The Reporter - 23 June 2017
It's crowded, but that's the way we like it!
Speak with anyone involved with tourism in Rhodes, or anyone residing in the village whether a permanent or an absentee landlord, and that is the knee-jerk response, ‘we like it crowded in July with the village bursting at the seams’.
For the past 28 years the district has enjoyed the benefit of a tourism boom thanks to the Rhodes Trail Run.
The ongoing success and popularity of the event, for which there is a waiting list in excess of five years, is as much to do with the sub-zero temperature and stunning scenery as it is with the very efficient, professional, friendly and runner-focussed atmosphere the organisers Evie and Darrell Raubenheimer bring to the event. The ambiance and traditions they have created and cultivated not only attract new faces to Rhodes each year but strengthen ties with their repeat visitors. This year over 35% of the field are novices and there will be six runners in line to receive a special award having completed 20 or more Rhodes Runs.
Iain Morshead, a two-time winner, multiple category winner and record holder said “It is a great event. Darrell & Evie have got the perfect mix between professionalism, fun and camaraderie that so many other trail races just don’t quite crack.”
The tourism boost the district receives from this major annual influx is significant. The many thousands of rands spent on fuel, accommodation, souvenirs and such like is sorely needed in the current economy.
A crowded village with plenty of new faces, many of whom will return after the run, is exactly what the tourism doctor prescribed.
Locals Prepare for Influx
Around the country and as far afield as Boston, USA, hundreds of trail runners are in the final stages of their preparation for the annual Rhodes Trail Run.
The route was always described as being ‘extreme’. The fairly recent inclusion of the Hooggenoeg Ridge section, which is generally described in language improper to publish, created a new dimension to the route, catching out runners with legs weary after the legendary Mavis Bank and Lesotho View and before the thigh hammering Carlilsehoek downhill.
It is not only the runners who are in the final throes of preparation.
The district, and more so the Rhodes community, is a hive of activity preparing for the annual influx.
Staunch supporters of the event since inception, and the only feed station crew still standing from that inaugural run in 1989, Francois & Hannelie Nel of ‘Hamilton’ will again have their feed station positioned at their traditional spot, the Kloppershoek intersection.
Interesting to note that Francois & Hannelie will record their 29th year as a feed station team while some 7% of the field had not been born in 1989.
The team from Tiffindell will welcome runners at the start of the Hooggenoeg Ridge section with their usual high-energy and frivolity.
At the other end of the Hooggenoeg section the runners will be warmly welcomed by ‘Walkerbouts’ Dave Walker and his staunch supporter Vaasie Murray . Margie Murray will take the day off from her duties at the Rhodes Information Centre to keep check on the runners, as well as keeping an eye on Dave and Vaasie.
In the Carlislehoek valley, at Roger Browne’s ‘Den Hagen‘, the Buitendag family will be providing the runners, who are usually rather weary at this stage, with encouragement and sustenance for the final spurt home.
It not only the feed stations who will be busy over the weekend. Willem Jansen and his team will be cooking up a storm to feed the runners on the Friday evening. The now traditional hearty meal of Rhodes lamb has, with good reason, become a firm favourite among the visitors. Willem and his team have been hard at work preparing for the weekend. On the Saturday they will also feed a constant stream of spectators who build up an appetite waiting for their loved ones to return to Rhodes.
It is all hands on deck in Rhodes as preparations are in full swing for the run weekend.
