Author: Modern Athlete

I have always loved sport and was active in school rugby and cricket. I also loved golf, tennis and squash, and did a lot of weight training, cycling, swimming, and running. I enjoyed feeling fit and strong, and would take on any physical challenge, even if it was reckless. Then tragedy struck…

During my second year of dental studies at the University of Witwatersrand, just a month before my twentieth birthday, I fell through a gym hall roof during a midnight student prank. My life, which seemed so carefree and good, came crashing down. I lay on the cold floor, paralysed from the chest down, my spinal cord severed. I wondered what would become of me. I lost 15kg in less than a week, as my once fit and muscular lower body became literally skin and bones.

NEW BEGINNINGS
Three gruelling and painful months of rehabilitation followed, but during that time I met with Christ in a new and exciting way. Instead of feeling hopeless and depressed, I had a new sense of purpose and inner strength which can only come from him. My parents and two brothers were a tremendous support to me. I found a joy, a peace and a hope, which are still with me 29 years later. Although physically life became harder and more challenging, yet inwardly I grew as a person, emotionally and spiritually.

Miraculously, four years later I graduated as the first paraplegic dentist, ironically to a standing ovation. Student life was very busy and the only sport I did was swimming, as well as regular exercise by walking with crutches and callipers… I really missed playing golf and tennis, and thought I would never be able to play them again.

LIFE IN MALAWI
After graduating, I got married to Julia and we went to train as missionaries. We enjoyed swimming and kayaking, touring several rivers. We went to Malawi for 10 years where, with our team, we translated the Sena Bible. It was a challenge living in a third world country in a wheelchair, but it was where I was encouraged to try playing golf again, which I have now been playing from my wheelchair for nearly 20 years. I won the SA Disabled Open Golf Championship in 2003 and 2009, and also won the 2010 Masters Handigolf Competition in the UK.

I became chronically ill in Malawi due to recurring Malaria, resulting in severe kidney damage. I was advised to return to South Africa to have one of my kidneys and my bladder removed in 2001. Through much prayer, second opinions, and a decision I made to do regular swimming and wheelchair exercise, the surgery was not done and over a period of a year, my kidney function returned to normal. I swam the Midmar Mile open water swim in 2003, completing it in 48 minutes.

LIFE IN TANZANIA
With renewed health we moved to Morogoro, Tanzania, which is a high-risk malaria and typhoid area. I got malaria another five times, but I am passionate about Bible translation, and am willing to take on the risk of ill health for the sake of bringing God’s word to marginalised groups. I have an eternal perspective on my life, and believe that eternity is worth any sacrifice! In the five years we lived in Tanzania I swam regularly and played golf a least once a week, which I believe boosted my health. We started 10 full-scale Bible translation projects in the five-year period, and handed the work over to nationals before returning to South Africa in 2009. My wife, daughter, son, and I all swam the Midmar Mile again in 2009. A few months later, I took up the post of the CEO of The Word for the World Bible Translators Charity in UK.

TAKING UP HAND CYCLING
My brother, Ivor, and his son, who was a professional cyclist for a year, suggested I take up hand cycling as a sport in the UK. Hand cycling on the dirt roads of Malawi and Tanzania was never an option! During one of my trips to Durban, Ivor arranged a trial ride on a friend’s hand bike on the Durban beachfront. All went well until we returned to our car after the ride to find no car… and no wheelchair… they had been stolen and were never recovered. Not the perfect end to my maiden voyage on a hand cycle!

So, after being in England for one year (and battling to get into indoor swimming as a sport), I met a friend who somewhat jokingly suggested that I do a fundraiser of 1000 miles on a hand cycle. The idea started to take shape as a potentially good fundraising tool for my work as CEO, so I soon found a reasonably priced second-hand hand cycle, and on 5 January 2011 started my first training ride ever. There was still snow on the ground, but how I enjoyed riding! Within minutes of starting a ride, I would soon warm up and could go for miles, even in freezing conditions. I no longer felt like a shut-in, and I could start enjoying the outdoors again – even in winter! My wife and I started with two-hour rides, covering about 15 miles four times a week. After two months this grew to three-hour rides of about 25 miles. We managed a few 40-mile rides in five hours after six months of training, so I began to feel I could manage the daunting 1000-mile challenge of Land’s End to John O’Groats.

WHEELS FOR THE WORD
Months went into planning the trip: Starting and stopover points for each day (taking distance and gradient into account), accommodation, support vehicles, speaking venues to promote our work, interviews with the press, including radio and TV stations, and looking for sponsors to back the ride, which we called Wheels for the Word. I only had two training rides with other hand cyclists. One experienced hand cyclist took me for a ride in Bedfordshire, which is flat countryside, and he gave me a few tips on technique. I also did a 30-mile hand cycle with eight other hand cyclists from Kidlington to Stoke Mandeville, the home of the Paralympics. I tried my best to keep up with the race leader, but eventually fell behind – only to discover later he had a power-assisted hand cycle. Little wonder that I achieved my best ever average speed of 11 miles per hour on that ride!

We knew that Cornwall and Scotland were infamously hilly, so were glad to spend two weeks training in hilly Somerset before the epic ride. One big dampener for me was that just two nights before our start on 8 August, I discovered a pressure sore on my behind, due to the heavy hill training – the first I had ever had in 29 years! I got some dressings for it and kept a close eye on the sore, and thankfully it did not get worse on the ride.

STARTING OUR JOURNEY
On 8 August, with fair weather, we made our start from Land’s End. I was very excited that my 15-year-old son, Timothy, was joining Julia and I on the ride. He had only done three training rides with us, so we hoped he could make the distance. A friend from London also joined us for the first two weeks. My daughter, who undertook to do a daily blog, and my younger son were to ride in the support vehicle. What a pleasure to do a trip like this with my family!

The first day of 40 miles from Land’s End to Truro went well, but the second day to Camelford was agony. My left shoulder felt like a knife was lodged in it! I had notions of giving up, but after lunch and some anti-inflammatories, I reached Camelford. The first three days presented the most challenging hills (climbing 6600 feet in total). The next several days were long, but went smoothly. The Shap Fell hill in the Lake District on Day 12 was a huge 1200 foot climb, but what an exhilarating downhill on the other side! My brother and his wife flew out from Durban to ride the last week with us. The Scottish Highlands lived up to their name. The hills seemed to go on forever, but the spectacular scenery made up for the hills and rain!

We were elated to cross the finishing line together. I completed the 1000 miles from end to end of Britain by hand in 23 days! We averaged 50 miles per day, six days a week, resting every seventh day, and speaking in various churches about the reason for my trip, to mobilise greater support for the remaining 2200 marginalised people groups in the world, who as yet don’t have any literature in their language, let alone even one verse of the Bible! We also spoke at midweek meetings almost every night, emphasising the fact that these marginalised groups are disabled through poverty, illiteracy and lack of education. The funds we raised will help The Word for the World to work among these marginalised groups, doing language development, literacy and Bible translation.

I climbed a total of 34 500 feet, which is 5000 feet higher than Everest! I have climbed my mountain, and I have had to dig deeper than before, and have found God is always there. I am sure I will embark on another adventure – in fact, with God every day is an exciting adventure. To my disabled friends, I say get out there, you can do more than you think is possible. Life is for the taking! Each of us has our own particular mountain or challenge to overcome, but through determination and passion, we can not only achieve our own dreams, but also be involved in helping others, perhaps less privileged than ourselves, to achieve their dreams!

If you would like more information about The Word for the World’s Bible translation and literacy work, please log onto www.twftw.org.

On 21 June this year, less than a month after winning his third consecutive Comrades Marathon, Stephen Muzhingi received news that he had been waiting months to hear and made him grab his phone and ‘tweet’ “Hot news! Just got confirmation that I have been invited to run the New York Marathon, a dream come true. NY, NY – Gonna eat a big apple!”

Only the world’s top elite marathoners are invited to run New York each year – everybody else has to try to get one of the highly prized entries, with thousands upon thousands turned away each year. But thanks to the persistent efforts of his manager, Craig Fry, who had been negotiating with the New York Road Runners (NYRR) since January to secure Stephen’s elite invite, he will be lining up at the front of the race on 6 November.

“I have never had the speed to qualify for this status, but since winning three Comrades, I have been included. I have a sub-2:20 marathon time but have never really raced a marathon properly, so this will be a true test for me. My aim is to run a 2:10 or faster, which I know I can do, and all I can say is thank you to NYRR for the invitation, and to Craig for making this happen for me.”

RUNNING FOR MOM
Stephen was due to run in Switzerland in September, but had to cancel those plans when his mother fell seriously ill. Sadly, she passed away a few weeks later. Stephen says it was very hard to lose her, and he wants to run New York in her memory. “My family sacrificed a lot for me to get to where I am now, so it is sad that she won’t be able to see me run my first race outside of Africa. But I will give my best for her.”

“My training took a back seat while she was so sick, but I was in decent shape already, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Also, I ran at a high pace for a longer period than I would normally in this year’s Comrades, because I was making sure Fanie Matshipa did not get away from me, so I know I have the stamina to run 42.2km a higher pace.”

GOING FOR FOUR
After New York, Stephen says his focus will return to the Comrades, where he will be chasing a fourth consecutive win in 2012. The only other runners ever to manage more than three wins in a row are Arthur Newton (four) and Bruce Fordyce (eight), and Stephen is aiming to join this select club, but he also has his sights set on another goal. “Most of all, I want to break the Down Run record. In 2009 I ran the second-fastest time ever, 5:23:27, and the record is Leonid Shvetsov’s 5:20:49 from 2007. I know I have it in me to do it.”

In 2008, a couple of friends got together to ride the 94.7 Cycle Challenge in memory of Jessica Madison Bain, a friend’s daughter who had passed away from cancer, and they decided to dress up in cow suits to draw more attention to their drive to raise funds for cancer research and care. However, none of them realised that their ‘small’ fundraising effort would eventually grow into raising millions of rand for the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation.

In their first year of fundraising, they raised R230 000, followed by a massive R2.4 million in 2009. This grew to a whopping R3.6 million last year, and since the charity was started, close to R7 million has been raised. In the process, the CHOC Cows also extended their initial cycling endeavours to various other gruelling sporting events, including the Comrades Marathon, the Absa Cape Epic and the Otter Trail run. Some of the crazier cows even climbed Kilimanjaro and cycled the Alps in Cow gear!

“Comrades was an awesome experience, four guys in Cow suits created an enormous amount of exposure for our cause and the support and enthusiasm along the route was something to behold!” says Richard Laskey, one of the founding members of the Cows. “The Otter Trail Run was a privilege to be a part of and probably the toughest event of the year, through some of the most majestic settings in our beautiful country.”

Another big event for the Cows in 2011 was the Pick n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour, where they were supported by the JB Express, a group of about 200 cyclists from Cape Town that were riding in memory of their friend who died from cancer. The JB Express had their own T-Shirt design, but incorporated CHOC’s Cowprint pattern. Together the Cows and the JB Express were able to raise enough money to buy a Toyota Quantum for CHOC.

“I don’t think any of us ever thought it would grow as it has done. It’s just amazing what can be accomplished by normal, everyday people. I think that there are so many people out there who would love to make a difference and get involved, but they just aren’t sure how to do it,” says Richard.

SPOTTING THE COWS
These days you can find people in Cow gear at many of the popular cycling and running events across the country. The herd has grown from an intial six Cows in 2008, to 132 in 2009 and 270 in 2010. As of the end of September 2011, there were 250 registered Cows, including almost 20 kiddies! And more cows are registering every day, a clear sign that more and more athletes are realising that while participating in the sport that they love, they can at the same time make a difference in the lives of those who need it most.

The Cows’ fundraising target for the 2011 Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge is R4.3 million. The money will firstly go into refurbishing the paediatric oncology wards of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. “In addition, we are going to buy Cow Awareness Busses that will travel the rural areas and raise awareness of the warning signs for childhood cancer. If diagnosed early, up to 80% of childhood cancer cases can be cured!” says Richard.

WANT TO BE A COW?
It’s simple, just join the herd! Or get your friends, family and kids to join the herd! Registering is VERY easy, just enter your details on www.thecows.co.za and the CHOC Cows will be in touch shortly thereafter! Otherwise you can make a donation through www.thecows.givengain.org. For further information, please contact [email protected].

The main driving characters behind the Cows are Kerrin Bain, Steve Bunyard, Karyn Davey, Tanya Genis, Richard Laskey, Steven Proudfoot, Alberto Riccardi, Roberto Riccardi, Cordi van Niekerk, Grant Bain and March Bainbridge. And they say the journey as Cows over the last three years has meant a lot in their lives. “Probably the most significant thing is, that we have met and made the most awesome mates along this journey, which although it had an extremely sad beginning, has grown and inspired so many others to have faith, hope, humility and fun, and to remember to love living life! Everybody has just one chance at living life, so join the Herd to be a voice for those that can’t be heard and have fun whilst making a significant difference!”

At the end of September, a tall, thin runner wearing the blue and white of Western Province and a determined look lined up in the 6km race for men aged 60 to 64 at the SA Cross-Country Champs in Bloemfontein. Awie Veldsman was there to defend the national title he won in 2010, and he expected to see his usual rivals, the “Two Mikes,” alongside him – Mike Hirst from Central Gauteng and Mike Du Bruto of Gauteng North. Instead, he found himself being challenged by Eric Quibell of KwaZulu-Natal in a tactical race that went right down to a final sprint, with Awie winning in 23 minutes and 50 seconds and Eric crossing the line two seconds later.

“I had never run against him before, so didn’t know what to expect, but relied on my sprint speed to win it,” says Awie. “One of the guys had opened a big gap on us in the first lap, but I decided to let him go because I thought he would fade and come back to us. In the second lap we caught him and then I just did enough to stay ahead of Eric and save something for the finish. Then with 100 metres to go I kicked.”

Awie was delighted to retain his title, but says he felt the pressure. “The guys know me now and everyone wants to beat you when you’re the champion. At national level, the grandmaster category is very competitive these days, because more top runners are staying in the sport longer, having built up years of experience, so it’s the guy with the strongest mind that will win. And we always have the mind games, talking about how unfit or tired we are!” laughs Awie. “But despite being so competitive, we get along very well, and no matter the result, we always shake hands and wish each other well after a race. So after the race in Bloemfontein, I chatted to Eric and he said he’d come to the Champs to win gold, so now he’s looking forward to the rematch in Durban next year.”

SPORTING GENES
Born in Worcester and raised in the Strand, where he worked for Somkem and Denel, Awie (61) is now retired and still living in the Strand, with all six sisters and three bothers living nearby. He says that his sporting genes are very much a family trait. “My grandparents and parents were sporty, as were all my brothers and sisters. Three of my sisters were good sprinters, with Elizabeth earning Western Province colours. Another sister, Miena, made the national Proteas netball side, in the days of segregated sport, and played against England.”

“I began running at school and held numerous records in the 100m and 200m sprints. I also played wing in rugby, and after school I continued to play for the St Georges club in Strand, where I won many club prizes and was selected for zonal teams. But running was always my big interest, and when I gave up rugby just before I turned 30, after a collarbone injury, I took up running again. I was also motivated by the fact that my sister had provincial colours and I didn’t… yet.”

RUNNING SUCCESS
Awie joined Helderberg Harriers in 1979 and still proudly runs in the club’s distinctive red and white stripes, but says he was never a prodigious racer. “I usually only did five or six races a year, choosing the ones I wanted to do well in and concentrating on training the rest of the time, but I always did all the cross-country races.” He earned Western Province (WP) colours for the first time in 1984, going to the SA Half Marathon Champs, and went to another three 21km Champs and two 15km Champs while still running in the senior category. He was also selected for the WP Cross-country team for the SA Champs for the first time in the mid-80s and has been selected every year since then! “I only missed one or two SA Champs due to illness or injury, but I was always selected for the team.”

In 1988 Awie won bronze in the sub-veteran (35-39) age category at SA Cross-Country Champs, and when he reached the veteran ranks (40-49), he was a regular podium finisher at provincial and national cross-country champs, but a national title still eluded him. When he moved up to the master category (50-59), he regularly won not only the WP Cross-country Champs title, but also the provincial road titles for 10km, 15km and 21km. Then in 2007 he made it to the top step of the podium when he won the 55-59 category at the SA Cross-country Champs, and a year later added another bronze to his collection.

But it was in 2010 that Awie really reached his ‘golden years’ in terms of running, and he says the last two years as a grandmaster have been the highlight of his running career. In 2010 he won the WP and SA 10km titles, as well as the WP and SA Cross-country titles. And now in 2011 he has done even better, retaining the provincial and national titles at 10km and cross-country, and also adding the SA Half Marathon title!

IN IT TO WIN IT
After all these years, Awie says he still loves running. “When I can’t run, I feel like I have missed out on something, but I actually don’t train that much, just do quality work, so I am never overtrained.” He attributes his success not just to fitness and natural speed, but to strength of mind. “I like to watch other runners, so I can quickly sum the other guys up, find their strong points or weaknesses with a bit of surging, which tells me if I can beat them. And the tougher the race and stronger the competition, the more I like it. I don’t like just running to finish, I want to race hard! Then you know that when you get a medal, you really had to work for it. That is so much more satisfying.”

When I hear the words “family holiday,” I conjure up images of a road trip with four arguing siblings crammed into the back of an old Mercedes, biltong sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs next to the road, and two parents on the verge of giving their kids up for adoption when they finally arrive at the overnight stop. This is not the Van Kets family’s idea of a family holiday, though.

They recently returned home after covering 6 772km in 148 days on foot, bike and canoe. The expedition, called Tri the Beloved Country, began and finished in their home town of East London and went all around South Africa. Kim ran a total of 2 409km, cycled 3 748km and paddled 615km to set a new record for the fastest human-powered journey around South Africa and raise money for the Carel du Toit Centre in East London, where deaf children are taught to speak. All this with her husband, Peter and five-year-old daughter, Hannah in tow.

AN IDEA IS BORN
The Van Kets family are no strangers to adventure. Mom, Kim has been a runner for almost 20 years and the medals on her wall include Comrades and Two Oceans ultra medals, as well as numerous other road races. However, it was when she discovered trail running that she really found her niche and in the last two years she has completed the 250km Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon, the Rhodes Ultra-marathon, the Amatola 100km and the Baviaanskloof Marathon, while she was the first woman home in both the Addo Elephant 100 Miler and the 270km Transkei Ultra from Port St Johns to East London.

Dad, Peter spends more time on the water and is a South African champion body boarder, certified yacht master and ocean rower. He also won the Cross-Atlantic rowing race with partner, Bill Godfrey in 2007 before becoming the first man from Africa to row across the Atlantic Ocean on his own.

Kim explains that she wanted to show her daughter with this expedition that motherhood should not prevent her from achieving her aspirations. “You know how it is, women are not very good at inconveniencing anyone in pursuit of their dreams and I wanted to demonstrate to Hannah that she CAN do so one day. Achieving one’s dreams is not the exclusive domain of dads and both Pete and I wanted to show her this with my expedition.” All that was left was to find an expedition big enough to do this and the idea for Tri the Beloved Country was born.

“My husband has rowed across the Atlantic Ocean twice. The expeditions took him 50 days and 76 days, so I had a huge credit balance and wanted to do something big, so I initially started looking at possible races. The longest one I could find was only about 700km, which seemed a bit naff and wouldn’t put a dent in my balance. I started thinking about running around South Africa, but realised it would take too long, so I decided on three disciplines to speed things up a bit.”

FROM DREAM TO REALITY
“The idea started brewing in 2008 and for a long time it wasn’t much more than a dream. I started planning and preparing physically in about June 2010, approximately nine months before I set off. The plan was to run along the coast from East London to Mozambique, covering a marathon a day, then cycle the inland border (100km a day) until I reached the southern border of Namibia, where I would kayak (50km a day) until I reached Alexander Bay. I would then run from Alexander Bay, via Cape Town, back home to East London.”

Of course, the logistics involved in the trip were immense and Kim wasn’t planning on doing this alone, something which made it a tad more difficult. “I could never have been away from my daughter for five months, so I had no option but to have the family come along. My support team consisted of my husband, a gap year student, Kirsty Borbely, and Hannah, but in actual fact, Kirsty, Peter and I were Hannah’s support team! Despite the fact that it was amazing sharing the experience with Hannah and Peter, it made it infinitely harder. There was no rest, as the moment I was done running, cycling or paddling for the day, I had to go into mom mode. My standards were also much higher because of Hannah being there, such as what we ate and where we stayed, and it all became more complicated. One constantly worries about malaria, sunburn, tick bites, home schooling and the fact that she had very little interaction with other children for weeks at a time. It was very hard to focus and be single-minded, but fortunately women are pros at juggling!”

THE EXPERIENCE
Despite all the difficulties and hardships, Kim says she would not replace this experience with anything else in the world. “It was so much more than I expected, on every level. Much tougher, much further – I estimated 5 500km, actual distance was 6 772km – and much more relentless, but more beautiful and more positive in every respect than I imagined, too. People along the way were mostly incredulous and thought we were mad, but on the whole the people we really engaged with were filled with enthusiasm. One of the huge positives was the incredible goodwill I encountered along the way. I never once felt threatened and was amazed at the care and concern I was shown by people of every race. I learned to accept the kindness and hospitality of complete strangers every day and we all experienced huge personal growth because of this.”

“I had so many unforgettable experiences along the way: Being called a ‘ramkat’ by an ancient farmer in the Kalahari, eating crocodile sosaties on the banks of the croc-infested Limpopo River, running through the night in torrential rain in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, sleeping on sand banks in the Richtersveld after a hard day on the river, seeing a leopard on the beach… and always the people we met along the way.”

CHALLENGES AND SPEED BUMPS
If you’re going to be covering the distances that Kim did, there are bound be injuries and she suffered a minor calf tear 10 days into the expedition and a stress fracture 650km from home. However, Kim says she never for one moment considered giving up, even though she had to cycle the last few hundred kilometres with one leg. She says the injuries were not the greatest challenge, though; just getting the laundry done and having to be a mom for a five-year-old after a very long day on the road proved to be a far greater challenge!

But none of these challenges were going to keep her from achieving the goals she set for herself. She completed the distance with five days to spare, demonstrated to her daughter that moms can be heroes too, had the adventure of a lifetime, and managed to raise some much-needed funds for the Carel du Toit Centre. That last goal is still ongoing, and Kim is working hard to raise further money for the centre (see details below).

WHAT’S NEXT
At the moment, Kim is enjoying her home and having clean laundry every day, but she is already contemplating her next challenge and admits that pushing oneself is very addictive! But that will have to wait for a while, as it’s Peter’s turn next. He will be racing on foot to the South Pole together with team mate, Braam Malherbe in December 2011 and January 2012. In the meantime, we can look forward to Kim’s book about the adventure, and wait with bated breath to see what she takes on next.

If you want to make a donation to the Carel du Toit Centre in East London, you can do so on Kim’s website, www.kimvankets.com, or you can make a payment directly into their account:
Carel du Toit Trust
Nedbank Vincent Park
Account Number: 120 602 8726
Branch Code: 120 621
Ref: Your name, contact details and Tri the Beloved Country.

Kim would like to thank her support team and sponsors, without whom this journey would not have been possible:
Global Business Solutions
Mpekweni Beach Resort
SPAR
New Balance
Rocky Mountain Bikes
Fluid Kayaks
Go2 Websites
Protea Hotels
Khamkirri Augrabies