This weekend will see a huge influx of visitors to Rhodes. It is the annual Rhodes Trail Run this year celebrating its 21st birthday.
There is a noticeable increase in the number of people visiting Rhodes during the winter months, with snow being the main attraction. However the dramatic flow of vehicles through Barkly East this week is attributed to the Liberty Health Rhodes Trail Run as over 320 runners, their families and supporters arrive from all points of the compass.
Runners entered include (number of previous Rhodes Runs in brackets) local athletes Billy Mollentze (0) and Thato Kabedi (2) who will be joined by Peter Cross (9) who will again be making a special trip from the USA and Lynne Taylor (0), Cathy (0) and Richard Cunningham (0) all from Swaziland and Rethie Cummings (0) from Middelburg, Cape. Rethie, a family friend of the Nel's of "Hamilton", is a late entrant securing an invitation hours before the cut-off. Francois and Hanalie Nel, who will host Rethie during her stay in the valley, will be manning their traditional feeding station at the 8km mark for the 21st time.
Others from far include Kim van Kets (1) from East London, Rowyn James (9) who is Race Director of Cape Town's Two Oceans Marathon, Stephanus Klopper from Rustenburg and Bennie Burger from Nelspruit. A rather special entrant is Jeanne Scarola, daughter of the event's founders Reinhard and Emma le Roux, who will be running with her husband Gian-carlo.
Remarking on the influx of visitors each year over the trail run weekend Leon Harmse, manager of the Rhodes Hotel shop, said that the long time organiser of the event, Evie Raubenheimer, is the Pied Piper of Rhodes "When Evie comes to town in July hundreds and hundreds of people follow her!"
The 21st birthday of the run gives Evie time to reflect on past runs. "Other than the very first year which was the catalyst, the year that probably stands out most is 2001 when snow fell on Friday night and early on Saturday morning. The Priory kids had hiked into the Kloppershoek kloof on the Friday and there was no way of contacting them to find out about conditions. Gerhard Henning did outstanding work that morning helping us establish that the route was runable and after a delayed start we had a memorable event thanks in large part to Gerhard."
"Then there was 2002 when the snow was so deep that we had to alter the route and although we missed Mavis Bank it was a run the runner's thoroughly enjoyed as they ran the whole way in snow. Once again the local farmers especially Gerhard Henning and Henri Rheeders helped us clear the road."
There are four runners who ran the first Rhodes Trail Run. Sham Singh and Danny Holton have not missed one and will be lining up for their 21st , Conrad Stoltz for his 7th and Andre Jackson his 17th.
Weather forecasts are for a very cold weekend, but that is what these hardy outdoor adventurers come to the Liberty Health Rhodes Trail Run for.
