SAFETY SPECIAL
“My friend and I froze as they searched not
only our pockets, but our sports bras and
our underwear. They groped and grabbed
every inch of our bodies. In what I now know as a
survival instinct that can happen other than ‘fight
or flight’, my friend and I stood frozen. We only had
our car keys, and I had my cell phone. I also had
mace in my pocket. At one point I had my hand on
it, but in better judgement gave it over rather than
aggravate one or both of them.”
“I still don’t understand how it all happened, and am
grateful we got away safely. On our way down the
mountain, we came across other women, running on
their own. The first had a running belt with her phone
and she called a contact who worked for mountain
rescue to alert them. We told the other women to
turn around. The SANParks ranger was already there
when we got down and was incredibly proactive.”
This devastating experience has taken Claire
off the trails she loves, but she hopes to return,
in time. When she does, she says it will be with
him, maybe he was asking for the time, so I went right up to him, and only then
did I register that he was brandishing a huge rock in my direction.”
“Something happened in my head. I roared at him repeatedly that I would kill
him if he took one step closer, and I think I did something similar to the New
Zealand Haka. I’m not sure exactly how long this went on for, but I roared so
hard that my throat hurt for days. He kept coming at me, and I kept roaring/
Haka-ing, and there was eventually a weird Mexican standoff. At some point
I also picked up a rock, because I wasn’t sure how long I could maintain the
upper hand with just my voice. I sort of registered through my rage that if he
was going to crush my skull, he would have done so by now, so I started to
back away, still roaring/haka-ing/brandishing, and eventually I turned and
started jogging away.”
S
easoned multi-sport athlete, Kim van Kets has a rather refreshing take on
the safety issue. “I have run for 30 years on every beach, jeep track and
path I can find, often alone. Not once in all this time have I experienced
anything other than kindness, humanity and goodwill from everyone I have
met. Until a year ago. I was just finishing my last long run with a heavy pack in
preparation for the Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon and I was running alone
on deserted farm roads early in the morning. As I was approaching a crossroads,
a guy approached running from the opposite direction and we both turned and
started running down the same road. We were moving at a similar pace, so I
greeted him, commented on the weather and overtook him.”
“A while later he overtook me and this happened a couple of times. Every
time we passed each other I engaged with him. I found him non-threatening, I
registered that he had a pleasant face, I felt no fear or anxiety at his presence.
After about 2km he pulled off the road, and as I approached him he came
towards me and said, ‘Give me your cell phone!’ I thought I must have misheard
30
Spar Women’s Challenge | Joburg’s Most Beautiful Road Race
“I was lucky, but so was he. I don’t know what would have happened if he had
tried to hurt me, but I think he would have come off second best. I don’t think
he was a hardened criminal, and I actually felt rather a lot of compassion for
him afterwards. I think he was quite young, not more than 18. I bumped into
my husband about 2km down the road and we went to look for him, because I
had a strong sense that he needed someone to tell him that he had crossed a
line that day, and that he needed some
guidance. I didn’t find him, though, and I
regret that. Anyway, from now on he will
hopefully realise that not all middle-aged
ladies are necessarily easy targets.”
“I also realised after the incident that
having a pepper spray or taser in your
bag is a total waste of time. If you have
a weapon, it must be in your hand. Also,
cross the road, smile and wave. Don’t
engage or go up to someone. I have not
changed my running habits at all, but
I do have a plan now in case I need it,
and it involves speed, aggression and
surprise.”
courtesy
A
few months ago, Claire-Louise Worby and
a friend were accosted on the contour path
above Cape Town’s beautiful Newlands
Forest, close to the turnstile. “Whilst running along
the single track, we came across two men who
were dressed in smart and appropriate walking
gear. They looked very much like two walkers
enjoying the trail. Upon approach, the first man
passed us as we stood aside to let them walk past
on the single track. We even greeted each other
politely as he walked past first myself and then my
friend, but when the second man came up, they
closed in on us. They calmly said, ‘Ok, we will kill
you. Give us what you have.’”
“When they took the keys and my phone, they
insisted we must have more – they wouldn’t accept
that my friend didn’t have her phone. The one
man was holding me by the back of my running
vest as the one who had been searching my friend
suggested, ‘Let’s just rape them.’ In a haze, I recall
my friend saying to them that they had everything,
whilst I peeled myself out of the zip-up running vest
that the man was holding and we just ran.”
large groups only. She adds that she has found
the trauma counselling at the Rondebosch Police
Station to be of huge help. And her advice centres
on the small, practical choices we can all make:
“Don’t run with anything that will attract someone,
like headphones. I’m still on the fence about
self-defence things like pepper spray, though.
Now, when I run on my own on the road, I arm
myself with pepper spray, but I think there is a
time and place for defending yourself. I know that
giving up your personal belongings is far less of
a sacrifice then getting into a heavy altercation.
In my situation, an aggressive move could have
jeopardised my own and my friend’s safety.”