Good morning All
MONDAY HILL TRAINING
Today will be the last hill run for the year. To round things off we will be sticking to the theme of “trying to doing things a little differently”. We will start up Platteklip Gorge but then at about half way up we will traverse out to the right in the direction of the Right face Arrow Face Traverse. We will probably have a sniff around to see if we can find the start of the ledge from this side but will then retrace our footsteps a little and descend via either Yellowstone Gully or Union Ravine. No undue exposure to terrifying heights and precipitous drop-offs on this run. Now this is not entirely guesswork. The route is taken from the 1972 (yes, some of us were alive in 1972) Mountain Club of SA Table Mountain Guide book (see extract attached) which features many routes that do not appear in route books today. One must ask why but I guess we will find out soon enough. We will be exploring some of these old routes in 2012. So there is lots of exciting stuff to come in the New Year to spice up our existing routes.
So today we start at 17h15 from the car park at the foot of Platteklip Gorge on Tafelberg Road. It is just under 2km past the Lower Cable Station.
Please let me know if you are going to attend.
acsis VOB TRAIL RUNS FROM NOW UNTIL 31 DECEMBER 2011
………………………..………………………………
Hahahaha! Okay, I think it’s time for a short break. My body is telling me it is time to sit and drink beer without having to go for a run first.
I know Jane Holdcroft is keen to do a run this coming Saturday (24 December) but I am going to schedule in all of my Christmas shopping for Saturday morning (after a long sip of Rescue Remedy). So it is quite possible that Jane will be taking a run or that MATES will organise one or even a combo between the two…..although Jane is a MATES runner………oh, you know what I mean……. In that case I will send the details out as soon as they are available.
I will also be circulating the schedule of acsis VOB-organised runs for January 2012 fairly shortly too, so this is not the last you’ll be hearing from me this year.
FEEDBACK FROM THE SILVERMINE NORTH / WEST RUN
We couldn’t have picked a more perfect day for this run. Glorious weather. Bright sunshine with just a very gentle breeze to cool things off. 22 of us set off down toward the mountain bike car park. Half way up Steenberg Ridge we were 23. Huh ? Yes…….. Then the big climb. Good grief but that climb to the mast is longer than I remember. You know you’re having a sluggish day when you get to the regroup point at the tar road and someone (not sure if it was Jackie or Dirk) had brewed up a pot of tea !!!!! That is definitely a first. No, I lie, Michele Priestman did it once but that was when she was doing a gentle run at the back. These two were at the front! Nevertheless, years of gentle abuse from my trail running colleagues have hardened me to these “insults” and so we soon set off again light hearts and heavy legs.
At the very highest point of the run, the fence around the Mast, Allison Lamb was overcome with the excitement of: having conquered the climb / her new trail shoes / altitude sickness / all of the above and slammed herself into the ground, as one does when excited. I must say that I expected the Sailing Sandra to come on the descent to Blackburn Ravine but no, Allison stole a yard on the rest of the pack and displayed just the right amount of blood and pain to not be in any danger and yet convincingly scoop herself a Sailing Sandra Award. I didn’t actually see the fall but the usual agents of treachery drew my attention to the incident and of course the wounds could not be hidden when we were swimming in the Dam afterwards. Well done Allison. Glad it was no worse though.
At the regroup at the Blackburn Ravine platform we decided to split the pack. The run had been very technical to that point and some seemed keen to stretch the legs out a bit so half of the pack decided to head down the stone highway so they could do a bit of a gallop on jeep track up and over past Noordhoek Peak and then down to the Dam. The rest of us took the more technical Panorama Trail over towards Noordhoek Peak (a tradition at this time of year). After a shortish while we saw in the distance ahead of us the group who elected to RUN the jeep track……….they were WALKING!!!!! HAH !!!!!
It was absolutely perfect at Noordhoek Peak. Sunny, wind-free and so clear you could see forever. This is fairly rare at this time of year as the peak is often plagued by a brisk south-easter. But by now we were all thinking of the Dam and a refreshing dip followed by ICE cold beer. So we picked the shortest route and headed straight down and over Crassula Ridge / Hillcrest Path and down to the Dam, plunged in and then basked in the sun.
What a way to end the year. Thanks everyone for a great run and great company.
WRAP UP
I know I will be seeing some of you at the Manor House 16km on Family Day / Boxing Day but I guess I won’t be seeing most of you until next year now. So it just remains for me to leave you with the following:
First of all, to all of you who have supported these runs over the last year, thank you and it has been wonderful having you along on the runs. They would have been very lonely Saturday mornings without you. A group of runners slugging down beer in a car park early on a Saturday morning is very socially acceptable. One person on their own is just weird and a bit sad. J
To all of those who have assumed responsibilities of leading groups, whether formally like Jane, Mike and Douglas have done over the year or informally when a run has split up on a particular day, a massive thank you. And also a big thank you to the MATES crew with whom we have worked so well and seamlessly over the last year. Often one couldn’t tell whether the Saturday run was a VOB run or a MATES run. And quite honestly, did it really matter ? Thanks everyone.
To those celebrating Christmas, have a blessed and peaceful Christmas. Don’t hold back but be safe. To those who are simply taking a break, have a wonderful chill out and come back rejuvenated and stronger for having had some rest (and probably a bit fatter…..not that you’re fat now, you understand…….of course not…..no…..).
Have a fantastic, successful, happy and, very particularly, an injury-free (the usual scrapes, bumps and bruises don’t count) New Year Everyone.
Cheers for now and have a great week.
Tim
Tim Bellairs (Sir)
acsis VOB Trail Running
Cell: 082 321-0299
0 comments:
Post a Comment