Cometh the hour....
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2005
1
81
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Trip End
Sep 20, 2006
Vaalwater, South Africa
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Jono had entered the 10km race along with WWS Youth Director Zach, and fellow volunteer (Prof) Paul. At the eleventh hour Jono was lent a far superior bike to ride the course by one of the event organisers - who had obviously taken one look at Jono's bike and probably decided that he didn't want to spend the next day walking the course looking for the bits that that fallen off en route...!
The 70km and 35km races left first, then the 10km riders powered off into the bush....
Leaving Anne on the finish line, Jono takes up the narrative:
Well, the moment had come, the day I'd been training for (not)
01 - Jono and Zach on the starting line...
. As the cyclists lined up I sized up the opposition - a mother and her 8 year-old daughter, an injured semi-pro cyclist, Zach (doing the 10km race due to catching a nasty cold a few days previously)... The event MC announced that the Fun Race was about to begin...Charging down the opening strait I manoeuvred myself into an early 2nd position behind Zach. We quickly caught up the 35km stragglers, negotiating obstacles such as torrents of water, stretches of sand, mud and rocks, and the ever present 2-inch long thorns that threatened punctures at every turn.
Confident of my 2nd place position I stuck close behind Zach awaiting the ideal overtaking opportunity when I would go full throttle, charging forward to first-place glory. Unfortunately the 35km stragglers were now becoming a problem, and with two women riders between myself and Zach I was struggling to overtake, whilst Zach was making serious ground...
After finally overtaking the two women, I powered ahead and glimpsed Zach one more time in the distance. I knew by now that I would have to settle for 2nd place. Moments later I heard a voice cry out 'Jono, you're almost there
02 - Zach and his WWS groupies
! You're third!'What!!!
Slightly confused, I continued at full speed towards the finish line, where Zach and his WWS groupies were celebrating his finish. The groupies quickly transferred themselves to me when I crossed the line, 43 minutes after starting. Amid the loud cheering, singing and dancing coming from Sister Mabel, Sister Violet, Christina, Sarikie, Jackie and Penkie, I spared a thought for the injured semi-pro cyclist who had come in first, his time so quick that no-one had noticed him come in, not expecting 10km cyclists for another 7 minutes at least!
And to the victor, the spoils!
Jono's prize: a Streetwise KFC Meal, a KFC T-shirt and KFC Cap. It's a shame the nearest KFC is 60km away in Nylestrom!
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A big big, HUGE thankyou to all of you who sponsored Jono in his feat of endurance...
We have raised a rather impressive sum of money, ALL of which will be going towards the Orphan and Youth Centre currently being built next door to the Hospice. When it's all in and counted we will post the total.
(and it's never too late to make a donation ;)
