Triple Challenge 2009

On Sunday the 15th November, Mike and I took part in the Triple Challenge. As mentioned before, I was helluva nervous for this tri-athlon and I can now confirm that all reservations and fears of excruciating pain were not unfounded and it was by far the toughest physical experience I have ever endured. The good news though is that we finished, and in my mind, that’s all we set out to do. I have never been so happy as I was when after 8 hours and 53 minutes we finally crossed the finish line.

Out of the 3 legs, the run was my biggest concern, but as it turned out, I actually enjoyed it the most out of everything. It probably had something to do with the fact that it was the first leg of the day and my body felt fresh for most of the route. Anyone who says it’s downhill from PMB to Camperdown though, obviously hasn’t tried running it. There seemed to be an endless amount of hills and each one was tougher and tougher to get through. Overall though I was happy with the run because my hip and knee injuries that have been plaguing me for quite some time held up nicely, and I entered the transition area feeling good about the day. The 20km run was ticked off and we were ready for the ride.

An obvious occurrence on the day was that Mike waited for me quite a bit on the run and he was always just ahead of me trying to pull me along. No surprises there – Mike is substantially quicker than me in the running department. But the surprise of the day was by how much he effed me up in the ride as well. All his talk of me being the better rider had clearly gone to my head and I had completely underestimated the brutality of the 52km mountain bike ride from Camperdown to Inanda Dam. Quite a lot of the route was on tar, but a substantial amount was dirt roads and single track. The continuous onslaught of hill after hill took it’s toll and that coupled with the fact that my legs now had 21km of running fatigue in them saw me spiral into a very average pace on the riding leg.

About halfway into the ride, my right leg started cramping and every time it completed one pedal rotation it felt like someone was hitting me just above the knee with a ten pound hammer. One rotation **HAMMER** two rotations **HAMMER** three rotations **HAMMER**……etc, etc. At one point I almost collapsed while I was walking up a hill to catch up to Mike when my leg went into spazm and I had to quickly swing my left leg into place to catch my falling body, while at the same time trying to stretch my right leg out to halt the seizure. This of course sent Mike into heaps of laughter.

The last 15km of the ride almost went better for me than the preceding 37km. We finished by riding some very technical single track sections and a moment’s lack of concentration would certainly have resulted in some heavy injuries. As we entered the final transition area at Inanda Dam, it was heart-breaking knowing that we still had a 3 hour paddle ahead of us.

After some quick re-fuelling, Mike and I ambled down to the water’s edge and lowered ourselves into the boat and began the monotonous paddle around Inanda Dam. The change from using legs to arms didn’t do anything to ease the pain and initially I actually found it tougher than the cycling (if that was at all possible). But once we got into a rhythm my arms and shoulders held up quite well. There was no shortage of ‘rests’ out in the middle of the dam where we both just completely stopped paddling and attempted to regain some form of strength to carry on. These rests cost us at least 5 or 6 places and watching boats pass us along the way reminded us of how little we had trained in the paddling department. In total, Mike and I had paddled 3 times in preparation for this 18km paddle. Oh well. There was one main portage of 1.7km where we had to get out the boat and carry the dam thing over a big headland and onto another section of the dam. At that point, Mike and I were definitely ‘over it’ and were simply moving forward by putting one foot in front of the other and taking one stroke at a time. On the portage it became obvious that sitting down after all that running and riding was doing nothing for the joints and Mike and I both battled big time to bend the knees and walk comfortably up or down hills. Once back on the water it was a seemingly never-ending paddle back to the start (and finish). The sheer joy of seeing the finish line gave me goose-bumbs all over and I actually couldn’t believe we had done it. We felt like heroes as we approached the shore as well because there was nothing short of 15 friends and family members to clap us in.

As we got out the boat, we realized that the prize-giving was already underway and they were announcing the lucky draw prizes. Imagine my excitement when I heard my name called out. It was awesome, I had just won a prize. It was common knowledge that the Triple Challenge lucky draw prizes were always of a high caliber. Previous prizes that I was aware of were hi-fi’s, Garmens and other expensive items. Imagine my confusion then, when I was handed a 4kg yellow box of instant mash. There was enough powder in that box to make 240 servings or the equivalent of 24kgs of mash. While I was still reeling from my booby prize, Mike hobbled back from the prize arena because his name had also been called out…he had won a new pair of New Balance running shoes….no limit on the price. Yup that seemed like fair way to finish the day.

Thanks to our seconding team (wives, girlfriends and moms) for driving all over the place and being at the right places at the right time. That along with putting wheels on bikes, grabbing contact lenses and making sure we were eating and drinking sufficiently made for one of the most enjoyable days out. It was great seeing your faces at those transition zones.

A Little Crazy Perhaps?

Following on from one of my previous posts (here) regarding the fact that myself and a few others have started running - well there’s actually a bit more to it than just getting fit for the hell of it. I’ll start with a round-up of what we have achieved so far.

Along with various training runs of up to 18km, we have successfully completed the following races: The Beds for Africa 16km and The South Coast Half Marathon. Campo decided that the Half Marathon wasn’t challenging enough and opted for the full marathon, while Shaun, Mike and I went for the 21km. We all completed the race in good time, some of us in more pain than others, namely Campo who had a very tough time but finished nevertheless.

Myself, Mike and Rich also rode the Amashovashova 2 weekends ago, which is a 106km ride from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Thanks to our superb seconding team (Cally and Jane) we had plenty of snacks and water bottle refills during the ride which certainly helped us along the arduous yet scenic route.

Looking ahead, there are 3 big events lined up. First on the list for myself and Mike is the Triple Challenge, which is on the 15th November. Distances may vary slightly, but essentially we’re looking at a 20km trail run followed by a 52km mountain bike ride and finally ending with a 22km paddle across Inanda Dam, which includes 2 portages. I’m absolutely shitting myself for this !!! Mike has done a couple of these in previous years and I have somehow been roped into doing this with him.

The 2nd event coming up is the Hillcrest Villagers 42.2km marathon in February next year. I have never run further than 21km before, so this is going to be one helluva challenge. Not only do I need to complete it but I need to finish in under 5 hours. Reason being, that you have to complete a standard marathon in under 5 hours in order to qualify for Comrades. That’s right, I’m attempting Comrades next year. There I said it!! It makes me want to go check my rods just thinking about it. But ja, assuming my qualifying marathon goes well, I will be attempting Comrades next year along with Shuz, Mike, Campo and a few others.

So that’s where we are at the moment. Training for Triple Challenge and then come the last week in November the focus will shift purely onto the running.

Here’s a few pics from the Amashova last weekend.

Coming through Camperdown

Westville

Andy & Phil's Wedding

So obviously after the bulls party, comes the wedding. The ceremony was held in the Chapel at Kearsney College. I thought you either had to be an old boy or well connected to secure that venue? Campo is a Westville boy, so maybe he’s well connected. Or perhaps it was his life credo to always greet everyone by their name and to always display impeccable manners around his elders, that impressed one of the Masters at a Westville vs Kearsney cricketing campaign that secured the elusive Chapel. Either way it is definitely a great venue and was chosen well.
Everyone looked the part and it was great to see that all the groomsmen were in attendance. Barnsi had missed the rehearsal the night before due to ‘not being able to find his car after shopping at Gateway’. You can’t say that’s not original.

Philippa looked beautiful walking down the aisle and both bride and groom had that look on their faces suggesting they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.

After the ceremony we cruised over to the reception which was at a renovated castle down near Shongweni way. While the newly married couple antagonized their cheek muscles on the photo shoot, the rest of us guests milled around outside the castle eating snacks and playing ‘man-sized’ Jenga.
Once Andy and Philippa arrived we made our way into the reception hall and the rest of the night unfolded with all the usual formalities and culinary festivities that these weddings usually entail. A particular highlight of mine was Barnsi’s 21 point speech about Andy, which represented the 21 years that they have known each other.

All in all it was one helluva good party and a great celebration. Cheers Andy and Phil, here’s to many many happy years of marriage.

Campo's Bulls Party

A few weeks ago Andy Camp (Campo) and Philippa tied the knot. The nice thing about weddings is that a raucous bulls party usually precedes the main event, and this wedding was no different. Rich Webb had arranged a spectacular weekend away at a place called Highover, which is quite close to Richmond.

After arriving at various times throughout Friday afternoon and evening, your basic bulls party unfolded and was met with great excitement. There were some overseas visitors in attendance, and their presence certainly gave the weekend an air of significance. Bon-fires, music, beers, and previously untold stories of Campo at his finest (or not so finest) set the scene for a great weekend away.


Saturday morning was spent tubing down the freezing waters of the nearby river as well as attempting to master the rickety foofie slide, which I think we eventually sent into retirement. Those with wetsuits definitely had the upper hand. Cruising down the river and taking on the rapids was an unexpected highlight of the weekend. After the tubing, it was a mad rush to get to the owner’s house for some Tri-Nations rugby. We shared what must have been the biggest bag of biltong any of us had ever seen and had it not been for the one Aussie in our midst, I dare say it might have been a perfect day out. Saturday night was spent around the fire again and plenty laughs and loud music were the order of the day. It was quite apparent that everyone had had a superb time away. Well done Rich for organizing such a unique and awesome weekend away.

It’s also worth mentioning that a Bulls party is not a Bulls party without it’s one incident that takes it to the next level. And that incident had to be when Philippa’s Dad’s mate did a drunken free fall onto the bonfire. Had it not been for Porker’s cheetah-like reactionary senses, he very well may have been left there to burn for the night. It was the flames from the jacket and the smell of burning flesh that alerted Porker to the scene and once he had rolled the guy off the fire, things returned to normal.