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Saturday 21st March: Recce of the Two Oceans 10km Trail Route
Those clever Norwegians were right again - we awoke to the sound
of rain on Saturday morning. Despite the dawn downpour, 37 keen trailers
presented themselves at the wooden gates to Rhodes Memorial for a recce of the Two
Oceans 10km Trail. However, the kindly heavens smiled on us and by the time we
set off, the rain had stopped and we were presented with perfectly fresh, cool
forest paths to run on.
The route is a tricky one, with lots of twists and turns and
zigzags, and Julian did his best to remember it from previous runs, resulting in
an ‘artist’s impression’ of the route. The recovery group attempted to follow
the route on Endomondo, but we still managed to take a wrong turn twice and had
to backtrack. We also missed a loop at the beginning and tacked it on the end
instead. It was a "creative" morning.
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| The Creatives |
Adding to the creativity were two injuries in the main
group: Dave and Theresa P. both twisted ankles, Theresa’s resulting in a torn
ligament which will unfortunately keep her off her feet for a few weeks to
come. The recovery group took it very easy and the biggest injury was Quintin’s
twisted ankle, which got better magically at the offer of all of the ladies in
the group kissing it better. (Or perhaps it was the look he got from his wife
at that idea!)
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| The United Colours of the Recovery Group |
Thanks to Julian, who heroically led the main group of 20,
which was gracefully swept by Gaeleen. Thanks also to Nicole, who kept the 17-strong
recovery team in tight formation. Not a single soul was lost this week from
either group.
That we know of...
There are a couple of names not ticked off on the register: Belamie and Jeanne, are you still out there? :)
The main group did 10kms in 1h46 and the recovery group a
slightly longer 10.6kms in 2 hours exactly.
Lorraine
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| Lorraine and Nicole, Recovery |
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| Vanessa proves she CAN make a tick mark on the register |
PS: Perhaps I should add here
for the benefit of anybody still confused about the official 10km route (Mama T. & Co.), that the official
first kilometre is very different from our run because the exit from varsity is
usually locked on non-race day. On The Big Day, you will start on the Jammie
steps inside UCT and run along University Avenue/Rugby Road towards Muizenberg,
turn right as you leave the UCT grounds, run back along the top road inside UCT
(Ring Road?) and clamber out over the turnstile steps into the Rhodes Mem approach
road, climb the hill a little further up and join the path as shown on the
below image. Or something like that.
(See below: our run in blue, the official route in
red.)
