15 May '17: ATC Weekly

 

New Balance Visit – Knysna Big 5 – Comrades Talk - Unogwaja

Jan Van Rooyen, a Comrades, Ironman and ultra endurance veteran, who has done eight Comrades Marathons and earned a silver at six of these, will be visiting us on Wednesday, the 24^th of May, to give a talk on the race, offer some tips and answer questions you may have about the event.

 

This is a 10 day, 1660 Kilometre cycle from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg, followed by the Comrades Marathon on the 11^th day.  This journey was inspired by Phil Masterton-Smith, whose nickname was “Unogwaja” meaning hare in Zulu.  In 1933, Masterton-Smith lived in Cape Town and could not afford the train fare to Pietermaritzburg for the start of the Comrades Marathon. So got on his bike and cycled there.

 

Piet Viljoen and Miguel Netto will be taking part in the Unogwaja Challenge and are raising funds for The Light Fund, which states its mission as:  “The Light Fund generates financial support for community based organisations in South Africa, which focus specifically on education, skills development and most critically on ensuring that the responsibility and action lies with the people being supported and at no point does the support take this responsibility and accountability away.  Empowerment and self reliance is at the core of each of the organisations that are supported by the Light Fund and become known as Unogwaja Lights.”

For more details and to donate, please visit:  http://unogwaja.com/

 

John Cleophas will be doing this year’s Comrades in aid of one of the six official AmaBeadiBeadi charities, PrinkDrive, in an attempt to raise awareness of breast cancer.  To view John’s Race4Charity profile and to donate, please visit:  https://secure.onreg.com/onreg2/personal/profile.php?eventid=3361&recordid=16589

SWIM:  The canal swim will be on Saturday afternoons at 14:00. 

 

BIKE:  On Thursday morning, at 05:30, we will do a road bike ride from Point Virgin Active.

We will do a long ride on Saturday, starting from the Point Virgin Active at 07:00.

 

RUN:  We will have a Track session on Tuesday at 06:00.  On Wednesday is the Justin Bieber concert at the stadium so we will do an interval session at Clifton 4^th Beach, at 18:00.

 

On Sunday is the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN starting in Milnerton and finishing in the City centre.  We are looking forward to a great run and the ATC Gazebo will be set up in the club area on Bree Street.  Embark will make a longer run of it and will run to the start and then do the race.  The group will start from the CTICC at 06:45 for an easy run to Milnerton, to arrive there comfortably ahead of the 09:00 race start.  All ATC members are welcome to join.  Please arrive at the CTICC by 06:30 for briefing and final plans.

 

The Cross Country League is now well under way with the second event in the series taking place in Atlantis on Saturday.  ATC Running is again well represented this year with ATC Development putting 35 young runners through the league.

 

For more information on these and other events taking place this coming weekend, please follow the links provided below:

 

Event Name	Date(s)	Type	Venue
Willow Creek MT Bike Fun Ride	Saturday, 20. May 2017	Mountain Bike	Willow Creek Estate, Nuy Valley
Jonkershoek Mountain Challenge‎ RUN	Saturday, 20. May 2017	Trail Run	Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch
Dirtopia Amarider 100 Miler MT Bike Ride	Saturday, 20. May 2017	Mountain Bike	Malmesbury
Cross Country Run - League 2	Saturday, 20. May 2017	Cross Country	Atlantis
Leipzig Country House Trail Run	Saturday, 20. May 2017	Trail Run	Leipzig Country House, Nuy Valley, Worcester
FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN	Sunday, 21. May 2017	Road Run	Milnerton to Ci
Two Oceans Beast Ultra Trail Run	Sunday, 21. May 2017	Trail Run	Lion’s Den, Old Zoo, Rhodes Memorial

The BIG5 Challenge takes place in early July as part of the Knysna Oyster Festival.  It is a unique multisport challenge, with 5 events taking place over, which will quite likely be, the best 10 days of your winter.  The BIG5 Challenge team listened to requests made in 2016 and now have:

(a)     Great travel packages available

(b)     A staggered payment plan for both entry fees and accommodation packages!

 

Not sure what it’s all about?  The BIG5 organising team will join us after our track session on Wednesday, 24 May, at the Green Point Cricket Club, to run through the 2017 event highlights.  Join us for a drink and come prepared with any and all questions you might have about the competition and individual events.

 

Enjoy the week!

ATC