KNYSNA HALF MARATHON 2010

KNYSNA HALF MARATHON - PART OF THE KNYSNA OYSTER FESTIVAL AND THE FOREST MARATHON
10 JULY 2010

PETER GIDDY
BEN CARVER
SUZANNE GENDALL
SJANI & RAY HUMAN


To be eligible to run this race you have to enter on-line very soon after race entries open. It is a very popular event in particular with athletes and casual runners from the Western Cape. The race is run during the Knysna Oyster Festival which, despite the name of the festival, is really a sporting 10days. Events in Knysna over this time include a road cycle and an off road cycle event. There are downhill cycle time trials as well as off road orienteering running events which can be run during the day or the evenings. From the number of canoes that we saw I imagine that there must be paddling events as well. I know that there are also sailing and golfing competitions.

Our event is a 21kay, mainly off road, run while at the same time there is also a full 42kay event also run in the forests of Knysna. A number of people from the MPRG had entered the race: Benita Barton & Tim Hewet Coleman had entered the full marathon while Louis and Elodine; Suzanne Gendall, Ben Carver, Sjani Human, Andrew Barton, Nicci Roote and I had entered the 21kay. I am not sure about the rest of the group, but I was not doing any specific distance training for this event. I had been trying to “tick over” since the 2 Oceans 21kay.

I have been particularly lazy for running in recent months. I kind of find the slowest runner in our group and use this as an excuse to run short or even slower than I had intended. I would often fall behind the group and then, feeling sorry for myself, would turn around earlier than the planned run and so cut short the training distance. Not a good plan for training for a tough 21kay like the Knysna.

The day before we were due to leave for Knysna I took Barbara's Corsa Bakkie in for new tyres. Here I met up with Tony Button. He told me that he had a neck injury after a motor accident. But from what he then told me, this has not stopped this super athlete. He ran an excellent time at the Uitenhage half marathon the previous weekend doing 4.5minutes a kay and he would be running the Knysna full marathon for the 26th time this weekend.

I have completed a number of the 42kay events and have, in recent years, since giving up running of 42kays distances, run one or two of the 21kay events. I am not that keen to drive through to Knysna on my own so after the Surfers marathon in EL earlier this year, persuaded Tommy Satchwell to join me. I had also talked to Ben Carver about the event and he seemed keen to start running events again after a long lay off from distance running. Tommy developed an injury and so was out of running. Ben and I agreed to travel together. Suzanne, after a lot of deliberation, decided to join us. Sjani and Ray Human would also stay over in Plett with Ena.

Sjani has only recently joined the MPRG and this would be her first 21kay ever. At a function for Gavin Cameron at Adrienne Wilson's home I arranged that Ben and I would drive through to Knysna on Friday afternoon. The following Saturday, during the run, Suzanne decided to join us. A few days later she opted to travel on her own. Then a day before we were due to leave she again changed her mind and asked if she could join us. Tim's mother, Anne, lives at the Formosa Village in Plett and she would stay with Anne.

We left PE at around 2.30pm on Friday afternoon. Barbara was still in Calgary with Gail visiting Dawn. From the emails that I received it seems that they were having a real special time. Doing all kinds of interesting things and traveling all around the district. I think that they were part of the Stampede which is this huge and popular cowboy festival in Calgary. I had arranged for Ally to stay over with Michael. Jessica and Ally were at our home that morning. I collected them as Ally wanted to do some shopping for jeans and school shoes. I under estimated how long it takes to make such purchases and in the end we abandoned the shopping after we had bought a gift for Ally's friend, Carli Swanepoel, Lara S's sister. Ally was also preparing for her market Week at school and we bought some beads and chains for her to make bracelets.

One of the shops we visited to search for jeans for Ally was Mr Price in Walmer Park. We entered the shop which was, at this time, not particularly busy. We walked around until Ally found the department selling jeans. She then saw a pair that appealed to her. And wanted to try them on. I asked an employee for the change rooms and she, with a look of annoyance for disrupting her busy schedule of coat hanger packing, pointed to the cash tills and said: “There”.

After Ally had tried on the jeans and realised that she would require a size smaller she made her way back to the jeans display. I, meanwhile found another employee who was busy hanging clothing on a rack. I asked this employee if she was able to assist me. She said yes and I then inquired about the same jeans in a smaller size. Her response: “All the sizes are on the shelf”.

I was just so shocked and amazed at this second indication of total lack of interest that I left the sample jeans next to her. I then see that she follows me with the jeans and I say to her: Why, when I asked if you could assist me, did you not reply: “No, I am not interested” as this would have been closer to the truth. Her response was that she had said that she would be with me in a minute. I walked away in disgust.

Meanwhile Ally had found a second choice and was trying on some more pairs of Jeans. In the end she abandoned her search and queued up to pay for the necklace that she wanted. I stood one side waiting for her to complete the transaction. During that time I saw two customers abandoning their intended purchases, in the same fashion as I had done with the jeans, in total frustration. When I told Suzanne and Ben of this experience they, in unison, told me that Mr. Price was notorious for their appalling customer service.

We stopped at the Storms River Bridge for a toilet break and then straight on to Knysna. As we arrived in Knysna we realised that the Registration Area was no longer at the Loerie Park field. We followed some signs, found parking and walked to the registration. I was truly impressed with the efficiency that the organisers of this event have achieved. The field was busy with people and stalls. We went straight in to the main tent where we established our numbers and within a minute we had our registration cards, our race numbers and our Goodie Bags. A T-Shirt was included in the pack.

At registration we saw a number of familiar faces. Achilleans; Peter Pholman, Michael Botha, Mike Palframan, Mike Bosch, Paulette Mc Ewan, Nicci Roote, Graham Nel & Theresa Lillis. Lea and Catherine Chandler were there. We purchased ourselves a beer and sat under an umbrella, soaking up the atmosphere. Sjani and Ray Human joined us as did Tim & Hlubi Coleman with little Mandisa at Dad's side. Tim was quite upset as he had withdrawn from the 42kay due to toothache which was a result of the old car accident. He had been looking forward to the run and had trained accordingly but was now not in a condition to run. In addition to this, his father was suffering from illness.

As we sat there Hanlie Bakkes (ex nippers mom) greeted us. A friend of hers started speaking to me using terminology that completely confused me. It turned out that she had me confused with Mike Dean and was talking in Medical Terms. I am not sure who should be flattered: Mike or myself for this identity mix up? I also saw Cathy Gard and Neville. Cathy would run the 21kay and Neville the 5kay.

We left Knysna to drop Suzanne off at Anne's home in Formosa. Ray and Sjani followed and we met up at Ena's flat in Plett. We had a drink and supper of home made pasta and a salad before settling down for the night. We had arranged to collect Suzanne at 05.45. Our timing was perfect the next morning. We left Plett at around 06.00am and had an easy drive to Knysna where we found a good parking spot next to Loerie park. Here we joined the queue for the bus to the start of the event.

Here I saw Adrian Smith waiting his turn in the queue. Sjani and Suzanne also greeted some of their friends from PE. The queue moved reasonably fast and we soon were loading onto the slowest bus in the entire fleet. But we arrived safely at the start where we walked quite a little distance to where all of the 21kay athletes were waiting to start the race. I tried to use the bushes but felt that I was betraying a kind of unwritten trust, as ladies came my way to use the bushes, that I abandoned my efforts.

Our timing was perfect for a group of runners who had no intention of winning the race. Only a few minutes after we stepped into the main group and the gun went off for the start of the event. Ben and I were amazed at the number of good quality clothing items that were being thrown away. A delighted group of local inhabitants must have foreseen this windfall and were on the side of the road waiting to scoop up these treasures. At the start I was surprised to be greeted by Paddy and Tinky Hodgson. Tinky finished in 2.59, I was not able to find Paddy's time.

I am a real Scrooge and just before the start I tied my old scraggly top around my waist where it stayed until I reached the end of the mornings run. Ironman Tim is at the start with his wife. It took us around 8 minutes to cross the start banner. We start the run with a two kay uphill on the tar road passing the saw mill. Then we turned to the right along a narrow dirt road. There were reported to be 6000 athletes taking part in the 21kay. It was now that I was really aware of the size of the field. I love to see the sea of people in their colourful outfits. Suzanne was clearly the fastest and fittest of our little group. She charged off over the horizon. Ben and Sjani were just ahead of me and when I saw that I had a loose shoe lace I used this as an excuse to let them move on rather than being under pressure to try and stay with them.

The Soccer world cup had brought a new dimension to the day as there were runners who carried Spanish and Dutch flags and who wore the colours of these two Finalist Teams. They even wore colourful wigs and painted faces. For myself, I am not able to wear more than the bare minimum when running. I become quite aware of any additional piece of clothing. I do not need any form of encumbrance to upset my day.

The narrow road was muddy, rocky and uneven. There was no way that we would achieve a “good Time” with having to dodge athletes along the route and then to my surprise I realised that the route was not the same as previous years. What we heard was that the French Soccer team, who had long been eliminated from the Soccer tournament, had booked up the Loerie Park field. This meant that we would finish the event a few kays before the “old” finish. And as a result the organisers had found a new route for us to run.

Today's route was, as far as my memory serves me, far tougher than previous years. The route included three mega hills plus an unrecorded number of smaller undulations. I was aware of the forest and the valleys but was not really able to appreciate where we were as I battled to stay moving forward. But in our favour was the weather. At no time was it so cold that we needed any additional layers but by the same token it was not too hot at all. There was a light cloud cover and no wind. This was, what runners would refer to as; Perfect running conditions.

On a few occasions I was able to see either far ahead of us or to turn around and look behind where we were in the pecking order. It is quite a sight to see long lines of runners as they have either still do complete the section that we have just done or who have already run up the hill that we have to attempt. The contrast between the brown of the road and surroundings and the colourful picture of the runners makes this a postcard picture.

As we ran I saw only a few Achilles Runners. Rodney Maggot, Mike Meyer who passed me and I passed him on a couple of occasions. Then there was one other young man whose name I do not know, who passed me.

I met up with Niel Calder. I was so impressed to see him running. Niel has had running injuries and I have only seen him on the bike for a number of years. But here he was today, ahead of me. And when we reached the last hill of the new route I walked and he ran on ahead. I see Garron from our church ducking into the bush. I also ran with Paddy Carolin and his son Simon Carolin. Paddy is another person who I have not seen doing any run training but he tells me that he has done a little training on the golf course. Simon is living in Cape Town and a SAP software consultant who will soon be moving to Australia where he tells me that he has a “Can't refuse” job offer.

We ran together off and on for most of the rest of the race. I also met a young man, Richard who is studying law at UCT. And Megan from Sedgefield who is presently studying at UPE. We ran down the steep hills to Knysna Lagoon together. We had passed the Elephant Dung which must have been dropped by the same Elephant who has been dropping on this section of the road for the past umpteen years.

As we ran the final 5kays I hear: “Hello Mr Giddy”. Now that means that it is either an employee or it is one of my children's friends. As it turned out it was Cathy;s friend Angie Shamley. She told me that she had been with Cathy, Ally and Nicci in Cape Town the previous weekend for Cathy's birthday. Angie now lives in Blouberg Strand. I tried to get Richard and Megan to stay with me at the end but they don't have the experience to be able to run hard over the final few kays.

We ran past the final watering station, under the bridge under the N2 where there was a serious congestion which would have upset the fast 42kay marathon runners who were coming past us. Up a few stairs and then we were on the final stretch. Here I decided to pick up the pace. I still had energy. It was not that I had saved anything. It was merely that I had been a little lazy earlier on. I passed Paddy and Simon. And ran as hard as I could into the finish area. The two hours 20 minutes that it had taken me to run this race had gone by quickly.

This is the official description of the course:

21km: point to point. The course is tough, hilly and beautiful. The race starts in the forest with a challenging 3km climb then levels out with the rest of the route being fairly undulating. The infamous Simola downhill is testing on the legs to say the least and makes the last 4kms, which are essentially flat, feel like an uphill.
This is not at all an accurate description as this omits the huge uphills as well as the uneven surface, muddy roads with rocky terrain to make falling, tripping and stumbling easy and fast running more difficult.

Having completed the run I now looked for the Achilles Tent where I had agreed to meet the rest of the group. Paulette, Samantha, Anche and Digby were there. I put out some chairs intending to sit down but I started getting cold and decided I had better find something dry to wear or else I would end up with Flu. By now the weather was cooler and we were all wet. Rob Elfick walked past looking quite chirpy. Suzanne, Ben and I decided to walk back to the car. It was about a 2kay walk. Sjani had separated herself from Ben as they finished the run. But we knew that Ray was there and he would have been waiting for her.

As we walked we came across a traffic cop car. We asked them for a lift but they were having their lunch as they surveyed the beautiful houses on the land which used to be the Thesens Wood factory. The walk took us a half hour and then we were back at the car and able to take off our wet clothing. The sun was shining and it was turning out to be a stunning morning. Suzanne discovered that she had chafed legs so I suggested that she use the cream that I use each morning to stop chafing. At Two Oceans we had received a Goody Bag which contained amoungst other stuff shampoo and this cream.

I had used the shampoo in the shower and kept this tube of cream next to my bed to use each morning before our training runs. I need glasses for any kind of small print and had not bothered to read the “instructions” on this tube. But Suzanne has no such malady and was able to establish that this was not in fact cream but was Hair Conditioner. Quite amusing for us at the time. I think that I will still continue to use this as an anti chafe cream as it seems to have worked for me thus far.

With the car being so far from the finish area we decided to press on home. We first went to Anne Gendall's home where Suzanne collected her stuff. Anne made us some tea and cookies. Ben and I tried to fix the shower door that Suzanne had destroyed the previous evening. She denies it of course but we all know better. Then Sjani phoned to say that she had left some stuff in the boot and we agreed to leave it at Ena's house in Plett. After dropping off her stuff there we pressed on home.

Ben had bought us a snack and so we drove straight through to PE. The only incident that we had on the way was when Suzanne offered to pay for the Toll Fee but had short changed the cashier. The cashier set off a siren and we had to reverse to pay in the difference. The conversation on the way home was really exciting as Ben and Suzanne somehow managed to find the topic of how to eat a Smartie - Which colour and whether it is better to chew, suck or gobble. They then progressed to Nutty / Biscuit Chocolates and with sucking till almost to the final bit of chocolate remains, winning the debate. I had to drink a "power play" to stay awake.

At some point we find out that the NZ team has beaten the Springbok Rugby team. 32;12 with Bakkies Botha being sent off and then suspended for 9weeks after some foul play where he head butted an All Black player. The game was played at Eden park in Auckland which is on the North Island and is the largest city of the country with a Population of 1.4million residents. There is always a Tri Nations match to watch when we are in Knysna over this weekend. I remember a nail biter in 2008 when Ron and I watched the Springboks beat the All Blacks in Dunedin South Island, with Ricky January being the play-maker and Francois Steyn, Percy Montgommery and Butch James all contributing with goal kicks.

Back home I dropped them off at home and collected Ally from Michael's house where she had spent the night. We both unpacked and then went off to Mc Donalds where Ally bought a Burger for supper. This evening Peter Nolan, his son and a friend would sleep over. The two youngsters would be going to watch the play off for Third Spot in the World cup Soccer tournament. The Game was played in PE. Now here is a story: Peter's wife Carey was staying with a friend in Knysna. They went to visit someone in Plett who in turn knows Ena. Carey then decided to visit Ena. Small World!

Peter and co arrived this evening after driving from East London and taking a wrong turn to Stutterheim instead of carrying on straight through King Williams Town to Grahamstown. So their drive took them a little longer than they had expected. The two boys went off to the soccer without jackets despite my urgings but hopefully did not get too wet. It rained for most of the match. Germany took third spot beating Uruguay 3;2.

Sunday morning: 11.07.2010
Today is the very last day of the World Cup Soccer tournament. Netherlands play Spain in the final. In the lead up to the final Netherlands have not been beaten:
Denmark: 2:0
Japan 1;0
Cameroon 2;1
Slovakia 2;1
Brazil 2;1
Uruguay 3;2

While Spain were beaten only in their opening match against Switzerland.
Switzerland 0;1
Honduras 2;0
Chile 2;1
Portugal 1;0
Paraguay 1;0
Germany 1;0

Netherlands has scored 12 goals for and had Five against
Spain had 7 goals in their favour and only two scored against them.
It might appear that Netherlands could be the stronger team but Spain played an inspired and attacking game against Germany to push them into the finals.

I collected Mark from the Bus station and then took Ally shopping for some school stationery and jeans while Mark went to visit some friends. I now realise how Mr. Price gets away with having such a poor attitude when it comes to service. The people manning the shops we visited paid equally little attention to Ally's (and my own) attempts to spend money in their shops. Some even worse than the previous experience at Mr. Price. Peter took Michael and Matthew off for the day. They did a bit of exploring before finally finding the beach front museum area.

This afternoon Peter & I watched a bit of the Tour de France. The tour took riders up some of the highest climbs imaginable. But what was interesting for us was firstly to see Lance Armstrong battling against “luck” as the commentators called it. But we can remember when Lance has had real bad luck and yet was still able to win the stage or the race. While we agreed that he did have some setbacks, in previous years, when he was at the top of his game, he was strong enough to fight back.

The other interesting bit of trivia was to see Andy Schleck battling it out with Alberto Contador for the stage win. The two of them were neck & neck up to the finish when Schleck took first place. What made it unusual was that Schleck is Dutch and Contador is Spanish and the Soccer World cup final is between a Dutch and a Spanish team. Cadel Evans took overall first place.

Some of the 2010 21kay results
Chris Darke 1.28 (70th)
Mike Bosch 1.30
Glen Hendricks 1.31
Mike Palframan 1.32
Peter Marriot 1.34
Rose Buchannan 1.46
Mark Raubenheimer 1.48
Georgina Thomas 1.50
Nicky Roote 1.53
Chet Sainsbury (68) 1.55
Gary Scott 2.04
Michael Botha 2.08
Megan Knipe 2.09
Fred Allibone 2.10
Rob Elfick 2.10
Ron Field 2.10
Suzanne Gendall 2.11
Adri Du Plessis 2.12
Sally Haysom 2.14
Robin Dowling 2.16
Dave Coffee 2.17
Niel Calder 2.18
Ben Carver 2.18
Sjani Human 2.19
Liezl Saunders 2.19
Paddy and Simon Carolin 2.20
Peter Giddy 2.21
Angie Shamley 2.23
Mike Webb 2.24
Megan Kenney 2.25
Richard from UCT 2.25
Adrian Smith 2.33
Rodney Maggot 2.38
Trevor Hawkins 3.16


This year about 4600 finishers while last year there were around 5300 in the half. It is not easy to pick out names as the majority of runners are Temp.


some of the 2009 RESULTS
Mike Palframan 1.26
Garreth Jacobson 1.32
Glen Hendricks 1.34
John Parry 1.47
Lea Chandler 1.49
Robin Dowling 1.56
Youart Tose 2.04
Adrian Jansen 2.08
Adrian Smith 2.13
Megan & Martin Knipe 2.17
Viv Bullock 2.18
Niel Calder 2.18
Rodney Maggot 2.31
Gaynor and Roy Laurie 2.38
Trevor Hawkins and Rob Elfick 3;19

This time last year I was hiking the Mountain Zebra Hiking trail in Cradock. The last time that I did the 21kay was in 2008 with Ron Pask. I missed him this year and when we spoke on the phone he promised to join us in 2011. Ben tells me that Ron is back into training.

Some of the 42kay results
Neil de Meillon 3.13
Darryl North 3.15
Benita Barton 3.38
Alec Riddle 3.40
Bruce Mc Ewan 3.47
Hans Beuche 3.49
Chris Gedye 3.53
Jannie Papenhuizen 4.05
Tony Button 4.05
Peter Pohlman 4.25 Look at the official site for Knysna forest Marathon and you will see a clip of Peter running down to the Gouna Pump Station.
Lesley Maggot 4.29
Geoff Roberts 4.37
Allan Schulz 4.38
Graham Nell 4.55


Around 660 42kay finishers.
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