TRAIL RUNNING
AFRICANX Fun and Inspiration
While Juan van Deventer and the other elites were focused on the racing at the front end of the field at the THIRSTI AFRICANX , many others in the field were just out to enjoy themselves on the trails . This event has always had a wonderful feel-good vibe , but this year the mood was definitely affected by the year-long lockdown and the lack of racing opportunities it has brought . Here are some of the standout stories from three days of awesome running .
Bring the Credit Card !
One team that decided to immerse itself in the Cape ’ s rich wine-making heritage during this AFRICANX was Team Johnny Walker .
Even though Allan Smith and Johan Grassman had named their team in honour of the whisky they were drinking at the time of entering , they also decided that some mid-race wine sounded like a good idea , to help keep them going . With stage two starting at the Wildekrans Wine Estate and then going through the winery a second time after the initial 18km loop , they decided to take along the credit card and stop for a quick wine-tasting . ( They couldn ’ t do it before the start , as wine-tasting rooms don ’ t open that early !)
The second refreshment station and vibe point was back at Wildrekrans , so having had a sandwich and boiled potato – to line the stomach a bit – they pulled up some chairs in the wine-tasting room and tried four of the wines on offer . Once done , Johan presented his credit card to pay for their tasting , only to find that the winery ’ s credit card machine was not picking up any signal . Thankfully , Johan had nearly forgotten
First inductees of ClubX
This year ’ s AFRICANX , which was the 11 th edition of the event , saw a new tradition started with the introduction of ClubX , to recognise those athletes who have completed the event 10 times . The first two athletes to be presented with their limited edition ClubX caps were Adnaan Mohamed and Nicholas Rupanga ( who also celebrated his birthday during the event ). Both finished their 10 th now in 2021 .
the credit card , and had to run back to his tent just before catching the bus to the start , so he had simply grabbed his entire wallet , which meant that he had some cash on him …
However , he only had R200 notes , and the tasting room did not have enough change on hand – they had just opened , after all – so Johan and Allan were standing around , waiting for change , when vibe point commentator Sean Falconer noticed them . Being long-time friends of the two , Sean offered to keep their change when it came , and thus allow them to get running again . The wine obviously didn ’ t impair their running , or their ball skills , as the two ran the whole of day three – Dress-up Day – in Springbok rugby jerseys , passing a rugby ball to each other !
Adnaan Mohamed
Team Johnny Walker
Nicholas Rupanga
Living Up to the Team Name
Team We Got the Runs
One of the fun traditions at AFRICANX is teams coming up with fun names when they enter , and this year once again saw some great ones . While some teams lived up to their names , like The Lost Girls who managed to finish last on each of the three days , the team that undoubtedly ‘ lived their brand ’ to the extreme was Team We Got The Runs .
Blake Dyason and Tiaan Botha came up with the name when entering because both had picked up a tummy bug , and loved the word-play on the word Runs . Little did they know that come stage two of the event , that both would once again be suffering a bit out on the trails with similar symptoms … to the extent that Tiaan eventually had no choice but to resort to using his official event buff as emergency loo paper .
Thankfully , the organisers heard about this , so at the prize-giving that evening the two were called up on stage , and presented with five more race buffs . For just in case they literally lived up to their team name again on stage three !
We ’ ll Bring Some Wine
Conrad Meyer and Glanville Retief , powered by Pinotage !
The Pinotage Plodders , Conrad Meyer and Glanville Retief , managed to secure themselves a sponsorship from the South African Pinotage Association , and thus proceeded to ‘ carbo-load ’ on healthy amounts of red wine in the lead-up to the race . They also made sure to carry a flask of pinotage with them on each stage , so that they could toast another great run in style , and this led to a unique wine-tasting experience on day three at the second refreshment point .
Having told Modern Athlete editor and AFRICANX commentator , Sean Falconer , about their wine sponsorship , they then promised that they would bring him some wine at his vibe point out on the route . When they arrived at the refreshment station , they duly took a flask and three carefully wrapped glasses out of their backpacks , and poured three healthy shots of pinotage for Sean and themselves – and it was all captured on the video to the right !
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