Please note that this is the final communication to go out before this year’s race.

I would like to start by saying a huge thank you

To Mopani for the fantastic Comrades goodie bags. We appreciate your support as always.
Andrew for his brilliant contribution to our blog. Andrew you have been missed on the road but your words are responsible for inspiring, calming and informing your fellow club members. What you have done is put your experience into mentoring others and the time spent doing that is appreciated. Thank you.
To Beth for her effort put in at Masvetsen in working out the winners and to Beth and Lawrence for offering to take up the challenge of the 60km seconding station at Comrades.
To Keith for offering to man the 30km seconding station.
To Paul for having put up with all that goes into the club run programs leading up to Comrades.
To Toy for his "pixilations" on social media.
To all the club members who have participated in the journey that has led to the start line in PMB 2014.

All good wishes go to each and every one of our Comrades runners. Travel safely. Remember your shoes and your championchips!

But most of all remember to enjoy the whole experience and in the process hopefully achieve all you want to on the day.

Steve

Captain's Comrades Corner.

I was asked to give a little Comrades inspiration & motivation to our troops lining up in Pietermaritzburg this Sunday. It feels strange been asked to do this as I in no way see myself as a Comrades expert, this being my fourth Comrades still feels fairly new to me, such is this Comrades race.

From my own experience I can offer the following:

NOVICES: This is YOUR day, you can never re-live this day again, you only get one chance to have this feeling so make the very most of it. Enjoy the tear in your eye when Chariots Of Fire plays at the start, it still gets me every time. Soak up the atmosphere from the expo to the start & then along the route to the very end. My race tips are simple, start slowly & even slower, walk early & often, don’t stop for ANYTHING, keep moving forward always, you WILL go through bad periods everyone does, you will wonder why you are doing this everyone does, you will want to stop everyone does, you will say that you will never do this again everyone does - SEE YOU NEXT YEAR for your BACK-TO-BACK.

BACK-TO-BACK Runners: Now you are the Bridesmaid, not quite the same as last year but the route is new & totally different. Take comfort in the fact that you did this last year & finished, but now give it twice the respect you had for it before. You only have ONE crack at this so whatever you do make sure you finish, in fact the Novice tips should apply more to you this year. There will always be time to get Gold & Silver & Bill Rowans etc… but only this chance for the BACK-TO-BACK Medal.

REST OF THE PACK: Not much I can say to the rest of you besides “WHAT ARE YOU DOING ???” Yes I'm one of you & I know we have our own reasons to take on this challenge again & again & again …… by now you should know what you are doing, even though we never know how its going to go & what we will have to overcome on the day. I don’t think we will ever outgrow the Novice tips as Comrades is a race that must be respected & don’t ever think you have this race sorted.
Good luck to all the runners & thank you to all the supporters, travel safely & enjoy this special event.

Yours in Comradeship,

Paul

Comrades seconding stations and the finish.

We will once again have a hospitality marquee for all Nedbank Running Club members.

The Marquee will be situated on the Western bank of the stadium next to the main pavilion-Look out for the Nedbank gazebos and feather flags.

The above will be managed by Nedbank staff wearing Iwyze branded long sleeve t-shirts and we will be issuing 1 x food voucher and 2 drinks vouchers after the runners collected their medals. These vouchers will be exchanged for the respective meal and 2 drinks.

• Mutton or Chicken Curry in a large Roti and Salads. This will be served buffet style and will be served in polystyrene plates, serviettes and forks

• 2 drinks per person – 2 of the following: cool drinks (Sprite or Fanta), beer (Castle Lite or Hansa) or a Cider (Hunters Dry).

LVCC normally gather to meet friends and family near the Nedbank hospitality tent.

The 30km seconding point's co-ordinates:

29 deg 44min 10.25 sec S

30 deg 34min 46.15sec E

The 60km seconding point's co-ordinates:

29 deg 47 min 41.41 sec S

30 deg 47 min 51.52 sec E

Watch out for a Nedbank feather to mark it.

In the meanwhile 30km bags need to be at the club LVCC by lunchtime tomorrow (Wednesday) and for 60kms by time trial on Thursday

Please adhere to the following rules:

1) Ziploc or clear plastic packets with your name in permanent marker and Comrades number must appear on the items you wish to leave in the bag.

2) This must be handed in at time trial next Thursday 28^th May 2014.

3) No water/liquid unless in a can or fresh food will be accepted.

4) No bags will be accepted in PMB or Durban

The seconding point will have basic supplies of water/Vaseline/salt available for you BUT do not rely on this service. There are enough Comrades tables. The club points are purely an additional nice to have.

Muffin Run.

Helette and Pieter have kindly made their home available to the Wednesday morning runner group for the annual Muffin Run. Thanks to them for this. The run will start at 04:45 from Steiltes Spar to accommodate everyone’s working day.

Post Comrades Breakfast.

Monday 2^nd June Breakfast at La Spaggia Umhlanga Beach front next to Cabana Beach at 9am. Wear your Comrades shirt and NO matter how your day went come and celebrate/commiserate . Please bring your Comrades shirt for club photo!

Happy running!

Nedbank Running Club Mpumalanga - LVCC

0796917196 / lvccrun@gmail.com

Fax: 0865659058
Lowveld Country Club, Aurora Drive, Steiltes, Nelspruit
http://nedbank-lvccrunning.blogspot.com/