Another lovely, well organised race out at Riebeek Kasteel in the Boland farmland district. The vibe was there on a chilly cloudy morning, along with West Coasters in droves. Only 5 of the clubs’ most hard core took on the tough marathon around the mountain, while the half marathon was almost half West Coast with many familiar faces and a few new ones in club colours.
The morning started with a car pool of 5 of us driven by Naz, 2 guys, 3 chatty ladies on the back seat, lots of good conversation for the hours drive, with a drunk driver mounting the pavement and taking out a street sign in front of us in Malmesbury adding to the entertainment. We arrived to find West Coasters in swarms.
The small field of the marathon kicked off at 7.30am, with the half starting at 8am. Apparently there was a 10km and 5km fun run, I didn’t see them or who was participating.
Sean Falconer of Modern Athlete Magazine was his usual chirpy self on the mic at the start and finish, (though he STILL doesn’t know my name despite many interactions over the years, but he knows Naz! Pfft!).
The half kicked off with great a load of cheer down a short steep hill and out of the PPC factory grounds and on to the main road back towards the quint arty town of Riebeek kasteel, passing through the rather uglier Riebeek West on a route dominated by rolling hills that added to the challenge of the race. Zita and I ran together all the way from about 5km pacing a comfortable speed with lots of conversation and cheering other runners to make the time fly past faster, finishing at 2h15m with Thelma having joined us in the last few km’s.
We passed the long wait for our chauffeur Naz to finish with photo’s, selfies and chit chat with the many other West Coasters already finished. I filled a nagging gap with a boerie roll.
In all an enjoyable morning on the road. I only have one complaint – the old stuck record chant of the mess at water stations. This time the organisers to blame as there were quite a few water stations with NOT ONE bin. Many of us do try to run clean and simply refuse to drop our litter on the ground, but when no provisions are made for rubbish it is annoying and awkward. I carried my empty water sachets in my vest pouch but I dropped a cup at a water table and felt really bad for doing so. It’s really not fair to bang on at the runners all the time about litter and even depriving us of water at some races, yet at others the organisers simply don’t do their bit. Ironically Sean Falconer is the campaign leader for RunClean yet at a race he’s MC’ing there’s no bins.
That’s my contribution! Thanks to my team West Coast for many reasons to be a proud team member!
Here’s my pics. Feel free to add more in the comments below.
