look forward being in the cool of our home.
I am able to speak to Patrick who gave me some more details about Dominic. The funeral is planned for the following Thursday 18.02.2010 at the University Chapel at 18.00.
Cape Times and News South Africa:
UCT reels as another student is murdered
The UCT community has reacted with anger and deep sadness at the killing of the third student in five months on the streets of a city suburb.
Joseph Dominic Giddy, a 22-year-old social science student at UCT, was stabbed to death on Friday night in Observatory after returning from a concert at Zeekoevlei with two friends.
They had been dropped off on the corner of Main Road and Kotzee Road by a chartered Golden Arrow bus and were walking to their student commune in Winchester Road.
"They were attacked by three unidentified men who tried to rob them of their belongings," police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said. A fight broke out, in which Giddy was stabbed in the chest. He died on the way to hospital.
One of Giddy's friends was stabbed in the hand.
Giddy's assailants fled in a white Mazda hatchback with an unknown registration.
"It is a terrible crime that has been committed, yet another example of the gratuitous violence that besets our city and our country, with the life of someone who showed great promise being taken away in a senseless killing. Our hearts go out to the Giddy family as they face this tragic loss," UCT vice-chancellor Max Price said.
Extracts from Jacqui's Face Book:
Dominic Giddy
In all honesty, I didn’t know him very well. But am so deeply saddened? Maybe it is that I saw him again, after such a long long time, just this last christmas, and was impressed by a boy, who had grown into such a warm, bright, interesting man? It doesn’t really matter why I am so shaken by the violent passing of my cousin…I just am. The senseless loss. The violence. The idea that his footprints will never leave their impression on the ground again. No one will hear him laughing in a crowd again. All for? The irony of it is that the same night that he became a South African statistic, I was engrossed in completing a portrait painting of Mandela, all the while thinking of his dream for our beautiful land. It seems that dreams are as fragile as our bodies. If a life can be lost because too much blood was shed, maybe that too is how dreams are lost?
I am out of breath. I pray for the healing of a family, a community, a country
Posted by: zivor | February 11, 2010 Mr. Zivor is now a Doctor. Yesterday Michael sat for his viva exam following a 2 year journey to become a Doctor of Psychology. He did extremely well and I just couldn’t be prouder. He has been in London for the past five days, attending courses, and sitting for the viva and will return to Israel today. It is such a priviledge to be able to walk this path through life with person who you love and respect, and is ultimately your best friend. I feel so completely blessed in my life. This is just a small tribute to my family. My little girls, who are my companions, my treasures, my inspiration. My husband, who is my best friend, my little guru, my true love. My family, mom, dad, nix, michael, cathy, ally, thank you for all you are to me. I love you all.
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Posted by: zivor | February 3, 2010 Life in binyaminaIt has now been 1 month since arriving in Israel. So much has happened in this past month, it has been quite a whirlwind. Michael has started his job in Jerusalem, and travels there 1 a week, and the rest of the time is seeing private patients. He is doing very well so far and is really enjoying working with his own cutlure, with common experiences. The girls have settled amazingly well, and are my inspiration on how to live each day with joy and excitement. Emily has started at a Hebrew nursery and has already had her first friend over! Her hebrew has improved so much over the past few weeks, it is too precious to hear the hebrew words rolling out. She has settled beautifully in her new nursery, where the teachers have been so warm and welcoming. My settling has been more up and down, with still missing the family in SA. But I love Binyamina. It is quite rural. No shopping centres, I have no idea where the nearest cinema is. We are surrounded by orange groves and have been picking fruit and juicing every weekend. The weather is barmy warm, despite being mid winter, and the kids are loving the daily walks around the area. It is also amazing to see children running around the neighbourhood as we did as kids. Pulling bits and pieces into the nearby forest for fort making purposes. Walking their dogs without an adult in sight. It encourages me. I have also started advertising for my montessori, english nursery to start in september, and have had some good feedback. And two (hold thumbs) parents who will definitly be enrolling so far (aiming for 6-8). I have also had the chance to do some painting. so all in all life is good.
Will keep you all updated. Come visit.
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Posted by: zivor | November 23, 2009 Tearful Moment.When Michael and I got married he gave a speech, and at the end of the speech he said, ’some people choose to live their lives as if nothing is magic, and other choose to live their lives as if everything is magic, and Jacqui and I choose to live our lives as if everything is magic’. Well, recently Emily watched our wedding video and had obviously heard this part of the speech. She didn’t say anything about it at the time. A couple of days past and one night, while I was putting her to bed, she sleepily turned to me and said, ‘you know what mommy, I also think everything is magic like you and aba’. It took every bit of my strength not to burst into tears. It was just so tender and sincere. it is just amazing how she is absorbing her world and making her own decisions about what she sees and hears. I truely think she is about the wisest person I have met in my life. Also positive and upbeat. Always up for a laugh. Caring for those around her, with her prioriteis in place. Maybe God gives us our children as little angels to help guide us through the rigidity of adulthood. No matter what has happened in the day, one look at my children and my heart sings.
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Posted by: zivor | November 21, 2009 Me time…or so I thought?Michael is away at the moment in Germany. Its cold out, just finished putting Annabell down for a nap, Emily has just started watching her new Tinkerbell dvd. So, I run a nice warm bubble bath. Get my book and bowl of cold grapes….just about to climb in when I hear Annabell stirring. So, quickly go and tend to her. Back to sleeping soundly. Ah, bath time. Get back to the bath only to find Emily and my grapes soaking in the bath together….hmmmm! Not quite what I had in mind. So, ended up with Emily and I having a semi-warm, grape/bubble bath while playing barbie-barbie.
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Posted by: zivor | November 20, 2009 Emily’s beautiful imaginationJust finished having lunch with Emily…’ok mommy, now I am going to tell you a story. There were hundreds of wolvziz. They were so hungry. They ate my long blonde hair. They didn’t see the lunch for my grandmother. I was hiding it. I wasn’t scared really, it was just a story, I was running to my grandmothers house. She was actually a safta because she can’t walk brilliant (safta is grandmother in hebrew, and her hebrew grandmother can’t walk brilliant). The wolvziz are wearing her pajamas. And her grey hair. Its short like a boy…mommy, why do some boys have long hair like a girl and some girls are having short hair like aba? (I answer)…story continues….help, help, I am locked in a tower, someone is climbing my long long hair.
She is such a chatta-box! Woke up at 2am, whispering, mommy lets have a little chat. Which we did…all all night. Still haven’t slept, and she is still chatting….love my girl!
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Posted by: zivor | November 19, 2009 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”–Joshua 24:15Life is difficult. This is a well known and overly debated fact. But difficult doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing? If everything had to come easy, then how would we delight in those moments of pure joy? What would be the point of a holiday? How would we know when we are being showered by God’s grace? The truth is that if we were always riding the easy wave, then we would miss the beauty of life. Having grown up in a ‘hiking’ family, I find the analogy of climbing mountains works really well for me. You only truly appreciate a spectacular view after having climbed the challenging mountain, partly because you are out of breathe and anyway need to sit in silence for a while, but mostly because of the sense of accomplishment. Having persevered, supporting one another, and digging deep and realizing you have more strength than you thought. You enjoy the camp fire mostly because you can compare war wounds and laugh at the hardships and knowing that you have grown closer by sharing the experience. 2009 seems to have been a rough ride for most of the people I know and love. But the end of the year is in sight. I feel a lightness in my heart. I can’t wait to sit around the christmas tree with my dear family and laugh and cry together. I know we are all stronger for having shared the trials of the past year. I can honestly say, I thank God for trials, and I thank Him for healing, and I thank Him for letting me grow. Just as I let my children grow, watching them try new things, knowing they may fall a couple of times before they get it. The bumps and bruises will heal, but the lessons will never fade, life is surely for living to the full, good and bad. And through it all, ‘ me and my house, we will serve the Lord’
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Posted by: zivor | November 18, 2009 Being a parent to an under 5When I found out that I was pregnant, people began telling me how much my life was going to change. To be honest, I really didn’t like this sort of talk. I was confident that my life was going to just get better and that I was going to stay the same. I found comfort in this. The truth, however, is that little things change, more than big things. They sneak up on you. Like, when did I actually learn all versus of ‘postman pat’? I also can’t really say when I began spending so much time in the washing powder section of tesco, trying to decide which powder would do the best job and be non-bio at the same time. Trust me, this was not something I would have looked into before having kids. Going to the toilet is also something I used to do alone, now I comfortably pee with an audience…and very often answering some difficult questions at the same time. Instead of searching my bag for loose change, I now search for loose raisins. I automatically quarter sandwiches, even for my husband and I. I break up arguments for which the entire content consists of, ‘no’, ‘no’, ‘no’, ‘no’, and somehow find that I become part of the very rich debate! But there are other types of changes. Like having little hands resting on you. Feeling the comfort of a little body sleeping soundly on your chest. Seeing the world through fresh eyes. Loving someone so much you fear you will stop breathing, and having that unconditional love so generously returned. Having someone’s world light up just because you entered a room. Becoming a mother also means developing magical abilities, like blowing away bruises and kissing away pain. So I can confirm all those scary predictions, life does change, and its not about missing out on a social life, getting no sleep, or career suicide. Instead, its becomes so much more interesting, you see how ridiculous it is to be too planned and how not to take yourself seriously, in short, when your child is born so are you. Like a butterfly breaking free of a chrysalis you begin the next adventure in life.
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Posted by: zivor | November 17, 2009 swine flu :0Since the first mention of this strand of flu I have been absolutely terrified of one of my little girls catching it. We had the dreadful experience of having Annabell terribly ill in hospital when she was younger, for which I am still having panic attacks and nightmares, and am so scared to have to repeat that awful experience. So, I have religiously bought the antiseptic gels and creams, carrying them in all my bags, and being available in every draw in the house. Have been avoiding crowds, and steering well clear of the underground. But, it was not to be avoided. Annabell became ill last week, starting with a terrible cough, then spiking a high fever and being all round miserable with flu. For the first two nights I did not sleep, but kept vigil at her side monitoring her temperature and soothing her through the coughing fits. But by the third night I slept a deep sleep with her cool little body against mine. The tamiflu worked a dream, and eventhough she is still under the weather, and doesn’t have a good appetite, she is definitlly on the mend, and hopefully immune. So, we have survived the dreaded pig flu and hopefully that is the last of it for our household. Emily seems to be totally uneffected, as are Michael and I. Take care everyone through this nasty winter xoxo
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Posted by: zivor | November 15, 2009 OUR EMILY AND ANNABELL
Annabell is now 18 months, and just a dream. She has always been such a happy little girl, always with a smile on her face. She has such a good heart. She is just coping everything her big sister, Emily, does. Yesterday evening we had some friends over for dinner. Emily went upstairs to get one of her barbies and was dancing the barbie on the table, showing the visting little girl. Annabell had been watching this, then disappeared upstairs, and came down with her little doll and proceeded to dance it on the table saying, ‘hello, hello’. So cute! She has learnt from Emily that this is what dolls do, but because her vocab is still developing, she just dances the dolls around and repeats, hello, hello!
She has a shoe fetish at the moment, just loves shoes! I think that this is her sisters influence. They spend a gret deal of time trying on their clothes. We did some shopping the other day and Annabell was so chuffed with her new dress, which she calls pants, along with all other clothe items. I wish I could capture all her cuteness in writting. The sad truth is, however, that no photo or video or written description can capture their amazing personalities and cute little ways. I just love my girls!
Emily is 3 and a half. She is just too clever. I can’t get over how much her mind takes in, and the new bits of information she comes up with. Today, walking in the market she turns to me and says,’ Mom, I think a lot of people are visiting America now days’…not sure where she gets her information?? She also loves telling stories, reading books, and dancing, but her favourite is dress-up! She is really our little fashionista. She has always had her fingers in my make-up and jewlery, for as long as I can remember..
A little taste of a day in my life with my precious, beautiful, special girls. Life cannot possibly get better….I am complete!
Dominic:
Nicci spoke to the pastor who they knew from London: Pastor Francis. Francis asked the question: "Did he know the Lord?". This made Nicci think that this was too late to ask the question. So she decided to ask the question to the next person that she encountered who she did not know if the answer would be positive or negative. Stefan had given Nicci a night at a health spa and Nicci asked the masseus: Do you know the Lord? and then went on to explain about Dominic and Pastor Francis. She later heard from another employee at the spa that the masseus had asked the same question of her. So here is the challenge: Ask one person: Do you know the Lord? and then challenge them to ask another person: Do you know the Lord. I also suggest that you write down the peoples names and the response. Our Cell Group last evening took up this challenge and we will write down the names in Bobby's Black Book when we next meet.
Peter
16.02.2010
Thursday 18th February 2010
Barbara and I left early this morning for Cape Town. We stopped four times: Storms River, MosselBay, Albertina, Heidelberg and Sommerset West to change to our smart clothes. We then found Kemsley Hall's home next to the swiming pool before following them to the church where the Funeral for Howard Waterfall was being held. We had been listening to cricket (SA playing India in the second test). SA were trying to survive with their last wicket but were bowled out in the last over and lost the game to tie the series. At the funeral we met some of Howards Family and Friends: Kemsley Hall; Keith Finnemore; Mick Schekter; Russell Moore; Nigel Everingham; Wife Linda; two daughters and one son; Lois and Marilyn. It was a bit of a reunion for us. Seeing them brough back memories of us cycling around PE to each other's homes.
From there we found Cathy's new house in Milnerton and then we all went to the University where Dominic's Funeral was being conducted. The Funeral was held in a Catholic house. Patrick, Patti, Isabelle, Marianne, St John, Thomas, Mike and Jenny Dean with Debbie and Catherine; Alice and Ian Spence had brough Ena with them; Nicolette Holiday with Son Reggie who is studying Engineering at UCT; Jeanie (Patti's Sister) and Husband; Our Nicci and Stefan; Cathy and Saul; Marianne's aunt & Uncle. There were a huge number of students and other people who we did not know who were there to support the family and Dominic.
We slept the night at Nicci
Friday Morning we spent with Cathy and then headed off to Plett. We had arranged that Mark and girl friend Kylie would be collected by David Coffey and that Ally would travel to Plett with Deon Engelke.
Peter's Perspective:
What happened at Plett East Cape champs?
Well a whole lot happened that I am unaware of but I am able to give you my perspective:
THANK YOU TO THE PARENTS:
There are a whole group of Nippers and Parents who put a lot of their time and money into making Summerstrand Nippers the great organisation that it is. To each one of you who contribute to the ongoing success, thank you.
Here are just some of the volunteering duties that happen with little fuss or thanks.
Loading the Trailer, Sorting out the finances, Tuck shop and braai's, Craft Maintenance, Setting up of arena's, Club and Nipper administration, number ing and taking of entry fees, Level test administration, Carting the trailer to the venue, lost property, first aid, taking other peoples children to the competitions, clothing, sponsorships, coaching and general administration.
Each one of these duties are done for the benefit of you and your child.
Thank you to the adults who are not parents:
Lee and Warren who have "come to our rescue" when we most needed some guidance and direction. Lee took over a huge amount of the administration and has Summerstrand Nippers in her heart.
Volunteer officials who have, for many years, not had children at Nippers: Grant Breedske, Ant Cox and Ant Skinner, Dave Rayner, Charlene Davids, Clint Meintjies, the recorders and scorers and all of the lifeguards (Safety officers) who spend long hours in the water to ensure the safety of your child.
Thank you to PLETT who allow us to use their wonderful facility. Thanks for putting on a stunning weekend.
WELL DONE TO EACH NIPPER WHO TOOK PART IN AN EVENT.
You dont have to be first to be a winner. Look at events such as the Comrades, the Ironman, The Argus Cycle and many more events where there are thousands of participants. Only one person is first to cross the finish line but each person who takes part is a winner. This is how we (Adults) see you. Our hearts fill with pride when we see the first Flags participant to be eliminated, walk away with a smile and continue to support the team. Our hearts want to burst when we see you swimming and boarding all the way around those buoys in big surf and huge swells that make you dissappear out of sight. We cannot understand what it is to arrive on the beach and have to paddle on a body board, then give it all in a beach sprint team, from there move to paddling around the furthest buoy on a Malibu board, then being in the Taplin Relay team and finishing off with a long run where you know that every point counts for your team. Thank you for being part of the Summerstrand Nippers team who made East Cape Champs 2010 a really memorable event.
Barbara and I had been in Cape Town and drove through to Plett from the West. We stopped off at Nuy where we purchased a couple of cases of wine. Fortunately our friend Brenda was in Knysna and we loaded the wine (which took up the whol back seat) into her car. We stopped off at some farm stalls where we bought some fresh fruit, in particular a box of huge juicy plums. Some of you may have enjoyed them on the beach. We arrived on Friday evening. The Engleke's (with a K) had brought Ally and they were all having Pizza's at Cranzgots. Dave Coffey had brought the trailer as well as Mark and Kylie. We met them at the Plett Clubhouse. Dave discovered the Plett Deck for the first time and looked like he was there to stay for the evening. He phoned Sandy to explain why he would do this duty any day. I think that everyone of us who was able to spend some time on the Plett Deck fell in love with the whole clubhouse set up. It is little wonder that this club has grown and is now a force to be reckoned with. This is not a place to "Drop your child", this is a place where you want to spend time with your child and the Nipper Parents who all have a common interest.
EAST CAPE CHAMPS
Saturday morning: It was already hot as we set the tent up. Grant called a meeting where it was agreed that we would follow the program. Sunday would start at 07.30am. Dave went out for an hour of cycling. He tells me that he and Chris Lovemore are training for a 3day moutain bike event in KZN. It sounds like it will be a great challenge. Flags was the first event. Soft sand and the heat made it tough going for the Nippers.
We then moved to the Iron Nipper competition. This gave me an excuse to get into the water. The East wind made the sea and swell big and choppy. It was a tough event for everyone participating. The toughest event of the entire competition was probably the Beach Sprints. The Nippers and parents had to walk on this searing hot sand and wait under the scorching sun. Then the sprinters had to cover the distance on sand that made their feet burn with each step.
The heats (no pun intended) and finals were run without a break. This single event exhausted every parent and Nipper there. Back to the sea we were able to cool off with the Malibu relay and run-swim-run. It had been a long tough day and when we were given the opportunity to decide on a last event the majority agreed that we had all had enough.
Grant had decided to hand out prizes for events completed on the first day. This was an excellent innovation and kept spirits high (again no pun intended). Andrew, Leizl, Craig and I agreed to meet on Sunday morning for a run. Lee had booked a table at the Rod & Reel and we joined them there. Ant Skinner and Dave Rayner were staying with us and we had a great evening chatting on the deck. I know that some parents have the ability to spend a day in the sun and then a night under the moon but I was exhausted and looking forward to bed.
Sunday morning: I woke up with the wind blowing the curtains in a horizontal direction. It was a West wind which meant that the sea would be a lot flatter. I was concerned for those camping but nothing that I could do about it. After a wash I walked to the circle where we had arranged to meet. Liezl, Craig and I ran down to the beach and past the Piesang River and up the long pull to Castleton. It was already warm and I was drenched by the time we got back to the circle.
Later this morning Jacqui complained that she had been excluded from the Run. Please accept my apologies. Nippers Mom's and Dad's: There are always going to be running and cycling groups at Carnivals as well as in PE. These are not for the super fit (we stay together as a group) but for everyone who enjoys being outdoors in the mornings. We had to cut the run short as it was already 6am and we had to be on the beach by 7.00. It was great to see Luke Hepburn and Kyla Naude. They had been sorely missed the previous day.
Today it was a lot cooler on the beach. There was a bit of cloud cover and, while the westerly was blowing, we were completely sheltered by the hills. The sea was flat and swimming was a pleasure. Beach Relays were slightly marred by the number of false starts. We all hope that this would be a lesson learned for SA's in April. Some disciplined coaching is required.
Events ran smoothly and we started the Long Run by about 11.00am. Prize giving was held at 13.00. Well done to every Summies Boy and Girl. U10's have improved hugely since the last carnival and will soon be a winning team. The U12's and U14's won their age groups with Summerstrand coming second overall to Kings Beach with a points difference of 100points.
You would have been so proud of your little sister this weekend.
Nippers East Cape Chaps in Plett:
Not feeling well: extreme heat; with a fever; achieved four medals (top three).
Long Run = 1500m she came third, after running 1450m, neck and neck, with a Kings Beach girl, with an amazing sprint at the end to Pip the fourth place.
Run-Swim-Run. The same thing: Was being beaten swimming but with almost superhuman effort she overtook this girl, with an amazing sprint, at the end.
She ran a silver (second place) in the Beach Relay team event.
Remember that she is 12 in an U14 category and so, is in her first season, of two.
Your Mom and I were absolutely bursting with pride.
DAD
22.02.2010
Message from Varrin to all Nippers, Coaches and Parents.
EAST CAPE NIPPERS CHAMPS: PLETT 20 AND 21 FEBRUARY 2010
Well done to all of you.
The spirit was fantastic.
To all the coaches and Parents. I hope that you enjoyed the action. I saw a couple of hearts fluttering.
I am sure that you had not realised that things could get so tense?
Well done to all of you:
Allow me to single out some high lights.
To the Naude Family who woke up at 4am on Sunday morning to get to Plett by 07.30am. The U14 win, I think was worth it.
To the Under 14's
Well done to the Nippers and coaches
Lee: Nice one!
Warren: See above.
Terry; Karrin; Support Staff: Go for it. The experience and results speak for themselves.
A very special message to Layla and Anka: I am sorry you could not be there, we really missed you guys.
Tainne Finn; Get that shoulder ready if you want to get gold at SA's. Please get better soon.
To the Under 12's: Great
To the Under 10's: What an improvement.
Last word: We will win Nationals.
Thanks Guys
Varrin.
22.02.2010
The following weekend we left on Friday 26th for Bushmans River Mouth where Ingrid and Charles met us. They have this caravan/shack there where we had planned to stay for the weekend of Barbara's birthday. We arrived too late for a braai so had cold meats instead. It was not long before I was so tired that I was falling asleep on my feet. And was fast asleep as I hit the pillow. Barbara and I sleep in the outside lean to which is very comfortable. I had a really long sleep until about 7.00am. Barbara was feeling energetic and had a short jog around the village. I had a bit of a cold and was not feeling up to the running.
I had brought the bicyles and we all climbed onto bikes and had a short ride around the village and through some of the new developments that are spring up everywhere in the area. We were all so impressed with Ingrid (Lance Armstrong) DuToit. This was a first for Ingrid since school days. Barbara realised that she had a long way to go before she would be fit for cycling again. Barbara has done all kinds of races and was incredibly fit for cycling a number of years ago when she did the Argus and Herald tours.
A little later we headed off to Port Alfred to find the Brewery and after a short while we discovered the place in Wharf St just the other side of the river. It is not well marked and we had to ask around. It is housed in this beautiful stone building. From there we drove just outside of Port Alfred to the Cheese Factory. This was a bit of a disappointment as there was not a variety of cheeses. Charles managed to purchase a good cheese cutter.
Our lunch was at the Ocean Basket on the riverside. Very nice and cool. Later this afternoon, after a long sleep, we took the bikes out again. We rode up to the main road, crossed and cycled around the suburb. Again a relaxed afternoon out. This evening we had a braai and played some bridge.
Sunday morning we left fairly early, collected Ally and drove back to Sundays River where it was the Redhouse River Mile that had to be moved due to pollution in the Redhouse. Ally had an amazing swim placed at 27/253 Ladies. (29.20)(Last year = 22 minutes where she swam with Anja Bodish, Dee Kotze, Tara Meintjies) (The timing of the girls was all wrong). She swam next to Ali Mitchley (25th 29.10). A girl called Dominique who was the overall winner for the second year running. Dominique was the Fish Hoek Team leader when Fish Hoek won the Nippers Nationals in PE about 3 years ago.
Sundays River turned out to be a really good venue. I also had a fun swim (26 minutes and 312/378)(Last year =32 minutes but I think that I was not able to swim the whole way. This year I was able to swim Crawl from start to finish. We are not sure of the times as the timing chips were not that successful putting people who had been placed behind others at a better time.
Who was there?
Dominique Dryding; Michaela Barnes; Ali Mitchley; Christie Vaughan; Lauren and Carmel Billson; Roger and Christian Fraser; Ant Skinner who swum his 50th River Mile; Mally Richards (77) 56 River miles and who is Bob Richards cousin; Greg and family Kotze; Bradley Joubert; Shuaib and Imran, Muslim Nippers dads; Rogan, Nipper, Scheepers; Shimone (Nippers) vd Berg; Dee (KB Nipper) Kotze; Caitlin vd Berg Clarendon; Wayne, Jason and Daniel Jones; Adam and Luke Stevenson; Markus Burrie; Calvin and Jordan Zeelie; Rob & Jason Ermes; Laurence Hardman nippers; Keith Reading; Dickey Elliot (Round Table); Peter Schwartz; Dave Emslie; Brett & Debbie Kibble; Cathy Garde and Neville Duplessis.
As we left we met up with Bob and Mally Richards. Bob reminded us that we had taken him and Dee out to the Tap Dancing a few years ago.
Sunday had been a hot and busy day for us. I had to collect Mark from his Girl Friend Kylie later. And I was travelling to Queenstown and Mthatha then next week.\
Peter\
1.03.2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
JANUARY 2010
JANUARY 2010
NEW YEARS DAY
RUNNING AND SWIMMING AT THE BEACH.
MERCEDES IS STOLEN
MERCEDES IS RECOVERED BY FLYING SQUAD AND TRACKER.
VEGETARIAN MONTH
TEA TOTALLER MONTH
PURCHASE OF THE CARAVAN AT GAMTOOS RIVER MOUTH
SUMMERSTRAND NIPPERS CARNIVAL AT KINGS BEACH
ACHILLES MARATHON
RESTART MY BIKE RIDING: FRIDAY MORNING RIDES WITH MIKE DEAN
Finally the BIG YEAR for South Africa has arrived.
We have been waiting for this year for so many years that it seems impossible that it is finally upon us. The year that the World Cup Soccer will be played in South Africa.
Friday the First was a little lazy for us. We have been having a drought here for so long that it was really pleasant to see a little rain falling in our garden. I moved the cars just so that the rain would be able to wet the grass. I have this vegetable garden that I am trying to cultivate. Mainly unsuccessfully but recently I bought some Peat and this forms the base for the seedlings to grow. Today I did some transplanting of the Spinach (Swiss Chard). Barbara and I now have a DVD player in our bedroom and we watched some of the Shield Series. And not much else.
Saturday morning I did my morning run at the beach. THe beach is very dirty after all the New Years day revellers have made their mess. But the clean up team was there early. I had my swim after the run. I am going to miss the swimming. The swim is such a pleasant way to end the run and is so incredibly relaxing to swim out to the end of the pier to the swim buoys. The run started off with just Adrienne and myself but we took the route going up second avenue to meet up with Annie and Adrian who we had seen along the route. We ran down Admiralty and back along the promenade. Gerlad and his family had gone off to Jeffries for a 15kay race.
Barbara & I did some shopping and then I went to the office mainly to complete the application for DBA form. I had seen Charles' proposal at his house on 31st night and was energised to make certain that I am in the program for 2010.
This afternoon both Barbara and I seemed to be very sleepy and crashed at alternate times. Ally and I did a little cycling. Back and forth to the DVD shop. First to return a DVD and then home to fetch some cash as Ally wanted to rent a new DVD.
Sunday 3rd: for some reason I was feeling a little feverish and very tired with head aches today. I had to sleep most of Sunday afternoon. THe following day I was feeling awful and later thought the reason may well have been a case of Tick Bite Fever.
As a result of this and also as it is January, I decided to eat carefully: vegetables etc and to give up alcohol for the month. My little vegetable garden consisting of a few spinach and cabbage leaves are now able to be part of my daily diet. I was able to return to work on Tuesday but still felt pretty awful. Wednesday I started feeling stronger again and Thursday I was able to undertake a trip to King for the day. I had planned a trip to East London but had to cancell due to the way I felt.
Evenings this week had been spent playing bridge with Lene and Michael. They have certainly improved and regularly beat us.
Thursday evening I had an Achilles meeting at Old Grey and Friday evening I met with the Nippers Committee including Lee Collier who has agreed to stand in as the Chairman for this season until after the National Champs in April.
Regarding the Merc:
Saturday 9th January 2010;
This week should have had a great week. Tuesday was my Birthday and I had been spoilt with a set of gifts from Mom and Ally: a pair of swim goggles and a set of cycle gloves. Lene had bought me a box of chockies that others ate up, a special lunch box with knife and fork attached and a belt knife set.
But I had come down with what I thought was Tick Bite Fever: From Sunday afternoon I was woozy, Headaches, Fever, Hot and Cold flushes. No flu symptoms. This set me back for the week from running or swimming for the whole week. Even my Saturday morning run was out of the question and this is one of my high lights of the week. I was also not able to carry out my plans to travel to East London.
Saturday evening.
Michael, Lene, Mom and I had been playing bridge in the evening. Michael parked the car and I put the keys on the kitchen table.
I awoke around 6am, saw the kitchen door open and thought that one of the family had been up before me and let the animals out.
I wandered out stretching and noticed that gate was open. I broke out in a sweat. I knew that something was wrong and ran to the gate. Then I saw that the Merc was gone.
I ran to wake Michael and phoned the police. I phoned to get the tracking company number but could not remember the registration number of the car. I phoned people from the office to meet me there and to open up so that I could get all the details. I drove to the office and there met with Godfrey and Earl who opened up. Mom phoned to say the Police were at home.
I went to my office and made copies of my ID and the vehicle documents TND 766 GP. The police arrived. I had phoned the tracking company 086 150 5505 again and given the correct registration number. I began to give a statement and the Constable (Hattingh) phoned the investigating officer: Flying squad and gave him the tracking company details. From there we continued to complete the case documents and phoning to find out that the officers were after suspects. They were able to tell where the car was at any time. Before we had completed the case document the car had been recovered. I told the constable about my wallet, GPS, Drivers Licence etc that was in the car. He offered to go to the scene and to recover as much as possible and to deliver it to our house.
I left the office and went home. At this time it was about 08.00am. The vehicle had been recovered within an hour and a half of me discovering that it had been stolen. A little later the constable Hattingh, arrived at home with my wallet and ID book and some credit cards which I had already cancelled. He also handed me the set of keys that were attached to the car key all except the car key.
Then a fingerprint man arrived and dusted on the door, gate locks and window panes but did not find any usable prints. From here he went to the vehicle pound where he dusted for finger prints on the car.
Today was the first official day for Nippers training and despite the fact that we were all feeling a little shaky, we decided to go to the beach. We had a good turnout of Nippers and were able to do a number of beach and ocean exercises. Varrin, Clint and I were with the U14’s. I was having a great time in the water swimming with the youngsters. We did some In’s and Outs’. This is very good exercise for the Nippers to learn the importance of entering the water and bashing through the waves. The wind had been easterly when we arrived but by the time we left there was a strong west wind picking up. On the way home I stopped off at Spar. Here I met up with a man who we have seen a number of times on the road. He cycles with a flag with the word JESUS on the flag and a second flag flies behind the saddle. This is a star of David flag. It is an interesting combination so I started a conversation in which he told me that Jesus and Israel are intertwined and cannot be separated. He has a strong belief which is interesting to listen to and uses his bicycle to show his message.
This afternoon I received a call to say that we could obtain the full details at Mount Road Police station. Michael and I went to the station and after some searching we were able to find out the case number for Mount Road (208/01/2010) as well as for Kwazakhele (181/01/2010)which was the station nearest to where the car had been recovered.
We also went to Crawford Street Police station (Flying Squad) where we met up with Inspector Joubert who was the man who had chased down and boxed in the car in Koyana street in Kwazakhele. He described how he had been in contact with the tracker company and had followed the instructions that they gave and had finally found the car and had been able to arrest two of the three occupants: the Driver and the rear seat passenger.
The third suspect had fled and there was some shooting. Inspector Joubert thinks that he may have wounded the suspect or the suspect may have cut himself when fleeing. A household had been invaded and this was reported some time later. Blood samples were taken from the house where the suspect is thought to have sought refuge. The two suspects alleged that they had been walking when the third person had asked them to drive as he was drunk. One of the suspects had a prior conviction for armed robbery in Port Alfred.
Monday morning as we were on our morning training run Michael Dean pointed out how South Africans have this game they play called “At Least”.
· We lost about R4 to R5 000 worth of goods but “At least the vehicle was recovered”
· The inside was damaged but “at least there was not serious damage”
· The house was burgled and the key stolen but “at least we were not attacked”
· He goes on to play the game: My wife was attacked but “at least she survived”
· My wife was attacked but “at least the children were unharmed”
Quite scary when you look at it like that: we cannot be completely myopic and say that all is good but we can be realistic and look at the brighter side.
A little later as we ran up Mount Road I saw a Hadida that was hurt on the side of the road. When I got home I told Barbara and the two of us (me in Mom’s Pink Gown) drove down to see if there was anything that we could do for it. Mom picked it up and took it home where she gave it some Sugar Water. Later she took it to the 9th avenue vet where she left it in their care, all the while lamenting the fact that we don’t have a recovery farm area where we can help poor animals to recuperate.
This morning I was planned to be in East London but the car theft had made this an impossibility. For the second week in a row I had to cancel.
Monday morning I was at the Mount road Police station at 08.00am and after I had found the investigating officer: Inspector Debbie Pauls, 041 394 6112 - was out. I then went to the bank to obtain a new cash card. My cash card was in the wallet and I had cancelled it but the robbers had also stolen or destroyed the card. Back at Mount Road I waited for inspector Pauls. She arrived at about 09.15 and soon gave me release papers for the vehicle.
I went home to collect Barbara and the two of us drove to Kwazakhele where we found the police station only to be told that it was not required for us to go there. We then went to the Vehicle Pound in Struandale where we finally completed the last set of forms and were able to collect the Merc. We found the Merc at the back of the warehouse of vehicles. The centre console was damaged.
Stolen from the vehicle: My cash reserves of probably about R500; My GPRS Tom Tom that I so enjoyed (R1900); My Drivers Licence that was on the key ring; My cooler bag that I keep in the boot with some cold drinks and Power Play; My office tog bag with documents and my 2009 diary; my car Cell Phone that I had recently purchased at R600; my tow rope; a pair of spectacles and a pair of Sunglasses and a few other odds and ends. Strangely they left my two office name badges.
Having now received the vehicle back – just 31 hours after discovering its loss – I realized how lucky we all were. No one hurt, only minor expenses incurred, some time but no real problems in that I will still have to register the vehicle with the traffic dept as a recovered vehicle or else I will not be allowed to licence it again. I will have to spend a morning to stand in a queue for a new drivers licence.
And then back to work where I realized that I have the Daewoo Licence disc. Dean Moyes has just finished the repairs and I will be able to collect the car this afternoon after the Nippers Level Test at Hobie Beach. Michael collected the Daewoo and it looks a lot smarter except for the Petrol flap which still has to be replaced and the rear Windscreen wiper which was fitted incorrectly.
Tuesday 12.01.2010
I was at the Traffic Dept at 07.00. I was greeted by a Photo rep: he ushered me to a nearby shop where I had a Photo taken for a Temp Licence R20 for two photo’s. I completed the form and stood in the queue for the next 30 minutes. I was prepared with a water bottle, newspaper and lunch box. I had a little stool that Michael and Lene had given me for Christmas. I parked myself along the fence with everyone else. Finally we were allowed into the building and then began the next wait. This was a line for photo’s, eye test and Finger printing. This took probably an hour. Here I saw Elaine Braatvedt: she was also in the queue for her licence. Once this was done I had to stand for about another hour in the second queue for the cashier. Finally at about 10am I paid the R264 for a renewal and a Temporary licence.
Tuesday afternoon we had an urgent Nippers meeting at Summerstrand. We were putting on a Carnival on Sunday and had to do some urgent planning and set up. We would meet on Saturday afternoon to load the trailer and then take all of our equipment to Kings beach where we would set up for the next morning. This issue of losing the car made my week miserable. Even though we recovered the car I was upset due to the stuff lost and the broken console.
Friday morning I met up with Mike and Susan and the three of us went for a short cycle around the Moffet. This is a great little cycle. Not what a real cyclist would call a training ride but sufficient for us.
Saturday morning I collected Adrienne and we drove to the beach for our run / swim. We met up with Maryna, Susan, Mike, Ben, Suzanne, Chris, Jeff and Annie. We did our normal Strandfontein route and back along Admiralty. I was feeling good and pushed the pace a little harder than I should. The swim was great. Barbara and Ally had given me this pair of goggles which I really enjoy using.
The first part of this morning was at the Home Affairs where I applied for Jacqui’s birth Certificate. Then work and then collected Mark and we went to the beach to load the trailer and to set up as much as possible for the next morning.
Barbara had found a possible Caravan to purchase. We needed an extra room for Mark who would be coming to stay with us later this month. There was one advertised at R8 000 which was a much better price than the around R18 000 to R25 000 that we had seen so far. We drove out to Gamtoos River Mouth where we found Frikkie who runs a construction business and has a whole lot of vehicles, boats and caravans there. It appears that he makes Log Homes that are set up against the caravan as a permanent structure.
The caravan we saw had been dismantled from a kind of park home. It had no papers and would not easily pass a Road Worthy test. It is about 25 years old but the interior appears to be sound so we paid the R8000 and he promised to deliver the caravan to our home on Tuesday the following week.
Sunday morning we met at Summerstrand at 05.30am to set up the arena’s and the kitchen for the tuck shop. The carnival started at 08.00am with sea and beach events running at the same time.
As always, Ally took part in everything. She started off with a Swim, Malibu board, Taplin Relay, beach sprints, beach relay and flags. And in every event she did exceptionally well. Ally is in her first year for U14. Yet she still came in the top 5 for every event. In Flags finals she was placed 4th against all odds. In the beach sprint she got through the heats into the finals and was placed second overall with only Layla from Summies beating her.
Ally did well in the Long Run which was the last event of the day. In every event she earned the Club points. It was a pleasure to see how well she was doing and how she is liked and cheered on by the Nippers of not only Summies but other clubs as well. I had a small team of Mom’s assisting with the recording of results. Barbara did the registration as the Nippers arrived. She does the writing of names on the arms or wrist bands of the Nippers. Barbara also collects the entry fee of R10 per Nipper.
We probably finished the last event at around 13.30 and finally off loaded the last of the equipment at around 5pm. Andrew and I loaded the two gas braai’s and tables & took them back to Summerstrand. Thomas loaded the trailer with all of the boards and he dropped it off at Terry’s house. Terry and Karryn had all of the catering to sort out including the excess food. They also had their runner duck to take back home. It was so hot and sticky that everyone had left the last cleaning up to a few of us. By now Ally was finished and slept in the car as we drove home. I was also exhausted and looked forward to an hour or two of doing nothing. The sun, wind and sea had taken their toll and we were all a little burned.
The final result was that Kings Beach had beaten the Summies team by NINE points overall. One of our problems was the loss of Layla Carelse and Anke Spies who had both left early due to injury and not feeling well. Both of these two U14’s had reached the Final Flags and would have scored points even if they had just laid down on the sand and never moved. But that is Nippers.
Monday morning we did the town run returning up the back of Collegiate and finishing on the Golf Course. This afternoon I phoned Insp. Debbie Pauls and she promised to let me know if I could see the two men who were arrested for the theft of our vehicle.
Hi All
The Summies Carnival ran smoothly yesterday, and the weather behaved itself!
Many thanks to all the nippers who turned up – we know so early in the new year, with so much on, everyone is very busy! Our performance was greatly improved, as the results below show – more about that later!
To the nippers who did not turn up, we missed you. Remember we only have a small number of nippers, compared to the ‘Giant’ clubs, so we rely on the support of EVERYONE!!!! Please diarise the next competition, East Cape Champs, on 21/22 February. We need EVERYONE to participate. This one is in Plett, so it’s a good excuse for a mid-term break!
A very big thanks to all the helpers who were so willing to assist – without you, the carnival would not have run so smoothly! A VERY special thanks to the following:
- All the safety officers
- Clint Meintjes for organising the safety officers and for being an official
- Claire Meintjes for the thankless task of managing the scoring, even though she doesn’t have a nipper anymore – unselfish dedication to the club!!!!
- Charmelle Maree for bravely offering to learn how to score –a very technical job!
- The Hepburn extended family plus helpers for running the tuck shop – a huge task, well done!
- Warren Collier for giving up his weekend to help, even though he doesn’t have a nipper anymore – that’s selfless dedication!
- All the coaches for all the hard work.
To all our nipper families, please encourage your nippers to work with the coaches. There were too many cases of nippers, who were at the carnival, but wouldn’t compete! Again, we NEED THE SUPPORT AND COMMITMENT OF EVERY NIPPER AND PARENT! Please have faith in your coaches, they won’t ask you to do something you are not capable of!
The results were as follows:
U10
3 Plett 133 2 Summies 185 1 King’s Beach 360
Top Competitor Boy Corrik VD Wath
We need to work hard with our U10’s as this is where KB is killing us!
U12
3 Plett 171 2 KB 241 1 Summies 286 – well done!
Top Competitor Girl Jamie Lee Engelke Craig Dagleish was second in the boys section!
Keep up the great work, U12’s
U14
3 Plett 147 2 Summies 290 1 King’s Beach 299 – by a mere 9 points!
Top Competitor Girl Christie Vaughan
Well done, U14’s this was a much better performance. Let’s work hard in all age groups to improve our performance for EC Champs!
Regards
Lee Kemp
This week I went to Queenstown for business. Of the two evenings that I was there I was able to run with the Queenstown Harriers both evenings. The first I only just managed to make it to their time trial and asked one of the men to hold my bag while I ran. It was good for me to run hard for a change. The following evening was the opposite with a really slow group and a lot of fetching. I enjoyed both evenings. Saturday morning was our Beach Run. Another really fun activity which I love to do. Sunday was our normal Nippers training. Lots of swimming and boarding.
The last week in January I spent three days in East London. Peet Booysen (forensic Auditor) travelled with me. I had a good productive week but no running. Peet likes to take out supper so it was a very quite week in EL. We were back on Thursday morning and I was able to make the Cycle that Mike Dean has set up for Friday mornings. This evening we had the first of a set of Friday evening Nippers training. I enjoyed the evening but did not manage to get into the water.
Saturday 30th morning was the Achilles Marathon event that started at Homeleigh Farms. The parking and start area was my responsibility together with the Lucky Draw prize collection. Charles had donated some Eveready torches and some House of York products. I also managed to scrounge some stuff from Morkels. The Five Kay event was over subscribed and was the only real problem of the day. I was working with Chris Darke just as I had the previous year with John Kotze. The dust, cars, children etc is simply more than this venue can take.
The following morning I did a bike ride with Mike Dean. We cycled up Cape Road in to the wind as far as the Greenbushes hotel. Then right and past the Fire station where we expected to meet up with the Achilles Helpers Run. We met them in Butterfield Road. We stopped for a coke and then headed down Kragga Kamma Road with the wind. What a pleasure! It had turned out to be a great cycle. This morning after church we had a wonderful morning at Summerstrand with the Nippers.
The afternoon I was really busy; washing the car and then I spent the rest of the day tuning bicycles. I first put the Knobblies (Track Tyres) on to my mountain bike and then cleaned it up and generally had it going really well. Then I took the old Green Bike that had been lying in the open for some years and with not too much effort: cleaning, Lubing the chain and other parts and then changing the tyres and tubes. The bike seemed to be in great condition and is now ready to ride.
Michael and his family had been staying with us for a few months and they now moved to a house just behind Collegiate. Moving is not fun. Michael had his old friend and how work colleague, David to help him. They used the old bakkie and cars to do everything.
Monday I was able to get back into running: the slow runners did the whole of Dias road and Langenhoven. The next morning I managed to do the whole of the Susan's Route. This evening I met up with Charles and we took out his mountain bike and did the same tuning and cleaning thing that I had done on my bikes. It had a inch thick layer of dust and the chain derailer was out of line. But again with not too much effort we soon had the bike going like a charm. I arranged to meet Charles on Wednesday for an afternoon cycle. We rode down to the beach and back. It was great.
Thursday I flew to Johannesburg where Suzanne collected me from Malibongwe drive. I love this family. Suzanne fed us a Venison (Kudu) supper. We sat chatting and finally I fell into bed exhausted. Friday morning Keith and I went to their school swimming pool complex and he and I did a really healthy swim. He must have done over two kays non stop. I did about 1.3kays but with plenty of stops. I would swim four lengths (25m) and then recover. Mark moved into our house on Friday. I was still in Jhb. In fact my plane was delayed and I only arrived home after 21.30.
Mark and I got stuck into Barbara's bike. First we had to fit knobblies and then make sure the bike was perfectly tuned with no sticky points. We fitted him out with cycling gear. We loaded the bikes into the Corsa Bakkie and were set for our mountain bike ride. Saturday morning we were up at 04.00am and drove to Gerald. He picked Alf Zemkhe up and we drove too fast to Addo.
We arrived with over an hour to the start of our event. There were three races: the 85kay technical and tough event. then the 65kay which was as technical but would have been more manageable for me. But we had decided to tackle the 30kay Family Fun Ride. I was amazed at how many people were doing this event who we know: Pat, Gerald and Ronel; Alf; Bob Howlett and brother Neil; Jonathan Coffey and friend Nico from Nippers; Peter DC; Tracey Brink (Leah was there in support); Rob and Michelle Elfick and Fred Allabone; Darryl and Avril Smith. Nicky's old diving friend Cathy and husband; There were probably more that I cannot remember.
This was both my and Mark's first ever attempt at mountain biking off road. Mark was not fit for this type of exersize and I am reasonably fit for cycling but this was new territory for me. We started off reasonably slowly. I saw Ronelle ahead and tried to stay with her but I had determined that Mark and I would ride together and so let her get ahead. Pat passed us. Gerald and ALf would bring up the rear.
There were no really tough mountain climbs. Merely a gradual hill that would make Brickies look like Mount Everest. We rode through the orchards of oranges and the fruit of the area. Occasionally there was a downhill that allowed us to have some real excitement. I saw Cathy Guard having a huge amount of fun on one of the downs. THere were some speed bumps which she ramped and flew a good few feet into the air.
There were just a few sections where the track narrowed and we would have to watch where we rode. Then there were plenty of soft sand area's that made us watch our way. With Mountain biking you have to watch just ahead of you much more that you do when you are on the road. On the road you should be looking ahead to see where you are going.
This was a Family affair with lots of Dad's, Mom's and children. I would often hear a child talking to the parent and the parent advising of the route to take. It was a healthy atmosphere of people taking care of others more than themselves. I had fitted a bell to Mark's bike and he would ring it every now and again to let me know that he was right behind me.
We were fortunate to be in shade for most of our 90 odd minutes of cycling. We had a cool breeze to add to our comfort. We thought of those doing the bigger events and the heat that they would have to suffer later on this morning. We approached the half way feeding station. There was a menu that would have made a restuarant envious: Banana's; Potato; Powerade; Borrie Rolls and a willingness to help everyone as much as they could. And this was just the 30kay fun event. This made me feel embarressed as how shoddily we had treated our fun runners last weekend at the Achilles event.
We rode on with the smells of fresh manure, dusty fields, Orange trees and the sweat of fellow cyclists. There was a great cameraderie and chatting going on as we came to the end of a great first time off road on the mountain bike. Rob came up to me later and said that I was surely a convert and would not go back to road running. Not quite but certainly I will be looking out for more of these events.
Mark and I loaded up the bikes and headed home. on our way home Samantha phoned. It was her birthday the previous day. She was at a WImpy with Crystal. It appears that their dad had been released from jail and that Crystal had flown Samantha to Jhb for this event. Mark had a short conversation with Mark Snr. I was supposed to drop Mark off at his Grandparents but somehow the lines got crossed and his Grandfather locked him out of the house. I collected him and took him to the office where he met up with Michael who was doing some moving.
This afternoon Mark and I cleaned up the bikes. I had realised how good it was to ride a bike that was in good shape. Not that there was no chance of a puncture or mechanical problem but having the bikes tuned and clean meant that we reduced the chance of being caught on the side of the track fixing punctures or loose chains etc.
I dropped Mark off with a friend in Rowallan Park. And spent the afternoon at home. Barbara had been in Uitenhage the whole day with Ally at a Gala.
NEW YEARS DAY
RUNNING AND SWIMMING AT THE BEACH.
MERCEDES IS STOLEN
MERCEDES IS RECOVERED BY FLYING SQUAD AND TRACKER.
VEGETARIAN MONTH
TEA TOTALLER MONTH
PURCHASE OF THE CARAVAN AT GAMTOOS RIVER MOUTH
SUMMERSTRAND NIPPERS CARNIVAL AT KINGS BEACH
ACHILLES MARATHON
RESTART MY BIKE RIDING: FRIDAY MORNING RIDES WITH MIKE DEAN
Finally the BIG YEAR for South Africa has arrived.
We have been waiting for this year for so many years that it seems impossible that it is finally upon us. The year that the World Cup Soccer will be played in South Africa.
Friday the First was a little lazy for us. We have been having a drought here for so long that it was really pleasant to see a little rain falling in our garden. I moved the cars just so that the rain would be able to wet the grass. I have this vegetable garden that I am trying to cultivate. Mainly unsuccessfully but recently I bought some Peat and this forms the base for the seedlings to grow. Today I did some transplanting of the Spinach (Swiss Chard). Barbara and I now have a DVD player in our bedroom and we watched some of the Shield Series. And not much else.
Saturday morning I did my morning run at the beach. THe beach is very dirty after all the New Years day revellers have made their mess. But the clean up team was there early. I had my swim after the run. I am going to miss the swimming. The swim is such a pleasant way to end the run and is so incredibly relaxing to swim out to the end of the pier to the swim buoys. The run started off with just Adrienne and myself but we took the route going up second avenue to meet up with Annie and Adrian who we had seen along the route. We ran down Admiralty and back along the promenade. Gerlad and his family had gone off to Jeffries for a 15kay race.
Barbara & I did some shopping and then I went to the office mainly to complete the application for DBA form. I had seen Charles' proposal at his house on 31st night and was energised to make certain that I am in the program for 2010.
This afternoon both Barbara and I seemed to be very sleepy and crashed at alternate times. Ally and I did a little cycling. Back and forth to the DVD shop. First to return a DVD and then home to fetch some cash as Ally wanted to rent a new DVD.
Sunday 3rd: for some reason I was feeling a little feverish and very tired with head aches today. I had to sleep most of Sunday afternoon. THe following day I was feeling awful and later thought the reason may well have been a case of Tick Bite Fever.
As a result of this and also as it is January, I decided to eat carefully: vegetables etc and to give up alcohol for the month. My little vegetable garden consisting of a few spinach and cabbage leaves are now able to be part of my daily diet. I was able to return to work on Tuesday but still felt pretty awful. Wednesday I started feeling stronger again and Thursday I was able to undertake a trip to King for the day. I had planned a trip to East London but had to cancell due to the way I felt.
Evenings this week had been spent playing bridge with Lene and Michael. They have certainly improved and regularly beat us.
Thursday evening I had an Achilles meeting at Old Grey and Friday evening I met with the Nippers Committee including Lee Collier who has agreed to stand in as the Chairman for this season until after the National Champs in April.
Regarding the Merc:
Saturday 9th January 2010;
This week should have had a great week. Tuesday was my Birthday and I had been spoilt with a set of gifts from Mom and Ally: a pair of swim goggles and a set of cycle gloves. Lene had bought me a box of chockies that others ate up, a special lunch box with knife and fork attached and a belt knife set.
But I had come down with what I thought was Tick Bite Fever: From Sunday afternoon I was woozy, Headaches, Fever, Hot and Cold flushes. No flu symptoms. This set me back for the week from running or swimming for the whole week. Even my Saturday morning run was out of the question and this is one of my high lights of the week. I was also not able to carry out my plans to travel to East London.
Saturday evening.
Michael, Lene, Mom and I had been playing bridge in the evening. Michael parked the car and I put the keys on the kitchen table.
I awoke around 6am, saw the kitchen door open and thought that one of the family had been up before me and let the animals out.
I wandered out stretching and noticed that gate was open. I broke out in a sweat. I knew that something was wrong and ran to the gate. Then I saw that the Merc was gone.
I ran to wake Michael and phoned the police. I phoned to get the tracking company number but could not remember the registration number of the car. I phoned people from the office to meet me there and to open up so that I could get all the details. I drove to the office and there met with Godfrey and Earl who opened up. Mom phoned to say the Police were at home.
I went to my office and made copies of my ID and the vehicle documents TND 766 GP. The police arrived. I had phoned the tracking company 086 150 5505 again and given the correct registration number. I began to give a statement and the Constable (Hattingh) phoned the investigating officer: Flying squad and gave him the tracking company details. From there we continued to complete the case documents and phoning to find out that the officers were after suspects. They were able to tell where the car was at any time. Before we had completed the case document the car had been recovered. I told the constable about my wallet, GPS, Drivers Licence etc that was in the car. He offered to go to the scene and to recover as much as possible and to deliver it to our house.
I left the office and went home. At this time it was about 08.00am. The vehicle had been recovered within an hour and a half of me discovering that it had been stolen. A little later the constable Hattingh, arrived at home with my wallet and ID book and some credit cards which I had already cancelled. He also handed me the set of keys that were attached to the car key all except the car key.
Then a fingerprint man arrived and dusted on the door, gate locks and window panes but did not find any usable prints. From here he went to the vehicle pound where he dusted for finger prints on the car.
Today was the first official day for Nippers training and despite the fact that we were all feeling a little shaky, we decided to go to the beach. We had a good turnout of Nippers and were able to do a number of beach and ocean exercises. Varrin, Clint and I were with the U14’s. I was having a great time in the water swimming with the youngsters. We did some In’s and Outs’. This is very good exercise for the Nippers to learn the importance of entering the water and bashing through the waves. The wind had been easterly when we arrived but by the time we left there was a strong west wind picking up. On the way home I stopped off at Spar. Here I met up with a man who we have seen a number of times on the road. He cycles with a flag with the word JESUS on the flag and a second flag flies behind the saddle. This is a star of David flag. It is an interesting combination so I started a conversation in which he told me that Jesus and Israel are intertwined and cannot be separated. He has a strong belief which is interesting to listen to and uses his bicycle to show his message.
This afternoon I received a call to say that we could obtain the full details at Mount Road Police station. Michael and I went to the station and after some searching we were able to find out the case number for Mount Road (208/01/2010) as well as for Kwazakhele (181/01/2010)which was the station nearest to where the car had been recovered.
We also went to Crawford Street Police station (Flying Squad) where we met up with Inspector Joubert who was the man who had chased down and boxed in the car in Koyana street in Kwazakhele. He described how he had been in contact with the tracker company and had followed the instructions that they gave and had finally found the car and had been able to arrest two of the three occupants: the Driver and the rear seat passenger.
The third suspect had fled and there was some shooting. Inspector Joubert thinks that he may have wounded the suspect or the suspect may have cut himself when fleeing. A household had been invaded and this was reported some time later. Blood samples were taken from the house where the suspect is thought to have sought refuge. The two suspects alleged that they had been walking when the third person had asked them to drive as he was drunk. One of the suspects had a prior conviction for armed robbery in Port Alfred.
Monday morning as we were on our morning training run Michael Dean pointed out how South Africans have this game they play called “At Least”.
· We lost about R4 to R5 000 worth of goods but “At least the vehicle was recovered”
· The inside was damaged but “at least there was not serious damage”
· The house was burgled and the key stolen but “at least we were not attacked”
· He goes on to play the game: My wife was attacked but “at least she survived”
· My wife was attacked but “at least the children were unharmed”
Quite scary when you look at it like that: we cannot be completely myopic and say that all is good but we can be realistic and look at the brighter side.
A little later as we ran up Mount Road I saw a Hadida that was hurt on the side of the road. When I got home I told Barbara and the two of us (me in Mom’s Pink Gown) drove down to see if there was anything that we could do for it. Mom picked it up and took it home where she gave it some Sugar Water. Later she took it to the 9th avenue vet where she left it in their care, all the while lamenting the fact that we don’t have a recovery farm area where we can help poor animals to recuperate.
This morning I was planned to be in East London but the car theft had made this an impossibility. For the second week in a row I had to cancel.
Monday morning I was at the Mount road Police station at 08.00am and after I had found the investigating officer: Inspector Debbie Pauls, 041 394 6112 - was out. I then went to the bank to obtain a new cash card. My cash card was in the wallet and I had cancelled it but the robbers had also stolen or destroyed the card. Back at Mount Road I waited for inspector Pauls. She arrived at about 09.15 and soon gave me release papers for the vehicle.
I went home to collect Barbara and the two of us drove to Kwazakhele where we found the police station only to be told that it was not required for us to go there. We then went to the Vehicle Pound in Struandale where we finally completed the last set of forms and were able to collect the Merc. We found the Merc at the back of the warehouse of vehicles. The centre console was damaged.
Stolen from the vehicle: My cash reserves of probably about R500; My GPRS Tom Tom that I so enjoyed (R1900); My Drivers Licence that was on the key ring; My cooler bag that I keep in the boot with some cold drinks and Power Play; My office tog bag with documents and my 2009 diary; my car Cell Phone that I had recently purchased at R600; my tow rope; a pair of spectacles and a pair of Sunglasses and a few other odds and ends. Strangely they left my two office name badges.
Having now received the vehicle back – just 31 hours after discovering its loss – I realized how lucky we all were. No one hurt, only minor expenses incurred, some time but no real problems in that I will still have to register the vehicle with the traffic dept as a recovered vehicle or else I will not be allowed to licence it again. I will have to spend a morning to stand in a queue for a new drivers licence.
And then back to work where I realized that I have the Daewoo Licence disc. Dean Moyes has just finished the repairs and I will be able to collect the car this afternoon after the Nippers Level Test at Hobie Beach. Michael collected the Daewoo and it looks a lot smarter except for the Petrol flap which still has to be replaced and the rear Windscreen wiper which was fitted incorrectly.
Tuesday 12.01.2010
I was at the Traffic Dept at 07.00. I was greeted by a Photo rep: he ushered me to a nearby shop where I had a Photo taken for a Temp Licence R20 for two photo’s. I completed the form and stood in the queue for the next 30 minutes. I was prepared with a water bottle, newspaper and lunch box. I had a little stool that Michael and Lene had given me for Christmas. I parked myself along the fence with everyone else. Finally we were allowed into the building and then began the next wait. This was a line for photo’s, eye test and Finger printing. This took probably an hour. Here I saw Elaine Braatvedt: she was also in the queue for her licence. Once this was done I had to stand for about another hour in the second queue for the cashier. Finally at about 10am I paid the R264 for a renewal and a Temporary licence.
Tuesday afternoon we had an urgent Nippers meeting at Summerstrand. We were putting on a Carnival on Sunday and had to do some urgent planning and set up. We would meet on Saturday afternoon to load the trailer and then take all of our equipment to Kings beach where we would set up for the next morning. This issue of losing the car made my week miserable. Even though we recovered the car I was upset due to the stuff lost and the broken console.
Friday morning I met up with Mike and Susan and the three of us went for a short cycle around the Moffet. This is a great little cycle. Not what a real cyclist would call a training ride but sufficient for us.
Saturday morning I collected Adrienne and we drove to the beach for our run / swim. We met up with Maryna, Susan, Mike, Ben, Suzanne, Chris, Jeff and Annie. We did our normal Strandfontein route and back along Admiralty. I was feeling good and pushed the pace a little harder than I should. The swim was great. Barbara and Ally had given me this pair of goggles which I really enjoy using.
The first part of this morning was at the Home Affairs where I applied for Jacqui’s birth Certificate. Then work and then collected Mark and we went to the beach to load the trailer and to set up as much as possible for the next morning.
Barbara had found a possible Caravan to purchase. We needed an extra room for Mark who would be coming to stay with us later this month. There was one advertised at R8 000 which was a much better price than the around R18 000 to R25 000 that we had seen so far. We drove out to Gamtoos River Mouth where we found Frikkie who runs a construction business and has a whole lot of vehicles, boats and caravans there. It appears that he makes Log Homes that are set up against the caravan as a permanent structure.
The caravan we saw had been dismantled from a kind of park home. It had no papers and would not easily pass a Road Worthy test. It is about 25 years old but the interior appears to be sound so we paid the R8000 and he promised to deliver the caravan to our home on Tuesday the following week.
Sunday morning we met at Summerstrand at 05.30am to set up the arena’s and the kitchen for the tuck shop. The carnival started at 08.00am with sea and beach events running at the same time.
As always, Ally took part in everything. She started off with a Swim, Malibu board, Taplin Relay, beach sprints, beach relay and flags. And in every event she did exceptionally well. Ally is in her first year for U14. Yet she still came in the top 5 for every event. In Flags finals she was placed 4th against all odds. In the beach sprint she got through the heats into the finals and was placed second overall with only Layla from Summies beating her.
Ally did well in the Long Run which was the last event of the day. In every event she earned the Club points. It was a pleasure to see how well she was doing and how she is liked and cheered on by the Nippers of not only Summies but other clubs as well. I had a small team of Mom’s assisting with the recording of results. Barbara did the registration as the Nippers arrived. She does the writing of names on the arms or wrist bands of the Nippers. Barbara also collects the entry fee of R10 per Nipper.
We probably finished the last event at around 13.30 and finally off loaded the last of the equipment at around 5pm. Andrew and I loaded the two gas braai’s and tables & took them back to Summerstrand. Thomas loaded the trailer with all of the boards and he dropped it off at Terry’s house. Terry and Karryn had all of the catering to sort out including the excess food. They also had their runner duck to take back home. It was so hot and sticky that everyone had left the last cleaning up to a few of us. By now Ally was finished and slept in the car as we drove home. I was also exhausted and looked forward to an hour or two of doing nothing. The sun, wind and sea had taken their toll and we were all a little burned.
The final result was that Kings Beach had beaten the Summies team by NINE points overall. One of our problems was the loss of Layla Carelse and Anke Spies who had both left early due to injury and not feeling well. Both of these two U14’s had reached the Final Flags and would have scored points even if they had just laid down on the sand and never moved. But that is Nippers.
Monday morning we did the town run returning up the back of Collegiate and finishing on the Golf Course. This afternoon I phoned Insp. Debbie Pauls and she promised to let me know if I could see the two men who were arrested for the theft of our vehicle.
Hi All
The Summies Carnival ran smoothly yesterday, and the weather behaved itself!
Many thanks to all the nippers who turned up – we know so early in the new year, with so much on, everyone is very busy! Our performance was greatly improved, as the results below show – more about that later!
To the nippers who did not turn up, we missed you. Remember we only have a small number of nippers, compared to the ‘Giant’ clubs, so we rely on the support of EVERYONE!!!! Please diarise the next competition, East Cape Champs, on 21/22 February. We need EVERYONE to participate. This one is in Plett, so it’s a good excuse for a mid-term break!
A very big thanks to all the helpers who were so willing to assist – without you, the carnival would not have run so smoothly! A VERY special thanks to the following:
- All the safety officers
- Clint Meintjes for organising the safety officers and for being an official
- Claire Meintjes for the thankless task of managing the scoring, even though she doesn’t have a nipper anymore – unselfish dedication to the club!!!!
- Charmelle Maree for bravely offering to learn how to score –a very technical job!
- The Hepburn extended family plus helpers for running the tuck shop – a huge task, well done!
- Warren Collier for giving up his weekend to help, even though he doesn’t have a nipper anymore – that’s selfless dedication!
- All the coaches for all the hard work.
To all our nipper families, please encourage your nippers to work with the coaches. There were too many cases of nippers, who were at the carnival, but wouldn’t compete! Again, we NEED THE SUPPORT AND COMMITMENT OF EVERY NIPPER AND PARENT! Please have faith in your coaches, they won’t ask you to do something you are not capable of!
The results were as follows:
U10
3 Plett 133 2 Summies 185 1 King’s Beach 360
Top Competitor Boy Corrik VD Wath
We need to work hard with our U10’s as this is where KB is killing us!
U12
3 Plett 171 2 KB 241 1 Summies 286 – well done!
Top Competitor Girl Jamie Lee Engelke Craig Dagleish was second in the boys section!
Keep up the great work, U12’s
U14
3 Plett 147 2 Summies 290 1 King’s Beach 299 – by a mere 9 points!
Top Competitor Girl Christie Vaughan
Well done, U14’s this was a much better performance. Let’s work hard in all age groups to improve our performance for EC Champs!
Regards
Lee Kemp
This week I went to Queenstown for business. Of the two evenings that I was there I was able to run with the Queenstown Harriers both evenings. The first I only just managed to make it to their time trial and asked one of the men to hold my bag while I ran. It was good for me to run hard for a change. The following evening was the opposite with a really slow group and a lot of fetching. I enjoyed both evenings. Saturday morning was our Beach Run. Another really fun activity which I love to do. Sunday was our normal Nippers training. Lots of swimming and boarding.
The last week in January I spent three days in East London. Peet Booysen (forensic Auditor) travelled with me. I had a good productive week but no running. Peet likes to take out supper so it was a very quite week in EL. We were back on Thursday morning and I was able to make the Cycle that Mike Dean has set up for Friday mornings. This evening we had the first of a set of Friday evening Nippers training. I enjoyed the evening but did not manage to get into the water.
Saturday 30th morning was the Achilles Marathon event that started at Homeleigh Farms. The parking and start area was my responsibility together with the Lucky Draw prize collection. Charles had donated some Eveready torches and some House of York products. I also managed to scrounge some stuff from Morkels. The Five Kay event was over subscribed and was the only real problem of the day. I was working with Chris Darke just as I had the previous year with John Kotze. The dust, cars, children etc is simply more than this venue can take.
The following morning I did a bike ride with Mike Dean. We cycled up Cape Road in to the wind as far as the Greenbushes hotel. Then right and past the Fire station where we expected to meet up with the Achilles Helpers Run. We met them in Butterfield Road. We stopped for a coke and then headed down Kragga Kamma Road with the wind. What a pleasure! It had turned out to be a great cycle. This morning after church we had a wonderful morning at Summerstrand with the Nippers.
The afternoon I was really busy; washing the car and then I spent the rest of the day tuning bicycles. I first put the Knobblies (Track Tyres) on to my mountain bike and then cleaned it up and generally had it going really well. Then I took the old Green Bike that had been lying in the open for some years and with not too much effort: cleaning, Lubing the chain and other parts and then changing the tyres and tubes. The bike seemed to be in great condition and is now ready to ride.
Michael and his family had been staying with us for a few months and they now moved to a house just behind Collegiate. Moving is not fun. Michael had his old friend and how work colleague, David to help him. They used the old bakkie and cars to do everything.
Monday I was able to get back into running: the slow runners did the whole of Dias road and Langenhoven. The next morning I managed to do the whole of the Susan's Route. This evening I met up with Charles and we took out his mountain bike and did the same tuning and cleaning thing that I had done on my bikes. It had a inch thick layer of dust and the chain derailer was out of line. But again with not too much effort we soon had the bike going like a charm. I arranged to meet Charles on Wednesday for an afternoon cycle. We rode down to the beach and back. It was great.
Thursday I flew to Johannesburg where Suzanne collected me from Malibongwe drive. I love this family. Suzanne fed us a Venison (Kudu) supper. We sat chatting and finally I fell into bed exhausted. Friday morning Keith and I went to their school swimming pool complex and he and I did a really healthy swim. He must have done over two kays non stop. I did about 1.3kays but with plenty of stops. I would swim four lengths (25m) and then recover. Mark moved into our house on Friday. I was still in Jhb. In fact my plane was delayed and I only arrived home after 21.30.
Mark and I got stuck into Barbara's bike. First we had to fit knobblies and then make sure the bike was perfectly tuned with no sticky points. We fitted him out with cycling gear. We loaded the bikes into the Corsa Bakkie and were set for our mountain bike ride. Saturday morning we were up at 04.00am and drove to Gerald. He picked Alf Zemkhe up and we drove too fast to Addo.
We arrived with over an hour to the start of our event. There were three races: the 85kay technical and tough event. then the 65kay which was as technical but would have been more manageable for me. But we had decided to tackle the 30kay Family Fun Ride. I was amazed at how many people were doing this event who we know: Pat, Gerald and Ronel; Alf; Bob Howlett and brother Neil; Jonathan Coffey and friend Nico from Nippers; Peter DC; Tracey Brink (Leah was there in support); Rob and Michelle Elfick and Fred Allabone; Darryl and Avril Smith. Nicky's old diving friend Cathy and husband; There were probably more that I cannot remember.
This was both my and Mark's first ever attempt at mountain biking off road. Mark was not fit for this type of exersize and I am reasonably fit for cycling but this was new territory for me. We started off reasonably slowly. I saw Ronelle ahead and tried to stay with her but I had determined that Mark and I would ride together and so let her get ahead. Pat passed us. Gerald and ALf would bring up the rear.
There were no really tough mountain climbs. Merely a gradual hill that would make Brickies look like Mount Everest. We rode through the orchards of oranges and the fruit of the area. Occasionally there was a downhill that allowed us to have some real excitement. I saw Cathy Guard having a huge amount of fun on one of the downs. THere were some speed bumps which she ramped and flew a good few feet into the air.
There were just a few sections where the track narrowed and we would have to watch where we rode. Then there were plenty of soft sand area's that made us watch our way. With Mountain biking you have to watch just ahead of you much more that you do when you are on the road. On the road you should be looking ahead to see where you are going.
This was a Family affair with lots of Dad's, Mom's and children. I would often hear a child talking to the parent and the parent advising of the route to take. It was a healthy atmosphere of people taking care of others more than themselves. I had fitted a bell to Mark's bike and he would ring it every now and again to let me know that he was right behind me.
We were fortunate to be in shade for most of our 90 odd minutes of cycling. We had a cool breeze to add to our comfort. We thought of those doing the bigger events and the heat that they would have to suffer later on this morning. We approached the half way feeding station. There was a menu that would have made a restuarant envious: Banana's; Potato; Powerade; Borrie Rolls and a willingness to help everyone as much as they could. And this was just the 30kay fun event. This made me feel embarressed as how shoddily we had treated our fun runners last weekend at the Achilles event.
We rode on with the smells of fresh manure, dusty fields, Orange trees and the sweat of fellow cyclists. There was a great cameraderie and chatting going on as we came to the end of a great first time off road on the mountain bike. Rob came up to me later and said that I was surely a convert and would not go back to road running. Not quite but certainly I will be looking out for more of these events.
Mark and I loaded up the bikes and headed home. on our way home Samantha phoned. It was her birthday the previous day. She was at a WImpy with Crystal. It appears that their dad had been released from jail and that Crystal had flown Samantha to Jhb for this event. Mark had a short conversation with Mark Snr. I was supposed to drop Mark off at his Grandparents but somehow the lines got crossed and his Grandfather locked him out of the house. I collected him and took him to the office where he met up with Michael who was doing some moving.
This afternoon Mark and I cleaned up the bikes. I had realised how good it was to ride a bike that was in good shape. Not that there was no chance of a puncture or mechanical problem but having the bikes tuned and clean meant that we reduced the chance of being caught on the side of the track fixing punctures or loose chains etc.
I dropped Mark off with a friend in Rowallan Park. And spent the afternoon at home. Barbara had been in Uitenhage the whole day with Ally at a Gala.
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