What a Great Week for the Team

This week has been great for the Pennypinchers AR Team for various reasons. Firstly we have renewed our sponsorship relationship with Helly Hansen for this year. What this means is that we have been supplied with racing and training tops by the world leader in technical clothing for hot or cold weather. We now have only the best in this department. One cannot underestimate the importance of staying warm when it is cold,cool when it is hot and dry when it is wet. This balance can be the difference between winning a race and losing,finishing or retiring or even life and death in an emergency.

The second big plus came along with the sponsorship of race nutrition from GU. GU is what Hoover is to vac um cleaners in the energy gel market. GU now also has a full range of race nutrition options and we now have access top another brand leader in these products. We have the GU gels , the Electrolyte Replacement drinks and also the Energy Chomps to make sure we stay fully fueled during races and training.

With the news of these great deals putting wind in our sails Jeannette and myself headed down to Theewaterskloof Dam for the Quantum Adventures Tri Challenge. The race would start with a 10 km paddle on the huge dam ,then a 24km mountain bike leg through the apple orchards and on to the mountain behind Villiersdorp and finish with an 8km trail run again through the orchards and along the dam.



About 180 competitors took part in the race which had different categories allowing pairs and relay options as well as the solo entrants. We lined up for the start of the paddle looking around for the competition and also for strong paddlers who we could work with on the paddle leg. paddling would be our strongest leg so we knew we needed to have a good lead going into the next two legs. The paddle went well and we were the second boat off the water and with a quick transition were on to our bikes and heading along the edge of the dam. My legs were dead for the first twenty minutes of the bike due to a lack of brick session training . With some fun river crossings and sandy and muddy sections we finished the bike leg in 1hr 05. Another super quick transition saw us onto the final trail run. Jelly once again over took the legs for a bit as we wound our way through the apple trees and then along the waters edge back to the finish. With that leg taking about 36 minutes we were first in the Mixed Pairs category and second in the overall standings as well only 10 minutes behind solo winner Rory Cole from Cape Town.Our total time was 2hrs 34 min.


Well done to Jeannette who showed her huge racing experience and put her head down and went like the clappers for two and half hours in a race that was most probably 200km to short and three times to fast for the training we have been doing.

Mid May Weekend Fun and CX Press clues

With the year scooting past this weekend saw the Team spread out from Cape Town to The Crags.

Check out the new stadium WOZA 2010

Chris headed down to take up a prize of some luxury accommodation that he had one and got himself onto Table Mountain to do some training in between smoke salmon breakfasts and high teas.As always he was branded to the hilt.

Don't look down Che che

Jeff shed the Polly Shorts and lumo green running vest of the Knysna Marathon Club and headed thru to George to take part in the SA Cross Country Mountain Bike Champs. He pulled of a third place in his age group so found himself on the podium for a bronze medal.


Jeannette and I spent Saturday doing Mountain rescue Training with the SA Air force helicopters in the mountains behind The Crags. It gives one a great view of the mountains and some of the potential training runs and rides that we can do in the future. Sunday morning saw us doing a great multi sport session. We started with a hard surf ski paddle which a pod of dolphins cruised in to make sure the pace was right.We then rode up to the edge of the Knysna Forest and put in a quick run on Robberg. This in preparation for the Theewaterskloof Tri Challenge this coming weekend.


The Google feature in this weeks edition of the CX Press is the biggest man made body of water in the Plettenberg Bay area and would look completely different if you flew over the dam today.

Homtini Mountain Bike Race and a Run at Goukamma

With Tuesday the 27th of April being Freedom Day Netski took the opportunity to head out to the historic Goldfields area of Knysna and took part in the Homtini Mountain Bike Race a long standing favourite among local bikers. Jeff Wilcock was alos there along with a host of other multisporters making the most of the public holiday.

Netski wrote

"What a stunning cycle Homtini was it had everything district road, stunning forestry paths thru the natural forest and some nice and fast downhill single track and instead of being a 65km we scored an extra 5km as well making it a 70km mnt bike race thru the natural wonders of Knysna which to me is the forest. Being a holiday the race was well attended and the girl’s field was super competitive with two of the strongest mnt bike girls having come up for the weekend from the cape Hanniel Booyens and Tatum. Needless to say I was left in the dust but I’ve got an good excuses my good old back decided to cease up from 15km mark onwards so I would like to blame that for my 4th position!!!!!!…..I must say I did wish I wasn’t in so much pain because it is a stunning route and well worth it even with the two hills in-between without them we wouldn’t have such great downhill’s. That’s all for now over and out"


Saturday morning saw the old Team Knysna (the roots of PpART) join up for a run through the Goukamma Nature Reserve from Buffalo Bay to Groenvlei. Jeannette came along as did one of the party goers from a local 40th that I had mentioned the run to the night before.Chris as usual had a trick up his sleeve and added a stunning 5 km loop onto the run which meant I would definitely be scratching for water with my small bottle and one Gel. The run took us through Milkwood forests and over sand dunes and along the beach to Lake Pleasant where we were m by Gizzelle Crewdson and giving a well deserved lift to the Farmers Market for a great brekkie.
It was great to spend time with Hanno Smit and Christine and shoot the breeze while running thru another of the Garden Routes gems.

Choices Were Made

Having to work on Freedom Day meant that my choice for sport for the long weekend was going to be limited to the events on Saturday. Being into multi sport meant that I could make my choice first thing on Saturday morning between the George Marathons, and the off road events at Chandelier in Oudtshoorn. Before the sun rose on Saturday morning I made up my mind to do the 21 km trail run in the Chandeleir Game Reserve. I needed however to juggle some logistics in order to get my better half Dael out of bed and to the start of the mountain bike at Chandelier as well as pick up one of the guys who works for me and get him to the start of the Outeniqua half marathon in George.



Chandeleir is a great place for a trail run and mountain bike event and the harsh rocky Karoo terrain seemed a bit tamer in the early morning coolness that greeted us. The run started at a relatively tame pace and there was a group of 5 of us that headed up the first climb together. Trail runner supreme Cas Van Aaarden then had enough of the small talk and headed of into the distance and stayed there. Tatum Prins and I chatted a bit longer until the hill took its toll even on her endless babble of words. The route comprised of technical jeep track that just prevented you from looking up at the scenery run finished just before the heat of the day kicked in I came in in 5th place in a time of 1hr42 with the winners in on 1hr25 so all in all a good day in the Karoo.



The real story for me of the weekend unravelled itself when we got back to Wilderness and the finish of the Marathon and Half Marathon to pick up Slegazi and Besch from the Crags. These two had put in really great performances with Slegazi coming off a knee injury and running a 1hr30 half marathon and Besch coming 7th in the Marathon with a time of 2hr 47.That is all great but consider this: Besch left home at 2:ooam to hitch a lift to the start in George a distance of 140km. He only got a lift at 5:oo am. got to the start with 15 minutes to spare.What did he have for breakfast he shrugged his shoulders when I asked this question. Slegazi got a lift with me at 5:30am but also ran on an empty stomach (I gave him a bar and a Gu to run with).

The picture below is outside the Wimpy in Sedgefield where we stopped and bought the guys a Burger,chips and Coke ( The Cokes at the finish were R8-00 and to expensive for the guys!!!)

Aren't we spoiled for choice????

Spoilt for Choice by Lettuce

I received an email this week with a list of things we might complain about but in actual fact we should be grateful for. These two were particularly relevant to us .......

"FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD."

"FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE."

With these two things in mind it brings to the fact that we here on the Garden Route are spoilt for choice

1) Training venues : We have highlighted these in the CX Press with our "Where are they?" competition and this weeks shows another "gem" of a trail run . See the pics below

2)Training partners.The Garden Route has become know as the capital of Adventure Racers in the country and there is a group that has raced all over the world and now live on the Garden Route.

3) A variety of sports on the go at any time. Take for example this weekend 23 April . If you are not going to do the Iron Man in PE then you will have to choose between the following:

Mountain Bike Races at Chandelier Game Farm near Oudtshoorn from 10 to 55 km in length

Two Trail runs at Chandelier a 10 and 21 km

The Outeniqua Marathon and Half marathon which runs through the George forests and historic "Seven Passes " road.

And then the Homtini Mountain Bike race to finish off the weekend

And if none of that bites you can head of to one of the many hikes and mountain bike routes or lagoons and have some fun with friends and family.

Have a GREAT WEEKEND and make the most of where we live.