21KM OF MOUNTAIN PATHWAYS
SATURDAY 8 DECEMBER 2012
DEVON AND SVENJE DUFFIELD
JESSICA TROLLIP
JENNA SNODGRASS
SIAN AND SHEENA
SEATH AND MICHELLE
CHRIS AND GEORGIE
MIKE AND DAVERA.
DALLAS AND JANE
CRISTIN (NICCI'S FRIEND)
EUGENE (Who takes pics)
SHARON AND COLIN
MIKE WEBB (KING WILLIAMS TOWN)
the Hogsback team: Devon and Svenje. Oompiet; Jenna and Jessica.
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Friday 7th December 2012
We leave work a bit early and Pack our stuff. I cannot find the poles to my pup tent so have to take the dome tent. I try to pack as light as possible but still end up with a tog bag, sleeping bag, mattress and tent bag.
I fill up with petrol, collect Devon and Svenje and Kettle and mattress pump.
Collect Jenna. There are SMS;s back and forth about their friend Jessica who is still busy with a patient at Aurora. Then just as we are about to leave, we receive an SMS to say that we can fetch her. So now we end up with three tents, five people and all our kit in the car. There is stuff at everyone's feet and on laps but they are young and nothing seems to bother them. As the driver of the car "I am okay Jack"
We take the Grahamstown road which has recently been repaired with a detour where the rains had washed the road away. It is a bit of a game drive as we look out for Zebra, a variety of buck, Wildebees, Giraffe, Warthog and even a herd of Elephant in the game farms that we pass.
On the road Svenje speaks to her mother on the phone. Jenna also talks to Svenje's mother and refers to her as Tannie Steff. I later enquire why Steff is Tannie and I, who am certainly older, am refered to as Pete? From there on I was named Oompiet.
Past Grahamstown and take the road to Fort Beaufort. Here we have a stop at one of the shops where I work. The staff are still in the shop at 6pm. They have this African music playing and the managers son shows us his moves. Jenna takes dance lessons and is soon moving to the beat. She is learning Xhosa at home and takes every opportunity to practice her skills on the local people. Between Fort Beaufort and Alice there is a stop and Go. Here Jenna leans out the Window and with a Molo; engages conversation with a young girl on the side of the road who tells Jenna that she is from around here and is on her way home to watch TV this evening.
Just after Alice we turn left to Hogsback. I am pleasantly surprised to find that the road is a good quality tar road all the way up. It is a picturesque route with homes scattered on green fields on both sides of the road. We climb the hill to the Hogsback village. It has become dusk and there is a heavy mist hanging in the air. As we come into Hogsback we see Swallowtail on our left. This is where Stuardene made a Tent camp booking for us. We introduce ourselves to Ansie and register for the evening.
It does not take us long to find a tent site near to the abolutions. We pitch our three tents. Set up the mattresses and unpack for the evening. We then drive in the dark to try to find Aurendel Hotel. The mist hangs heavily in the air. We can barely see a few meters ahead but after a short bit of trial and error we find the registration. Here we interrupt Colin and Sharon's supper and they register us for the event.
After a short debate we agree to the R115 supper at the hotel. This means that we have quick service and a really healthy Bufet supper. We all overeat as is expected when a delicious bufet supper is available. But we leave the hotel more than satisfied that we are fueled up for the morning's event. There is a bit of a confusion as the manager lady is sarcastic with us when making payment as she overcharges us. Fortunately we see the difference and she adjusts the bill.
Back to our tents. I am soooo tired. I fall asleep instantly. It is a humid evening so I leave the tent flap a bit open and later when it rains I get water in the tent. This does not stop me from having a good sleep. The tent is way too big for just one person but I enjoy the space. I wake up once or twice in the night feeling the heat and humidity. But am not able to open the flap anymore as I have foolishly put the flap on the side of the weather.
Jessica has now brushed teeth and getting ready for the run.
Saturday morning. I am up at the time when I am used to waking and the Piet My Vrou in the trees outside the tent entertains me with his song. I have brought Nothing in the way of food. Svenje fortunately has her Kettle and offers me coffee. And a cup of Future Life for breakfast. After last nights supper, this is enough for me and I am ready to go. A combi drives past the tent area and I hear a Peter being shouted. It is Michelle Scowby. Seath, Sian, Sheena, Dallas and Jane had shared a bungalow and I had not realised that they were staying at the same place as we were.
We all drive up to the start at Aurundel. There are a number of announcements. We sign an indemnity board. I meet up with Mike Webb. Mike and I have done two epic events together. One was the Amatola 100km over two days. He continues to do this event and has now done over 10. At that time I did the event with Tim Gendall and Ron Pask seconded us. The event was organised by Dave Gassner. Dave also organised a Port St Johns to East London event. This Five day event eneded with the Surfers Marathon. Mike and I had also run this event together a number of years ago.
Michelle looking relaxed.
We all line up at the start and on the word "GO" we make a very slow start down a narrow foot path to cross the road and along a forest road. I am really happy that the first section is a bit of flat and downhill. I need a bit of a warm up before I start enjoying the run. The first 6km is basically uphill. I walk most of this part. Sian, Sheena, Seath, Svenje and I are together at this time. We pass the first table at 4km. Drink a coke and head up the forest road. The mist is thick. We can barely see more than about 10 meters ahead of us. The view consists of a sea of mist. It becomes even thicker as we climb. Finally, wet from the exersion and the mist, we reach the 6km where the people doing the 9km turn to the left. Michelle has not been well this past week and waits for Seath. We turn right and enjoy a bit of jogging as we now start the downhills.
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
The track is wet and muddy. The sun shines through the mist briefly before losing the battle again. Shortly after this we head back into the pine plantations again. We are now on forest logging roads and while it is mainly down hill there are occasional inclines. I walk every uphill. Despite the fact that Iam slow and holding Svenje back, she stays with me for the whole distance today. We find a nice group and there is some healthy chirp going around. Sian catches us and we jog together for a bit.
Colin hands out the Coke at the last table. Not sure if there are 4 or 6km to go?
We pass the 9km water table;I have my backpack with water. It is reasonably cool but I still enjoy having the water whenever I feel the least bit thirsty. At one stage we see some wild horses looking down at us from the hills above. I am reminded of Mike Perks who runs these mountains with his sons. That must be a tough ask as they are long climbs and easy to get lost. Svenje remembers the Horses that roam wild in the Fish River Canyon in Namibia. I remember the Wild Horse that Barbara tamed on the Two River Hike recently.
I start to feel a bit low and am happy to see the last water table where I can reenergise with some coke. I must remember to take sachets of Goo when I do these events. I often feel this sense of low sugar and lack of energy. Colin, who we met last night, is manning the table. We debate if we now have 4 or 6kays to go. I am still not sure as there seems to be confusion. We see a down and up hill ahead of us. I see some people way up on the top of the hill ahead of us. And think to myself that there is going to be one huge mother of a climb. I am right, there is a climb, But the people who we see are runners who took a wrong turn and went all the way up the hill to the 6km mark and down back again on the route that the 9km runners would have taken.
There is a bit of discontent as they did not enjoy getting lost and doing the extra distance. I can only imagine what it would have been like climbing that steep hill. Devon, we later find out, was one of them who took this wrong turn. He decided to carry on back the way that we had come up. Unfortunately he again became lost and headed into the forest again. He made it to the end having done and extra five or more kays.
At the top of this field we turned right and down an extremely steep and slippery section. You had to hold onto the branches to avoid a bum slide. And be careful because many of the branches have vicious thorns. I ended up doing a bit of bum sliding but did not get hurt. Sian had taken a bit of a tumble ahead of us and grazed an arm. At this stage there was a long line ahead of us and we had no option but to follow.
There were two chaps who we saw along the route a number of times who were walkers. They have a strong steady stride and it was only at the end on the final climb. And with real effort on my part, that we avoided being beaten by these two men. As we approached the final few kays we could hear the announcer but it still seemed that we had a long forest single track path to negotiate before we would reach the finish.
Oooops _---- caught napping again. I introduced Svenje as my daughter. She is polite and does not deny this.
A group of children and parents did a bit of a run. We passed them as they were about to start. Seems like they were out to have some real fun. Svenje and I climbed the final bit up to the hotel and the finish line. Here our group was waiting for us. We did some finish photos. I met Niccy's friend Cristin who we heard had been placed third. And said our goodbyes.
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Well done to Old Selbournians for putting this race together. It was a first. I am sure that they and the runners have learned some lessons. But overall this was a great event. The route was unique. This route takes the runners to places that you will never go unless you are taking part in an event of this nature.
Finishing team. Devon, Jenna and Jessica had waited for us to come in half an hour after they had finished.
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
We drove back to the camp site, quick shower, packed up the still wet tents and kit and headed back home. Between Alice and Fort Beaufort we hit a terrible pot hole and I was half expecting to have to repair a puncture. I have reasonably good tyres in the front and brand new tyres in the back. In Fort Beaufort we stopped to buy something to eat and then drove the final 200km home via Grahamstown.
Back in PE I off loaded our passengers in the reverse order and arrived home at Four. Barbara and I had been given tickets for the Sevens Rugby by Rob Ermes. I was really keen for this so we drove down to the stadium, found parking and watched about four hours of international sevens rugby. We were really fortunate to be in time to see the Second game that the Springboks played. The first game had gone in favour of the local team to beat Samoa. The game we watched was against France and again we managed a win. After this the stands seemed to empty to a degree. We were quite content to watch a variety of games including All Blacks, Wales, Canada, Portugal and Zimbabwe before the Springbok team took on Australia.
South African Blitz Bokke in the final minutes hold Australia to a 17-7 win.
The game is played for seven minutes either way and there are seven players in a team. It looks like there are potentially four substitutions allowed. The game moves fast with little kicking. Threee men scrums and lots of running and tackling. We held out to a 17 to 7 win against the Australians this evening/
Sunday morning we were back at Rugby. Joined by Rob who had given us the invitation for the tickets to the rubgy and Hannes and Jacqui.
It was a long but exciting day of Rugby. On the day the New Zealand team was simply too strong for us.
ROB ERMES; JACQUI AND HANNES ZEELIE AND BARBARA AT 7S RUGBY ON SUNDAY 9TH DECEMBER.
FESTIVE COSTUMES ARE ENCOURAGED
HOGSBACK RESULTS
124 | SIMON | OOSTHIZEN | 1:51:01 | 1 |
60 | ROSS | MICHAUX | 1:52:30 | 2 |
100 | HAYDON | WOOD | 1:54:32 | 3 |
13 | MARCEL | JOOSTE | 2:02:50 | 4 |
44 | DAVERA | MAGSON | 2:06:29 | 5 |
151 | JANE | BARNARDO | 2:06:52 | 6 |
45 | MICHAEL | MAGSON | 2:07:22 | 7 |
55 | BRENDAN | SLABBERT | 2:07:23 | 8 |
81 | MIKE | WEBB | 2:09:46 | 9 |
7 | GIDDO | MULLER | 2:09:46 | 11 |
116 | GARTH | CALVER | 2:13:57 | 10 |
72 | PIETER | SWANEPOEL | 2:13:57 | 13 |
179 | BRAD | WILSON | 2:13:58 | 12 |
149 | CRISTIN | FLYNN | 2:13:58 | 14 |
15 | CHRIS | DARKE | 2:15:30 | 18 |
152 | DALLAS | BARNARDO | 2:25:35 | 26 |
198 | EZEKIEL | MANKAYI | 2:26:50 | 27 |
16 | GEORGINA | THOMAS | 2:33:54 | 28 |
207 | JENNA | SNODGRASS | 2:59:09 | 62 |
208 | JESSICA | TROLLIP | 2:59:40 | 61 |
189 | MABHASWANA | SKEYT | 3:01:17 | 63 |
42 | SIAN | O'KEEFE | 3:03:03 | 64 |
210 | DEVON | DUFFIELD | 3:09:10 | 67 |
22 | PETER | GIDDY | 3:13:02 | 85 |
209 | SVENJE | DUFFIELD | 3:13:20 | 84 |
30 | SEATH | SCOWBY | 3:29:27 | 106 |
31 | MICHELLE | SCOWBY | 3:29:27 | 108 |
43 | SHEENA | O'KEEFE | 3:29:27 | 107 |
This hymn is one that tells the story of being in the misty mountains on a day like today
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
