WIND TURBINE TRAIL RUN -- BLUE HORIZON BAY -- PORT ELIZABETH NOVEMBER 2014

WIND TURBINE TRAIL RUN AT BLUE HORIZON BAY

WIND TURBINE TRAIL RUN -- BLUE HORIZON BAY -- PORT ELIZABETH NOVEMBER 2014

I had met Julia in Plett a few weeks ago and she had told me of the Wind Turbine Run. It is something that I had suggested to Don Mc Gillivray some time ago but never followed up on. So I determined to enter the race with Julia. She had invited her friend (Tarryn) to join her as well.

HELOUISE; JULIA AND TARRYN AT THE START OF THE EVENT.

During the week I found out that Helouise Erasmus would also be taking part. The four of us ended up driving together.
Julia met me at our house; we then collected Helouise and Tarryn. We had left at around 7.15 for a race that started at 8.30 at Blue Horizon Bay. We arrived in plenty of time. It was an easy venue to find as I had run this section of the road from Draaifontein Corner to the Van Staadens River Mouth on many occasions when training for Comrades.
We could see the Turbines from far off and found the turn off easily.

SHEENA; GEORGIE; CONNOR; PETER WADE AND SEAN.

The announcer told us that there would be a race briefing. We greeted familiar faces and gathered together in the lager of caravans and activity for the race briefing. Chris is the main organizer. He explained the route which was simple enough -- Follow the pink ribbons (on your left hand side).

There were three events -- 18k; 12k and 5k. Helouise would start off first on the 18k trail. The lead bike showed them the way and then came back for the 12k runners. That included Julia who planned to walk the whole way. Octovia; and myself.

 JULIA SETS OFF AT A FAST WALK WITH THIS LADY WHO SHE MET AT THE START.

OCTAVIA PASSES THE FIRST TURBINE

Finally it was the turn of Tarryn who was taking part in her first trail run (She is a Horse Rider).
Julia had not done this kind of distance for some time and was very nervous (she did not sleep at all and had woken up tired).
We later hear that Tarryn had run her heart out on the descent. Little children leaping along the pathway with Tarryn in tow. Then from the bottom of the hill most of the children faded and so Tarryn was able to make up some time and pressed on to take third ladies position at the end of the event.

We set off along the dirt road with the Turbines on both sides of us. These Turbines are enormous structures with the Alternator at the top the size of a small house. They were still when we arrived as the wind had not picked up but when we left they were starting to rotate. The blades tend to make a gentle Wooshing noise.
Shortly after setting off we started to descend. It is a long downhill to the stream below. This is clearly a MTB trail as well as there are plenty of MTB obstacles. We ran down the hill, through bushes and down to the stream. I run through streams. It was too early to have a swim but actually I should have as there was no place later on for a swim in the stream.

From the bottom of the hill there is a short section of flat and then we climb back up to the Wind Turbines and past the start area. I had been able to jog most of the way to here with occasional short breaks of walking. There is little or no breeze down at the bottom so I take off my shirt  for the rest of the run. I see that a number of other chaps did the same.

Once past the start area we descend again down some steep sections back to the stream. It was around this time that I started to fade. I had lost my energy. Even though it was mainly downhill I was slowing down considerably.
Fortunately I had brought a Squeegy (energy syrup) and I had a small bottle of water. So I slurped the GU and washed it down with some water and then was able to get going again.

There were Three water tables in the first section before we passed the start area and then two more in the second half. We were well hydrated -- just needed a bit of sugar.
Once we passed the table at the bottom of the hill at the stream again it was a long, steep climb back to the top of the hill. I was feeling re-energized and was able to push up a bit of a jog. We reached the top of the hill at the same level as the Turbines. As we ascended we, mistakenly, had thought that it should be pretty much flat to the finish.

FINAL WATER TABLE. A HUGE DISSAPPOINTMENT TO SOME AS THERE WAS STILL ONE MORE HILL TO CLIMB.

But as we crested the hill and took a final sip of water from the table, we saw that we now had one more down and up to negotiate;  a bit disappointing and I could see the dismay in some of the faces around me. The final hill is short and steep so we mainly jogged up the hill and then the final short stretch to the finish.

HELOUISE FINISHES HER 18K EVENT.

OCTAVIA; WEARING EDGEMEAD COLOURS; AS THEY ARE FROM CAPE TOWN FINISHING THE 12K TRAIL RUN.

Keith, Zelda and Cytomax gave us a bit of an energy boost. I found Tarryn in the car studying. She is studying to be a teacher and has a year of Practical and final exams to finish in 2015. I changed and we walked back to the start area. Just then Julia and a lady who she had met, walked over the finish line.  Shannon (friend of Helouise) finished with me. Octavia was next and then we waited for Helouise to finish the 18k. It had been a tough outing for her. I think that the heat got to most of the runners.
The Prize giving went slickly with Tarryn winning a third ladies prize and Julia a lucky draw pair of socks. Tarryn received a couple gifts but most valued was the Wooden Plaque.

We left immediately the prize giving was over and I dropped everyone back at their homes.

 KEITH AND ZELDA HAND OUT REFRESHING CYTOMAX AT THE END OF THE RUN

JULIA AT THE START PASSING THE FIRST OF THE TURBINES.

 TARRYN TAKES THIRD LADIES PRIZE AND THE WOODEN PLAQUE IN THE 5K

A MAKESHIFT PODIUM -- TARRYN IS THIRD.

SEAN O'KEEFE AND HIS GANG OF RUNNERS

 GEORGIE FINISHES THE TOUGH 18K EVENT

 OUR LITTLE TEAM OF RUNNERS -- HELOUISE; JULIA AND TARRYN

 HELOUISE COMPLETING A HARD 18K TURBINE TRAIL RUN

 JULIA; SHANNON AND THE TURBINE RUN

 JULIA PASSES THE FIRST TURBINE. IT IS NOT EASY TO EXPLAIN JUST HOW BIG THESE WIND TURBINES ARE.

 OCTAVIA BOSHOFF LOOKING GOOD AFTER A HARD 100MINUTES OF RUNNING.

OUR TEAM OF OCTAVIA; TARRYN; JULIA AND SHANNON

NOVEMBER 2014; NEW PARKRUN BOSSES IN PE; WERNER AND TAMARIN; DANIEL AT SCHOOLS ATHLETICS. ALLY STARTS EXAMS.

PORT ELIZABETH. SUNRISE OVER THE HARBOUR. AS I DRIVE DOWN FOR MY FRIDAY MORNING RUN FROM HOBIE BEACH..

ALLY GIDDY; LARA SWANEPOEL; MEGAN DERRY; ROSLYN AND PIXIE ANDERSON GRADE ONE AT CLARENDON PARK PRIMARY; AROUND 2003.  

SAUL TEACHES BLAKE THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG

BLAKE IN THE PLAY AREA

HAPPY EMILY

ZARA HAD TO GIVE A SOLO TALK AND MORE THAN SUCCEEDED

AARON AND ZARA PLAYING BOARD GAMES

NICKY AND HER FAMILY


Saturday 1st November
Start off with a 15k beach front run with Adrienne; Suzanne; Mike Lindie; Chris; Annie and Graham. It is a pretty miserable morning with a strong chilly Easterly blowing. We run into the wind and up Admiralty and then around to the airport. I run the last section with Graham.

A WARM EASTERLY -- PARKRUN ROUTE -- AND I TOOK OFF MY SHIRT TO COOL OFF A BIT

 

PETER ON THE PARKRUN

After the run I stick around for the Parkrun where I am able to run the event for the second or third time since I started with the Parkruns. I finish the run with Tony Button and Tony Boardman.

Later this morning we are at the NMMU stadium to watch Daniel running his 80m and 60m events.

DANIEL AT THE UNIVERSITY STADIUM FINISHING THE 80M

 DANIEL IN THE 60M EVENT AS HE FINISHES.

HAPPY FACE OF A BOY TAKING PART IN AN INTERSCHOOL ATHLETICS EVENT.

SATURDAY MORNING RUN WITH CHRIS; LINDIE; SUZANNE; GRAHAM, ANNIE AND ADRIENNE

TOO MUCH STANDING AND POSING FOR PICS AND NOT ENOUGH RUNNING

GOOD TO HAVE MIKE BACK IN THE GROUP.

Sunday 2nd. Early morning Nippers is basically cancelled as the weather is not at all pleasant. We go out to Delene's farm for her birthday.

DELENE'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT HEBRON

IN THE HEBRON HALL FOR SUNDAY BRAAI AND LUNCH WITH DELENE AND MATTHEW.

Monday 3rd November. I am back into swimming at the Newton Park pool. This was my 3rd swim and I am up to 1200m. I don't run much this week as I am traveling with my boss from JHB, John Zulu.  Thursday I do a short run in Walmer after dropping the boss at the airport.

ADRIENNE AND MIKE AT THE TOP OF TARGET KLOOF THURSDAY MORNING RUN

 ADRIENNE LOOKING AMAZINGLY FIT AFTER THE 10K MORNING TRAINING RUN THROUGH THE KLOOF

CHRIS AND LINDIE RUNNING STRONGLY AT THE TOP OF TARGET.

KELLY PUSHED ME TO KEEP UP WITH HER ON THE RUN THIS MORNING

Later I swim 1500m.  I really enjoy these midday swims.

I CANNOT KEEP COUNT OF THE LAPS SO I HAVE NO DEVISED A SYSTEM OF MOOVING STONES AT THE END OF EACH SECOND LAP (100M) FROM ONE CONTAINER TO THE NEXT.

Ally is writing Exams and studying hard.
I run the 5k on Friday morning and am parkrun Director on Saturday. After parkrun I am on lifeguard duty for the rest of the day and by the time I get home am feeling exhausted and Frazzeled.

KEIMANS PASS .. BETWEEN GEORGE AND WILDERNESS

 GEORGE TO KNYSNA. NATIONAL ROAD. INAUGURATED BY THE STATE PRESIDENT PW BOTHA. 29 APRIL 1988

SAICE.  REGIONAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING 1988

Sunday 9th.
Another busy day starting off with a 21k run. It is the Helpers Run for the Achilles event for next Saturday. I start off a bit too slow.. I run the first bit with Marie Louise Emslie but then realise that she is going to be a bit off the pace that I am comfortable with. There are only around 20 runners taking part this morning. Geoff Roberts is ahead of me and I am never able to catch him. The route is really the most boring of all routes. From Summies to Kings Beach along the road. Turn at KB and then all the way back along the Marine Drive past Summies and past the Golf course where you turn and do the same thing all over again. It is pretty flat and especially as I was running on my own, extremely boring.. As I approach the first lap of 10k I look to see that my time is exactly one hour (6min a kay). I am about 1 kay off the pace as I should be at 11k at one hour.
Thanks to Alan Taylor; Hannes and Basil who were some of the people who set the helpers run up for us.

There is a West Wind blowing but it is not so strong that it slows me down. In fact for half of the run it is on our backs. I then try to pick the pace up a bit but really without goals and other runners I am unable to guage my pace as I would like and end up with 2.05. Geoff was just ahead of me with 2.02..

PETER 2.05 AND GEOFF 2.02 AFTER HELPERS RUN 21K

START OF HELPERS RUN. 21K FROM SUMMIES ABOUT 20 RUNNERS TAKE PART. 

After the race I drive to KB where Ally is doing her Lifesaving Retest. The retest consists of a test of your knowledge of the signals. Then there is a Run / Swim / Run. Ally comes out of the water strongly but suffers from a bit of earache due to the cold water. Then they must do a Torpedo Buoy Rescue.  They must do both rescue and patient so a total of three swims.
As the youngsters are doing this I feel a sense of pride that Ally is active in a community sport like Lifesaving. It is a healthy outdoor activity where like minded people interact.

WAITING TO BE TESTED WITH FRIENDS FROM SUMMIES

TILT THE HEAD BACK; CHECK FOR AIRWAYS; AND GIVE TWO RESCUE BREATHS

DAVE EXPLAINS THE FINER DETAILS OF WHAT IS EXPECTED OF THE CPR

ALLY ON THE DUMMY

ALLY; TARA; KAYLA; ASHLEIGH; TARRIN; KAYLEIGH ALL DOING RETESTING\

ALLY DOES THE CPR ON A DUMMY WITH HER TEAM MATES WATCHING AND DAVE RAYNER DOING THE TEST

SIGNALS IS A BIG PART OF THE LIFEGUARD AWARD AND YOU HAVE TO BE CONFIDENT AND KNOW YOUR STUFF.\

ALLY CAME OUT OF THE WATER FIRST GIRL. LOOKING STRONG. NO TRAINING. I DONT KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT BUT SHE CREAMED THE RETEST.
THE WATER WAS COLD AND GAVE HER EARACHE BUT SHE STILL WENT ON TO DO THE TORPEDO BUOY RESCUE AS LIFEGUARD AND AS PATIENT.

 PAUL; TESS AND DAVE DISCUSS THE IMPORTANT STUFF ABOUT CPR TESTING

 DID I PASS THE TEST PAUL?

TESS AND LEE DO THE ADMIN

After the water activity they all go into the Kingsbeach hall where they are tested on CPR. Ally does well and has passed the test again for the year. She is now qualified to be a lifeguard both voluntary and as a paid job if she wishes to apply during the holidays.

I spend the rest of the morning at Summies at Nippers where we have a good group of young boys and girls in the water and on the beach. I am able to take a small group for a bit of a paddle.

 ALLY GIDDY LIFEGUARD AWARD 2014

PETER GIDDY LIFEGUARD AWARD 2013

Thursday 13th;
Barbara and I attend a Book Launch put on by Alec Riddle for Bob De La Motte's book the Runaway Comrade (Bob left for Australia shortly before the First Elections in 1994 and so was considered to be a Runaway Comrade to some); Bob donates 100% of the proceeds of this book to athletes who have been a part of the Comrades and other major events and who have since fallen on hard times. An example is Hosea Tjali who was such an Icon of Comrades in the 1980's and who now is living in Poor conditions.
The function was at the Old Grey Club and we sat at a dinner table with Graham Adshade and his wife; Billy and Dianne Emslie and Stuart Brown.

BOB GAVE AN INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING TALK.

 DINNER TABLE AT OLD GREY CLUB WITH GRAHAM; STUART; BARBARA; BILLY AND DIANNE.

 BOB KINDLY AUTOGRAPHED THE BOOKS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THIS EVENING

STUART AND BOB AFTER THE LAUNCH.

Friday 14th; Ron came to fetch me and we drove out to the farm to meet up with Matthew Calitz. Matt and Delene had offered us some of their couches and Ron was kind enough to offer to fetch them in his bakkie.
After picking up Matt we drove across the Van Staadens river to Thornhill where he had stored some furniture in containers. Firstly we could not open the one container as the key would not fit. I emptied the second container to get to the one chair while Ron and Matt went back to the farm (Hebron) to fetch some tools.

RON TOOK ME OUT TO HEBRON WHERE WE COLLECTED MATTHEW AND WENT TO THORNHILL TO LOAD SOME COUCHES FROM THE CONTAINERS WHERE HE STORES HIS FURNITURE

MATTHEW LOADING COUCHES FROM THE CONTAINER.

They then opened the container and took the two couches out while I loaded the first container back with all the boards and boxes and stuff.
Finally we had all the stuff back in the containers and the couches loaded. Tied down and drove back to drop Matt and back to our house where we off loaded.
Then Ron and I drove to the Electric Express shop where we loaded up some beds that I had bought for the spare room.

I was quite tired after this and was not keen to swim this afternoon.

Saturday morning 15th.
I had early morning marshaling duty at the beach front. The West Wind was blowing so strongly that it was blowing the cones and barricades down. The poor athletes had to work very hard into the wind.  event for them. On the run today: Pat (65) WINS Her age group and R30 000. Ronel worked her through the event and took her to the Win. Outstanding  Pat! Kobus (70) also did well. Margie won her age group. Was not able to set an SA record due to the foul conditions.
Helen and Nicky; Ronel; Lisa; Hennie and Gesina; Ernie Verral (80); Grant and Beth; Steve and Octavia; Erica Erasmus who had children at Childrens World with Ally;  Moff; Sharon Wilson; Barbara Foot;

I had taken my Bike to the beach so was quite mobile\; I cycled back with Erica Erasmus whose children had been at preschool with Ally.

I then had Lifeguard Duty for the rest of the day. No bathers as the weather was simply too miserable. But we must stay for the afternoon as this is part of a Municipal arrangement to allow us to keep the clubhouse as it is.

DOING LIFEGUARD DUTY AT SUMMERSTRAND -- WAVES ARE WILD AND NO SWIMMERS.

ROUGH SEAS DUE TO STRONG WEST WINDS

Sunday 16th.
Nippers is all but cancelled due to poor weather; So this is the third week in a row that we have not had a full session of training.

During the week I am able to run:
Langenhoven on Monday morning. Slow and short but made the main hill.
Susan Route around the school on Tuesday morning with Stuart and then finishing with the "Pony Tail Brigade". Fast and tough.
Wednesday I run a short 5k with Chris Botha and his group.
Thursday we run the Walmer Route where I generally turn at 12th ave instead of 14th where the Official turn is. I run from the top of Target to the top of the other side both going out and coming back -- non stop running.
Friday is a day off

ALLY SWIMMING WITH DAD

ALLY SWIMS TWICE AS FAST AS I DO

During this week I also manage 3 swims (two with Ally) of 1000; 1500 and 1500m. at the Newton Park pool.
Saturday 22nd -- Wind Turbine 12k with Julia; her friend Tarryn and Helouise.

HELOUISE FINISHES 18K TRAIL RUN

OUR LITTLE GROUP OF HELOUISE; JULIA AND TARRYN. AT THE WIND TURBINE TRAIL RUN.
Sunday we have Nippers Training. I take the U12's and U14's for a paddle on Malibu Boards to the Bird Rock. This is one of the best things that you can do with this group of Nippers.

During the last week of November:
I am at home the whole week. Continue with Swim Training when I can.  Ally has her final week of exams. Barbara and I attend a Parents Meeting at School. MHG meeting at our house to assess progress. I am able to Run on Monday; Tuesday and Thursday. A bit short but that is fine as I don't want to push it too hard. 

ALLY AT NEWTON PARK SWIMMING POOL. SHE SWIMS TWICE AS FAST AS I CAN

FRIDAY 28th.
John; Andrew and I drive to Hogsback where we camp at Swallow Tail. Saturday Morning John and Andrew run the 38k and I run the 16k.

Sunday 30th.
Nippers Practice. The East Wind makes the surf choppy and I take a group for a Mock Level Test. Two of the U12 group get into a bit of difficulty as the rip pulls them towards Pollok rocks.  All is well as the coaches and newly qualified lifeguards (Luke and Todd) assist them out.

OH SO COOL

BLAKE -- THE MAN

AND BLAKE THE CHILD