Thanks to all the pre-Run for Hope 2022 publicity, everyone knows that Christo’s running eight marathons in eight days over nine of some of the Western Cape’s most spectacular passes. Not a single driver stopped. With his hitching efforts being futile, Christo had no choice but to just get on with it!
Christo and Hetta woke to frost on the ground this morning but the weather forecast – cool, sunny, and no wind – was exactly what they got.
Not entirely unexpected but certainly an unwelcome challenge was that one of his blisters needed some attention today. Other than that, Christo started the day (as always) in good spirits and says there were no aches or pains other than it just taking a little while to warm up and get going. One kilometre into his run he was back on top form and feeling good.
One of today’s highlights was seeing a troop of baboons, and the other was officially becoming ‘the preventer of pancake tortoises’! (He had hours with just his thoughts to come up with that…). Nevertheless, kudos for saving three tortoises today, Christo!
Another highlight was at the 25km mark when Hetta’s sister and brother-in-law joined the support team. They had beers in the car for the day’s end, which Christo says always makes him run faster! If you compare today’s pace to yesterday’s, you’ll see this to be true!
And then, on the final stretch into Prince Alfred, Christo passed some farm workers’ houses with a group of kiddies playing outside. They were keen to run with Christo for a little while. It wasn’t long before one of the boys asked Christo if he was coming back that way again. Christo said no. So he asked where Christo was going, to which he answered, Clanwilliam. There was silence for a while before the boy said: “Meneer, is jy bedonered? (Sir, are you mad?).” … Out of the mouths of babes!
At the halfway mark – four days in and 180kms under his belt – here are the stats for those keeping track:
Start time: 08:07
Finish time: 13:39
Running time: 05:27
Total km: 41.56km
Elevation: 425m
Pace (min/km): 7:53
Today’s pass:
Swaarmoed Pass
The Swaarmoed Pass (Heavy Courage in English) is approximately 20km northeast of Ceres. The 16km tarred pass descends 629 vertical meters from the summit at 1 212m above sea level, and is a favourite access route to the snow fields on the highlands near Klondyke and Erfdeel Farms. The pass offers excellent views over the Warm Bokkeveld and the vast plains of the Ceres valley surrounded by an amphitheatre of rugged mountains.
Credit: www.mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za
Until tomorrow…