DISCOVERY TRAIL RUN SERIES JULY 2012 WOODRIDGE
WOODRIDGE TRAIL RUNNING SERIES 2012 START
GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!
Christoff and Karen Opperman
John Nelson
Pat and Ronel Scheepers
Marilyn Bull
Helouise and Letitia
Sean and Sheena oKeefe
Mark and Carol Woods
Jane Barnardo
Maarten and Colette Moulenaar
Sharon Jessup.
Terry Webb and Vanessa
Les and Margie Brightman. And Tara.
Rob and Michelle Elfick
Jeanine from JHB.
Liesl and Philip Nienaber.
Nina Bodish
This trail run is organized by Christoff and Karen Opperman with help from Maarten and Colette Moulenaar. And Liesl Nienaber (Discovery).
Sunday 22nd July 2012.
Recent heavy rains (see cancelled Knysna trail runs of last week) have caused all kinds of problems for trail run organizers as well as the runners. Christoff has had to work hard to find alternative routes due to washed away trails and fallen trees. He emailed us to explain that the route has changed from last year. Today we would be running two loops of 6km each.
I had arranged to drive to Woodridge with John Nelson. Both Adrienne and Almarie were not well and could not be there this morning. Paula was also due to come though but must have changed her mind. I had a good per race meal of Sushi from the Spar. Pasta may be good, but Sushi is just so much fun. Michael had bought some Chinese take away so I supplemented with some Chinese Foo Jung and Noodles. All washed down with my favorite B'n C. I felt well prepared for whatever Christoff had in store for us.
WHEN YOU LOOK AT HOW THESE ATHLETES ARE DRESSED IT SEEMS MORE LIKE AN ARTIC EXPEDITION. IT WAS COLD AT THE START BUT NOT THAT COLD!
Barbara was also up early, packing to go to Cape Town. She will spend a week with Cathy who is pregnant and on holiday. Also it is Aaron's birthday this week.
Ally is sleeping late after a day of Hockey in Grahamstown. I have my normal pre race breakfast of Future Life porridge,banana and a cup of coffee with my vitamin pill. Sounds like a bit of overkill but I have confidence in this little routine that I have developed.
I collect John from his new house at 6:45am. Probably earlier than is neccessary but it suits both of us to be there early. We take an easy leisurely drive to Woodridge. There is a nasty cold bite to the wind that is blowing. The chill factor is really noticeable at Woodridge. We register ourselves for the event. I had pre entered, John enters both events. A nice Goody Bag is part of the entry Procedure. Later on we are all given a bag of Oranges as well. We look for Pat and Ronel but cannot find them, Pat had agreed to maintain the tradition of bringing coffee and muffins. But we have no idea where they have parked so we return to the relative warmth of the car.
Christoff summons us to the start. John and I strip down to T shirt and shorts. I realize that I have forgotten to bring my backpack. Doff! There is no official seconding at these events so if you need water you must carry your own. I regret this slip up later on as we climb some of the tougher hills.
Christoff gives us some final instructions regarding the route. We gather at the start and off we go. We head into a Westerly direction. Already I have forgotten about the cold wind. Almost immediately we start a descent. And then there is a bit of an uphill. Not too bad we all think. Then there is the Long steep descent down along the gully, slipping and sliding, try to avoid landing on your behind or in the bushes. You need to be aware of your footing all the time. Trip on a rock, root or sliipery section and you could do yourself a damage.
JANE CHARGES DOWNHILL
There is a sharp left turn and so begins the really tough ascent. This climb goes up and up and up. Then when we reach the top of the hill there is another uphill climb. I am puffing and panting so badly that anyone around me could have been worried that this man was in danger of a heart attack. My heart is wanting to jump out of my mouth. I drag my body up this hill. Walking, not too slowly but certainly no running is possible.
Finally we reach the top and jog past the fields at the school. I see a couple of chaps turn left towards their cars. Enough is enough! I am now jogging with Jeanine from JHB. She is in town for the weekend and is putting herself through this torture. Jeanine tells me that her family farmed Naartjies in Hankey at one time. She now lives and works in JHB. The forest where we are now running is a great place for a trail run. A variety of bush and trees, including unfortunately, some of the disgusting black wattle. Most of the trail is in shade and I do not need my cap. Wearing a cap is essential for me in direct sunshine but it also tends make me overheat.
There are more hills ahead, nothing as fierce as the earlier hill but enough to make us work. My calves are killing me. I know that I will suffer later in the week. I pass a young girl of around 10 years of age. Savanna I think. I later see her finishing .. She ran both laps. Nina Bodish passes me like I am going backwards. Then we take a right turn along a dirt road, down past the electric boundary fence and it looks like we are going to be heading back the the finish area. This not to be: our friend Christoff has another detour, up a short hill before we finally we reach the downhill leading to the finish. Up and onto the field. I am so pleased that I have reached the half way mark before any of the racing snakes have completed their second lap.
Jeanine and I stop for a cold drink and then continue on our way for round number two. I am not looking forward to the mega climb again. The first climb is not as bad as it was the first time around. We move down the second descent quite quickly and the start the big climb. I am not sure why it is but probably because we are warmed up. But his time around Ia am much more relaxed. It is still a big climb, but far less heavy breathing. Both times I have had to walk but the second time I am able to stride rather than dragging my feet up the hill.
There is a bit of a zig zag section where we can hear the runners ahead and behind us. I hear Ronel and Marilym: chat, chat, chatting away. They are not more than a few meters away from me but totally hidden by the bush and shrubbery. I shout out a greeting to them. And before I realize it I have reached the fields at the top of the hill again. Terry Webb is there supporting his daughter, Vanessa who I had the pleasure of running with last year.
VANESSA IS GREETED BY DAD, TERRY WEBB AND DAUGHTER. THEY ALSO TAKE THE LITTLE SAUSAGE DOG WHERE EVER THEY GO. TERRY KEEPS THE DOG WARM IN HIS JACKET.
From here I am able to get into some kind of rhythm to my running pace. Up until this stage I had been thinking of all the nasty things that I would say to Christoff but now that I am so much more relaxed and running easily, I am starting to forgive him. All these thoughts going through my mind and before I know it I am running the final down hill to the fields, onto the field and being greeted by Karen, Colette and Maarten who are manning the finish area.
Later on John tells me that he finished in 1;17 and I was half an hour behind him at around 1:53. John and I walk to greet the others who are still coming in: Ronel and Marilyn, Vanessa, Helouise and Letitia, Pat. While we wait we again feel the biting cold of the wind. I hear that there are warm showers but don't feel like a shower now, I will wait till when I am at home. John has the two liter water bottle that he used for showering, he too did not know about the warm showers until it was too late.
Pat faithfully offers us a cup of hot coffee and delicious bran muffins. What a treat! But even that does not warm us up. The cold wind cuts through everything. Christoff and Liesl start the prize giving. Only the top man and lady win a placing prize. All the rest are Lucky Dips. Ronel announces that it is always Peter who wins prizes and reminds me to redeem the voucher for the Brewery that I won in the Baakens River series. Today it it the turn of Team Scheepers to win. Ronel, Pat, Marilyn and Helouise win prizes.
PRIZE GIVING -- OUR LITTLE GROUP SEEMED TO BE LUCKY TODAY. JOHN AND JOHNNY WAIT THEIR TURN. MARILYN, PAT AND RONEL ALL WINNERS.
It has been a really good morning. Tough on the climbs, cold when standing and overall a worthwhile morning of exercise. John and I pack up and head home at an easy driving pace. Hot shower, substantial lunch of leftovers and time to recover.
South Africa in Sporting News today
Daryl Impey at TDF.
Hashim Amla; Jacques Kallis; Graham Smith at Test cricket in England
Amla scored 311, Kallis 182 and Smith 131.
Ernie Els nqbwins the British Open. His 4th major title. He had forecast "something special".
EP King beat Border on Friday evening and Grey was Beaten by Daniel Pienaar in Uitenhage on Saturday afternoon.
It is the final day of an really exciting TDF and I will enjoy watching Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome of Britain winning the tour. On this tour we have seen Daryl Impey of RSA being placed in the top ten of three stages. Robbie Hunter had to leave the tour with injuries from an accident on the Tour, Robbie is the only South African to ever Win a stage. 2007 stage 11. He was also the second SA to complete a tour in 2001. Daryl ends 111 out of 180 starters and 153 finishers.
Today all kinds of cricketing records were broken as Hshim Amla scored over 300 runs against England, partnered by Jacques Kallis who scores 182 runs. SA score 637 Runs. And then go on to topple 4 England wickets this Afternoon.
During the following week the Olympic games started. Friday evening saw the opening ceremony. I had made three attempts to run in the mornings. Monday and Tuesday I was stiff and sore. No Pat, no Ronel, no Marilyn at the morning runs. By Wednesday I was able to make a reasonable appearance. Thursday and Friday I lay in late.
Friday evening Ally was out with Friends and I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics. I managed to stay awake for the march past, up to Mauritius and woke up to see the Virgin Islands. So I missed our team. Then had to get up to fetch Ally.
It was little wonder that I slept late on Saturday morning. I had arranged to fetch John just before 6am but only woke up at 6:20am. Then had to rush to fetch John and be at the beach for the 10km race which started at 7:00. We made it in time. It had been raining and raining for a few days but we had a reasonably dry run. I made the mistake of being at the back and had a bit of a bun fight over the first 500 meters. Also had no time for a warm up run.
Saw Liz Austin, birthday girl at the start. The Leslie and Marietjie. They stopped after a km for a pit stop. I was at te back of the field and battling to find a steady pace. My breathing was heavy. We pass Summerstrand club on the right. Gerald is seconding. Then it is a right hand turn up Admiralty way. I start to feel more relaxed. This is a fairly long gradual uphill to the 5km mark. We turn right again. I see Wayne Pieterse thre times after this but it turns out that he is supporting Karen and not me. It just happens that I am just ahead of her. Wayne cheers me on.
It has been a relatively dry morning run and I finish is just under an hour. Ahead of me is Bob, Gerald H, Michael Botha, Geoff all the Achilleans. I think that I managed to finish ahead of Liz and Graham N. Helouise and Shane are working hard to hand out the Milk and Water. Ronel and Pat are handing out the Medals.
Right into second avenue. The pace picks up as we head downhill. Not only for me but for all those around me. So I cannot catch anyone ahead of me. We are all trying hard. It is the final stretch along the beach. Past the Red Windmill, Barney's and Mc Arthur Baths. Running hard we finally reach the Kings Beach Parking area and not the finish. Ten Kay's is not far but it makes you work hard.
I see Achilleans in the line ahead of me. Bob, Geoff, Kenny, Michael Botha, Gerald H and think to myself that I should have been running alongside of them and not way behind them!
John waits for me at the car. He had an excellent time of 44minutes as did Tim HC and David Glover. I have to leave immediately as Ally has a Hockey match. Michael has taken her to the game in Westview Drive against Newton Tech. I have a quick wash and put on some dry clothes before watching the second half of the game.
The rain continues to fall. Mark and Carol (birthday girl) Cooper are there to support their daughter Robyn. This is Pearson second team. Ally subbed for this team last week and has been invited to play again. Unfortunately Pearson is too strong for the Newton girls and Ally, playing defense, hardly touches the ball.
I drop Ally at home and spend the rest of the morning at work. The rain continues to fall. Ally goes shopping with some of her friends. And I make my way down to Grey to watch the Grey Bloem contest. I meet up with John, Dianne and Andrew. ally joins us a bit later. The 3rd team wins and the the next two games are hard fought wins for the Bloem sides. The field is a quagmire of mud. Both teams turn brown and it becomes difficult to make out the teams let alone the players.
This evening Ally has a friend stay over and i am able to have a reasonably early night.
Sunday morning I have my porridge and banana before fetching John. We drive out to Woodridge for the second in the trail running series. We are there early. We register and wait for the start. The sun is shining and we strip to Tshirts. Christoff gives us instructions and we start the run. This time we head out along the entrance road, past the main gate and out of the school. By now the front runners are long gone. We are enjoying the warm sunshine.
We turn right as we did some years ago for the Ridge to Ridge run. Along a dirt road. Ronel hands her top to the gate guard. There is a bit of a climb before we turn left. Christoff is there to direct us. Shortly thereafter we reach the point where we are able to see the ocean framed in a V ridge between the hills ahead.
WE FOUND THIS TRACTOR AT THE TOP OF THE HILL. AFTER A BRIEF ATTEMPT WE GAVE UP OUR ATTEMPT TO USE IT TO DRIVE HOME.
HAPPY FRIENDS
HANGING AROUND INSTEAD OF RACING TO THE FINISH
NO CHANGE OF GETTING THE TRACTOR GOING
RONEL AND MARILYN LOOK GOOD TOGETHER
There are two main groups of trail runners: the front races who have a GPS and run to achieve a time and then there is us who take the full time allotted to us, taking pictures, chatting, looking at the views and scenery. So as we fall into the latter we take plenty of pics using each others phones.
At this point there is a steep downhill. We make our way down trying to not slip. JD Metcalf is in the group just behind us. Then there is Pat, Helouise, Letitia and others. I run ahead to the river crossing where Christoff is waiting for us.
We wade across and I am able to snap off a couple of pics of the group. We then take a left turn up a hill and along the river before turning right again and up along the road. Nina catches us and presses on while we take more pics of the second river crossing.
ENJOYING THE WARMTH OF THE MORNING SUN
As we wait for the rest of the group to catch us I decide to have a swim. So back into the river I go and fall flat into the water. Quite refreshing. Not cold at all. We restart our run, declaring that we are now about 12kms into the run and are ahead of time for a 3hour finish. The route takes us uphill to the water station. Here more pics while drinking the Powerade.
From here the trail heads back into the bush. It is a very long climb before we finally reach the top of the hill. Here the first aid van is parked. We continue along the jeep track whereas last year we had taken a left turn. We see Christoff on the quad bike. He tells us that Andy and Benita have missed the turn ahead.
We press n down the road to the left hand turn into the fields and past some of the local labourers home. The final two Kay's take us along the electric boundary fence. Christoff reminded us that this will give you a bit of a jolt if you are not careful.
I have run though every possible puddle and pool of water. Now there is a lot of mud and slosh so I step into the mud wherever possible. My legs and shoes are black with mud. We run up a bit of a hill to the power lines and then to my disappointment find that we do not turn right into the school grounds but continue along the perimeter fence. Up another hill and back not the woods. And then down again. Will this trail never end? We feel that we must be close. We can hear the sound of voices.
THE VAN STADENS RIVER BELOW. WE HAD JUST COME FROM TWO RIVER CROSSINGS
NOTHING LIKE AN EARLY MORNING SWIM DURING A TRAIL RUN.
Finally we run up a short hill and can see the fields. We run across the fields and into the finish area.
I pick up some clothes from the car and go for a quick shower. Pat has coffee and Muffins ready for us. This has become a little tradition that we now look forward to. Christoff and Liesl start the prize giving. There is a first prize for ladies and for men and then the rest are lucky dips. There are so many prizes that most of us seem to have won something oVer the two races. Today I win some Powerade which John and I share.
We thank everyone both for the organisation and good running company and head home.
Well done to Christoff, Karen, Liesl and all those in the organizing team for setting this up for us. See you all at Woodridge next year for the Discovery Trail running series.
RUNNING ACROSS TO TRY TO WIN THE RACE
GROUP CROSSING WITH A PIGGYBACK
TRACTOR
TRAILER
AFTER THE SECOND RIVER CROSSING
LETITIA NEEDED A FACE WASH.
YOUNG BRAD MAKES IT UP THE FINAL HILL
CHRISTOFF LETS US KNOW THAT WE MUST TURN LEFT WHERE ANDY AND BENITA WENT STRAIGHT
RONEL AND PETER AT THE TRACTOR -- TOP OIF THE FIRST HILL
WELL DONE PAT
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