"The Reporter"
24 July 2015 edition
"Huge Success for 27th RhodesRun"
The runners who travelled from all over the country proclaimed the 27th UTi Rhodes Run another huge success. The event is well known as being one of the best organised events in the country and the 2015 run lifted the bar even higher. Evie Raubenheimer, one of the organisers, passed on some of the comments received after the event
A runner from the UK said “It was a weekend I'll never forget. I have run a number of big city marathons around the world over the past few years, but I have never run in such a special place, with such a unique atmosphere. From registration to the finish line I had a ball and took away so many amazing memories - the buzz at the start line, the hot coffee and sandwiches at the top of Mavis, the bottle of Old Brown that tasted so good over the following few days!! I know you and your team put a huge amount of work into making the whole thing run so smoothly.”
"I would just like to say thank you again for the amazing opportunity to run the Rhodes Run this year!! It was truly amazing and the toughest thing I ever did. Comrades is NOTHING compared to Rhodes… With regards to difficulty, scenery, feeling of accomplishment and actually just EVERYTHING!! It was an amazing feeling to (complete) this amazing race with my dad."
"Thank you for yet another excellent event and weekend – can’t put my finger on it but you manage to get us to a remote venue, keep us in check with rules and regulations, display delight in bad weather, put us through physical torture along the route, have a waiting list and we want to come back for more…….."
"The race was beautiful, brilliantly organised, long and very, very tough...!"
The Friday evening meal at the Farmers Hall was well supported by the runners and Deidre Gush made sure they were not disappointed. Likewise the Rhodes Christian School made sure that no one went hungry on the Saturday.
The various feed stations along the route had a relatively comfortable day as weather conditions were so mild. Up on the mountain Dave Walker and Margie & Vassie Murray looked after the weary runners when they came off Hooggenoeg Ridge, while a team from Tiffindell once again assisted at the Check Point when the runners escaped the border road. The Zakhele Rhodes Public School had representation on the mountain assisting at one of the feed stations.
Hannalie and Francois Nel of “Hamilton” farm maintained their special record as the only feed station team to have assisted on the route for each of the 27 years.
Tony Kietzman was again busy at a feed station while the last feed station at “Den Hagen” was crewed by Johan & Petrie Jordaan and Kobus & Karen Buitendag, family and friends.
The award for ‘Best Feed Station’, as voted by the runners, went to the team from DM Kisch who, with Neil Fivaz, were at the top of Mavis Bank. A veritable oasis before the runners faced the brunt of the wind.
