Photo: Marius du Plessis . Sunrise from Suther Peak
Now that I have my sense of humour back… We made it to ten! Tell me that beacon on Chappies wasn’t the most hugged beacon on the peninsula yesterday?
Well done to everyone on taking part in what was one of the warmest Triples I can remember, and thank you for making it such a memorable one. It was an honour to run it with you all and to chat along the way, though I noticed a distinct increase in the abuse as the day grew on!
A special congrats to our overall winners, Filippo and Alison. Running as novices and winning with those times is an impressive achievement, congratulations! Rumour has it Filippo even went in search of fish and chips through the harbour on the first leg.
And congrats too to our 5th timers earning their special edition beacon trophies, Alan Schermbruker and Brenda Coomer.
As always there are many people to thank for their effort on a day like this –
- Our sponsors, in particular to Velocity for the wonderful venue, and for the very generous spot prizes, Janette (JanTee Designs) for the superb shirts, The Chapmans Peak Beach Hotel and Cape Union Mart for the ongoing support.
- Thank you to you all for the amazing contributions to the food table – this simple system works so well and we had a truly fine spread of food out there. If anyone wants to order chocolate brownies please contact Karoline directly. And wait your turn – I’m first in line.
- To everyone who contributed to the spot prizes, again we had a superb stash of prizes to hand out, thank you.
- To Marius the Platter-Bearer for trekking up Chappies with that life-saving food, and for being out there armed with his camera, and to Linda for the wonderful photos and support on Judas Peak, and Rodger-the-dodger Steel for perching himself and a few bottles of ice cold coke on top of Judas Peak.
- To our 10th anniversary model, Pat Smyly, for tossing off the mothballs and bringing one of our original shirts down to show us. Its comforting to know we have improved on at least one thing over the years!
- To Andre – not present yesterday but for that run up Suikerbossie one afternoon 10 years ago and for helping to conjure up the Triple. (i.e. I’m not completely to blame here!)
- And a special big thank you to those who helped at base camp. To Dougie for the invaluable assistance, to John Damata who has been part of the run for 9 years now, either running or helping, and especially to Lara for doing so much to help, before during and after.
And as always – the biggest thanks are to you, my friends, who run the triple in the spirit intended, and for having made 10 years of amazing memories out there. I was completely shattered by the time I got to the beacon on Chappies so I lay down for a brief nap, and thought about the years we have run and what makes this run so special and unique. There aren’t many races you can stop for a nap, but I felt so privileged to just close my eyes for a few minutes up there and let my mind wander to all the years we have tackled the peaks and all the memories that comes with that history. When I finally got to my feet once the cramp had eased I looked down over the crystal sparkling blue waters of the bay and thought of the amazing views we had experienced that morning, from the sunrise off the dunes and Suther Peak, the views of Table Mountain and far up the west coast from Judas, and the 360 spectacle that Chappies provides, to the electric purple of the flowers just before Llandudno ravine, the fields of gold Geelbos below Judas Peak, to the pin cushions lining the path up Chappies. One could not ask for a better playground. And yes, guilty as charged – the run organiser has apparently been docked minus one million points and been given a one year ban for running without any water… lesson learnt, half a nougat bar and drinking from streams isn’t quite enough for 7 hours out there.
And speaking of points, thanks to Nic for attempting to pioneer a new route off Suther Peak. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out as hoped but for those within earshot (a few kms up Chappies) apparently the screams of pain coming from the shower were really impressive. We now have a new award – the Evil Fynbos Award. Well done to Nic, our undisputed first recipient. Getting hopelessly lost will from now on be known as doing a Pikker-Waskansky-Lykiardopulos. 500 points to anyone who can pronounce that after 2 beers.
Posted below are the final audited results of this highly sophisticated points system. If there are any discrepancies please put it in writing, along with a bribe. Thank you to Brian for not breaking any ribs this year.
| Filippo | Alison | Stevie H | Brian Key | Nicholas L. | Jana | Whoever bought the Chocolate brownies | |
| Winning | 5000 | 5000 | |||||
| Almost getting the fastest overall time on Chappies | 10000 | ||||||
| Arriving late | -200 | ||||||
| Tastiest Food contribution | 1000000 | ||||||
| leaving blood stains on for prize giving | 2000 | 2000 | |||||
| getting lost only once, but seriously doing in style | 1000000 | ||||||
| loudest scream in the showers from pain | 50000 | ||||||
| not crying | 50000 | ||||||
| not using bandages | 100000 | ||||||
| having an unpronounceable surname | -50000 | ||||||
| cutting it too close to prize-giving | -500 | ||||||
| providing the dodgiest looking spot prize in the history of the event | 50000 | ||||||
| supporting New Zealand | |||||||
| 5000 | 15000 | 49800 | 2000 | 1152000 | -500 | 1000000 |
Attached are the overall and leg results – if there is anything that has been captured incorrectly please let me know and I’ll correct asap. No coffee is quite strong enough today. I have to make a special mention of Alison’s time on Chapmans Peak, putting the guys to shame out there and coming less than 2 minutes off the fastest overall time!
I will upload these results, along with the updated Roll of Honour, onto the website shortly. Keep an eye on the latest news page as I will also be uploading photos and more info as they come in.
The future of the Triple has been looking a little uncertain the past few weeks but I am optimistic about the future and really hope to be able to flood your inboxes with invitations early to middle next year again.
Run safe, run strong and I’m looking forward to seeing you all out and about on the mountains.
Until next year
Eric