Pennypinchers Adventure Racing Team 2011-2012
The year of 2011 and flashed past us and it
is time to reflect on what the Team achieved and did not achieve in 2011 and
what our aims and goals are for 2012
Click on this link to see some of the great pics and moments of 2011
Thanks to Glen Murray,Kelvin Trautman,Jacques Marais,Dael Bunge,Nicola Gilleomee and all the rest who have taken pics while we were out having fun
January
201110 Jan: The first Kurland Summer Trail Run: We had 130 runners with 3 different races. Pennypinchers branding at the start /finish .Nic Cuthbert 2nd.Cairnbrogie Dairy supplier ice cold milk at the finish. Donate R1000.00 to Kids of Kurland and R1000-00 to Mind the Gap Foundation.
15 January: Attakwas Extreme Mountain Bike Race 135km. Jeff and Jeannette andt James take part despite 2 broken ribs. This is a good tough training ride to start the year and keep the Team honest over Christmas.
February
2011: Garth Pienke joins the Team for 2011
Expedition Africa. Jeanette and James attend Wheel Chair race in George with
Sterreweg Kids. Garth finishes 3rd in the Proscreen Series of trail
runs in East London
March
2011: Garmin War Trail: 265 km Staged Adventure
Race in the Aliwal North / Lady Grey area. Jeff, James, Garth and Chris
Crewdson take part.
Jeanette wins the ladies race, James 9th.
Chris at 50 yrs old becomes the oldest finisher well up in the top half of the
field. The Team is actively involved in helping the BOBS FOR GOOD FOUNDATION
give away 100 pairs of school shoes to a school in the Sterkspruit area after
the 2nd day of racing.
April
2011
Good Friday 2011: The Cairnbrogie Easter
Trail Run. We use the full Pennypinchers branding Trailer to brand the Barn.
Nic Cuthbert 5th . There are 250 runners and 24 disabled kids from
Die Sterreweg that take part. GU Brew out on the course. Nic Cuthbert 2nd
Tortoise Tuff Goukamma Trail runs.
Donate R2500-00 to Die Sterreweg Charity
for disabled Kids
May
2011
Expedition Africa. 500km expedition
Adventure Race. Starting and finishing in Onrus near Hermanus. The Team
finishes 7th out of the 27 teams that started. Only 11 teams
completed the full race. Nic Cuthbert 3rd Junior at PetroSA Half
Marathon
June
2011
Recover and plan the next 6 months while
Nic comes 2nd Asics Extreme Mountain Run
July
2011
Jeff takes part in the Knysna Oyster
Festival big 5 competition (taking part in 5 of the festival events in 8 days)
places 12th out of 140 entries .Nic comes 11th in the
Featherbed Trail Run and 2nd team in the Xterra. Garth finishes 4th
in the Katberg Sky trail 38km run.
James rides in the first Plettenberg Bay
Mountain Bike Race. 75km. Comes in 22nd. August 2011
Nic Cuthbert wins the 25km Outeniqua
Traverse trail run (first junior and first overall
James and Jeanette run the Otter Trail Run
as safety back up Mountain Search and Rescue.
September
2011
Trans
Baavians Mountian Bike Race . 235km non stop. Jeff rides with his son
Brandon and finishes well. James, Jeanette and Garth ride the race with out any
support from seconds along the way and finish 3rd in their category (mixed 3s).
We receive our new branded kit from Second
Skins just in time for the Karoo to Coast. The design of the kit has really
worked well in terms of our sponsors logos . The problem of often wearing race
bibs or back packs has been well resolved with clear branding on the sleeves
and on the front of our shorts as well as the sun visors. James, Jeff and Garth
combined the race with a training
weekend including the Buffalo Bay Trail Run 12km (Nic 3rd, Jeff,
Garth, James 5, 6, 7, respectively) and some paddling on the Goukamma River.
October
2011
Jeanette to Adventure Racing World Champs
with Team Cyanosis. (a late replacement for Hanlie Booyens) they finish 8th
out of 89 teams
Eden Duo. The junior Team of Nicholas
Cuthbert and Brandon Willcox win the race. James and late replacement for
Jeanette, Voitex Orzechoski finishes second. Garth and Jeff finish 8th
after a tough day out.
November
2011
Salomon Sky Run. 105km off road high
altitude non stop trail run. James and Garth finish 18th, 19th in a
field of 150 starters (only 89 finished).
December
2011
Kurland Summer Trail. We attract 170
Runners. GU and Pennypinchers brand the finish area. Nic finishes third overall
in a strong field.
Donate R2000-00 to mind the Gap Foundation
(Crags based charity).
The
Blog.
With the inclusion of Nicholas Cuthbert (he
is 17 years old and knows the technical stuff) in to the Team we have been able
to up grade our blog and are now also on Twitter .The blog hits have increased
over the year with the first month of over 1000 hits being November 2011,
October feel just short with 983 hits. Twitter allows us to do live posting to
the web from our phones while we are at a race. As you can see with some of the
stats below the blog is receiving attention from all over the world as well.
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2012
With the whole Team being together over the
weekend of the Kurland Trail Run we were able to work out our main objectives
for 2012 and work out the best possible way of achieving these goals .
From an event point of view it was decided
that we would all continue to compete in as many local races as we can in terms
of trail running, mountain biking and canoeing as well as any multi sport
events that may occur. (Most of these dates and calendars are not finalized for
2012 yet).
Chris Crewdson will be tackling the Garmin
War Trail as the oldest competitor for the second year running. He has also
indicated that he would like to be on the podium in the Masters category at the
Salomon Sky Run at the end of the year.
Nic Cuthbert will focus on his trail
running especially in the first part of the year (there is a whole list of
these) where after he will be committed
to his Matric exams.
The main focus of the Team for the first 6
months of this year will be The Expedition Africa 500km Race to be held in May
2012.James,Jeff,Garth and Jeanette have decided to 100 % commit themselves to
this race. The reasons are as follows
1)
The race is now sanctioned by
the World Adventure Race Series and will attract quite a few overseas teams ,giving
us the opportunity to compete against these teams.
2)
The race will be held in the
Eastern Cape and is close to home as well as in Pennypinchers Country
3)
It is the biggest race in the
country and all the top South African Teams will be there
4)
It is a true adventure race and
that is what we do
5)
Being close to home we will be
able to put together training sessions in the area and acclimatize to the harsh
conditions of the Eastern Cape.
6)
We have got unfinished business
form last years race and feel we now have the Team and the time together to
really do well.
With this in mind we have plotted a route that will include the Attakwas Mountain Bike Race (135km tough) and the Garmin War Trail as well as 2 training camps as build up events for the main 500km mission in May.
The second six months of the year will
include the Trans Baavians, The Eden Duo and the Salomon Sky Run as key events.
Event
Organizing
This extra arrow to our quiver is turning
out to be really successful. This last year we hosted 3 trail runs with a total
of 570 runners taking part. The aim was to host a family fun filled day with a
choice of routes for everyone to enjoy, young and old. We have been approached
to include our two runs in a book of the best trail runs in the country and we
will be hosting the journalists some time in the New Year to show off what we
have done and see if the runs are selected.
This year we will once again organize three
events (with some more if the ideas we have turn out). Over Easter we will host
the Cairnbrogie Easter Trail Run and expect huge growth from this. At the end
of the year we will once again hold the Kurland Summer Trail Run and in between
we have some great ideas for either running, biking or adventure races. This
third event needs to be selected carefully in terms of the very busy sporting
calendar that is out there.
These events have three objectives
1)
To create an awareness and promote
our sponsors using, branding ,media and a quality event
2)
To raise some funds for a local
charity close to the event venue
3)
To promote the Pennypinchers
Adventure Racing Team brand
4)
To introduce and show case the
world of adventure type sports to the Garden Route which is already becoming known
as the Adventure Sport Capital of South Africa.
The Team would like to take this oppurtuinity to wish you all a Fit and Healthy 2012 and thank you all for your wonderfull support through out 2011.
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