Dave Bywater provided this report of the run
13 of us left the Retirement Village at 7.20am, after
having received a comprehensive briefing from Julian. He spotted 3 young
(female) racing snakes, so decided to fire up the afterburners as we
turned on to the mountain some 200 meters after the start. The 4 of
“them” averaged about 4 minutes per km for the first 4 or 5 km of the
Old Wagon Trail path, reaching the start of the circular “no mountain
bikes allowed beyond this point” in about 20 minutes. We ordinary people
arrived a few minutes later, admired Julian and his elite group, and,
as we were about to regroup, watched them set off again at said 4
minutes per km. At which point Alan had a moment of inspiration!!! He
called them back for a magnificent group photograph, which should appear
on our website, after he has banked the proceeds of the sale to Runners
World (the International, not the South African version)……but I
digress. After a brief stop, it was more of the same for Julian and Co,
with us struggling to keep them in our sights. Fortunately, after a few
more blistering kms, Julian “did his usual”!!! Say no more, Seamus
coming to his rescue, pointing us in the right direction. We covered
some breathtakingly beautiful single track through the forest, over
boardwalks and mountain streams, before descending the Old Wagon Trail
path back to the start. We covered between 12 and 13km in just under 2
hours. Note to the Editor: Please check distance and time. Thanks to
Randolph for sweeping for the first 75% of the run, until he could hang
back no more, covering the descent in a new TMT record. There were,
fortunately, no incidents to report. A final word of gratitude goes out
to Julian and the racing snakes for ensuring that this ranks as one of
the quietest sorties ever experienced, for which we (men) are deeply
grateful.
13 of us left the Retirement Village at 7.20am, after
having received a comprehensive briefing from Julian. He spotted 3 young
(female) racing snakes, so decided to fire up the afterburners as we
turned on to the mountain some 200 meters after the start. The 4 of
“them” averaged about 4 minutes per km for the first 4 or 5 km of the
Old Wagon Trail path, reaching the start of the circular “no mountain
bikes allowed beyond this point” in about 20 minutes. We ordinary people
arrived a few minutes later, admired Julian and his elite group, and,
as we were about to regroup, watched them set off again at said 4
minutes per km. At which point Alan had a moment of inspiration!!! He
called them back for a magnificent group photograph, which should appear
on our website, after he has banked the proceeds of the sale to Runners
World (the International, not the South African version)……but I
digress. After a brief stop, it was more of the same for Julian and Co,
with us struggling to keep them in our sights. Fortunately, after a few
more blistering kms, Julian “did his usual”!!! Say no more, Seamus
coming to his rescue, pointing us in the right direction. We covered
some breathtakingly beautiful single track through the forest, over
boardwalks and mountain streams, before descending the Old Wagon Trail
path back to the start. We covered between 12 and 13km in just under 2
hours. Note to the Editor: Please check distance and time. Thanks to
Randolph for sweeping for the first 75% of the run, until he could hang
back no more, covering the descent in a new TMT record. There were,
fortunately, no incidents to report. A final word of gratitude goes out
to Julian and the racing snakes for ensuring that this ranks as one of
the quietest sorties ever experienced, for which we (men) are deeply
grateful.
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