Nedbank Running Club Mpumalanga - LVCC Nelspruit: Running In Circles Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE

Loskop Race Report SA Track Champs Report Sudwala Race Report

Chairman's Chat

Dis hoe dit is…

Once again thank you so much to the Van Aswegen family for assisting us with the catering at Loskop.
· Congratulations to all those who ran Loskop, Two Oceans and various other races around the country.
· A huge thank you to Paul for organising the long run and to the support vehicles.

BUILD UP TO COMRADES
· Comrades photo – Time trial 8th of May. Photo will be taken at 17.20 before tt starts. Dress code Nedbank green, running kit only
· If you have not verified your qualifier times and license 2014 number to Comrades by the 6th of May 2014 you will be DQ as an entrant for this year’s rate. Please note that if you have not paid for your 2014 license and falsify information as to your qualifying times the Nedbank LVCC take immediate disciplinary action.
· Sunday 18th May we will have a run our Masvetsen challenge at Johan and Annetjie’s farm. This will be followed later in the morning with our Comrades Derby braai. Details of which we will release ASAP.
· Please note Nedbank will not be producing a special Comrade’s shirt for purchase this year. Our thoughts were to try and obtain sponsorship for a long sleeve dri- fit shirt for our runners this year but as yet there are no offers. We have at least 60 bona fida Nedbank LVCC runners who we would love to recognise with a shirt to mark the occasion. Any offers and suggestions are welcome but please bear in mind this is really time restricted and therefor urgent.

KIT

· We have put in a small order for large men’s vests and shorts and some medium square shorts too. If you have not ordered and paid via the forms on the blog by 8th May you will not have your kit in time for Comrades.
· A huge thank you to Chris at Mpumalanga Running Store for all his patience as we feel our way to dealing with our kit. Please all support Chris he has some great shoe deals.

COMMUNICATIONS · Congratulations to the communication pixies on reaching the 20000 hits mark on the blog.
· For those of you who take the time to visit the blog and most especially those who take the time to publish articles and photos – thank you.

As we wind down to the Comrades, keep warm, healthy and safe.

See you on the road!

Steve

Captain's Corner

By Paul Norman

WOW less than a month left before Comrades, can you believe how the time & the runs have flown by? Now is the time to relax your mind and prepare mentally for the big day, your mileage is finished and what you do now on the road will not help much on the day, so rather focus on quality runs to stay in shape and not any high mileage. Good luck to everyone.

We had our 50km club long run on 27th April, it was well supported and a great day & run was had by all, even though it was tough & hot it turned out to be perfect training. A BIG THANK YOU to Joe & Keith for driving the support bakkies, you did a sterling job & without your time & assistance we could not have had the run, THANK YOU !!!

Please keep a look out for info on the upcoming Masvetsen & derby events and volunteer your assistance where you can. If you are able to assist on Comrades day at the club support tables please let us know ASAP.

Stay safe, stay strong & believe

Paul

“Hills are our friends, so you can walk together if you want to”

Loskop Ultra Race Report

By Adriaan Du PLessis

My journey to the 29th edition of Forever Resort Loskop 50km started a week early as I was required by my employer to spend a week in Pretoria. It was impossible for me to get out on the road for that week. After a week of long working hours I could finally focus on the task at hand - a 50k race from Middelburg to Loskop Dam.

I knew that I needed a few extra hours of sleep the night before so I arranged with the De Beers to take my car down to Loskop the Friday afternoon in exchange that Helen can leave her car at my friend’s house and that they can catch a lift to the start. When everything was sorted I had the time to figure out my game plan for the next day.

Those who train with me know how precise I can be when it comes to race preparation. I was as ready as can be by bed time. The target: 4:45.

When my alarm went off at 04:40 I felt well rested and ready to go. The few extra few hours of sleep would come in handy. At that stage I knew that the last bus had already left Loskop and felt sorry for those runners that had to get up early to catch them.

It wasn't long before the LVCC crew pitched up. By crew I don't mean 2 or 3 people, 7 runners in total, all of them in the new Nike kit. The first obstacle of the day was to find out if 9 people would fit in a Land Rover Discovery. Well it turns out 9 runners do fit into a Land Rover but not with ease…

We made our way to the start, excited as always but no one comes the wait -the part that most runners hate. I knew in order to run a 4 hour 45 min pace I would have to incorporate a bit of walking as this was part of my Comrades training. Eddie approached me and asked me what my plan was for the day. With it being his first Ultra marathon he asked me if he could tag along and the arrangement was that if my plan doesn't suit him he should go for a better time. I guess the fact that I had an extra t-shirt that I handed to him to save him from the cold weather must have convinced him to rather stick with a slightly more experienced runner.

The 29th edition of Loskop was finally under way by 6am. 3 000 plus runners all excited to run from Middelburg to the more attractive surroundings of Loskop. The first 22km was quite boring but the weather was perfect. The water points are some of the best you will find at any race. I even helped myself to a few cocktail "boeries" at one water station.

From the post office tower the landscape changes a bit and the run gets a bit more exciting. We got to the bottom of Buggers Hill and at that moment I turned to Eddie and told him there’s no way I’m running all the way up Buggers Hill just to go down the other side and be another victim of Kranspoort. I spotted a tall green giraffe in the corner of my eye as we pulled out our walking legs and realised its champion power walker Helen Clarke. She passed us with ease and I thought to myself that I might ask her for some walking lessons in future.

When we got to the top of “Mount” Buggers Hill we were fresh and our legs felt great. On the descent I made the remark that we would catch most of the runners that were passing us on the downhill. Runners passed us in a free fall down to Kranspoort, a fierce decent which Venessa aptly renamed “Vulture Valley”. The beauty of the surroundings makes up for the potential pain this stunning area can inflict on runners. We were even fortunate enough to spot some game on the cliffs.

We got to the bottom fairly fresh and passed the marathon mark. Most of the runners that didn't respect the free fall down Kranspoort were suffering badly by now as the heat factor also started to kick in. We passed fallen runners by the dozen as we approached Varady's Hill. Our plan was to incorporate a few walking sessions going up Varady's Hill but got tired of this about half way to the top and pulled away with 1km left to the top of the hill. At this stage we felt more at home running up hill and decided to put the hammer down and do a bit of running.

The last 3 km flew by and we finished the race in a time of 4 hour 45 minutes and 48 seconds. I was satisfied with the way we paced ourselves and the how great we felt at the end and rewarded myself with a few beers and a double brandy and coke!

Next year will be the 30th Edition of this magnificent race and I would like to encourage more LVCC runners to participate in this great race next year.

Cheers,

Adriaan

SA Track Championships Report

By Folavio Sehohle

On Friday 11 April I ran the heats for 1500m and I finished in a tight 2^nd, both I and Jerry (1^st) ran 3:48:56. William ran his heat in the 800m and also finished 2^nd with a time of 1:48:68. Saturday was race day, and when the fireworks were expected. William took 5^th place in the 800m, it was a tactical boring race, and nobody was pushing. In my event I finished 3^rd, in very much the same race as the 800m.

I am humbled and appreciate the quality service provided by the Nedbank LVCC team. Both I and William would like to take this opportunity to thank the Nedbank team for the accommodation arranged and the money for food and travelling, this made our journey easier, as we didn’t have to worry about anything but our race and to produce good results.

We are very proud to be part of this Nedbank team, with the warm welcoming and good hospitality, once again, we really appreciate everything. Keep up the good work, and we wish the club and its members a lot of success. We would like to say a very special thank you to Mr. Paul Norman, who also sponsored us.

Its build up for me now, I have 4 more races in Norway before end of June and my last race will be in Ireland on the 7^th of August.

I will keep you updated.

Folavio

Sudwala Screaming Monster Race Report

By Cindy Brooks

Another year.....another "Screaming Monster" in the bag....

On Saturday 3rd May 2014, runners took to the road to tackle the Sudwala Caves half marathon...more commonly known as the "Screaming Monster"..

One of the more challenging half marathons here in the Lowveld with a very tough 2km climb up to the caves at the end of the race but that didn’t stop the runners from entering though....what a great turnout this year...runners coming from near and far to enjoy the beautiful scenery as well as tackling this difficult race!

Well done to all the green vests for taking part this year....everyone did very well and looked very snazzy in the new kit....definitely a standout from a spectator’s point of view!!!!