This blog is now located at http://higwayacfocuson.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://higwayacfocuson.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

By Heather Schutte

THE WALKERS HAVE DONE IT YET AGAIN AND CLINCHED THE TROPHY FOR THE 12TH SUCCESSIVE YEAR !

Margaret Botes was 1st Highway walker home in 4 of the events and both Cecily and Antoinette were placed in the top 5 a few times. CONGRATULATIONS to our top guns!

To every other walker who came along to participate and gave it your best,  WELL DONE  - we ALL  played our part and contributed to the valuable points earned to give HIGHWAY WALKERS this honor, once again.

The smaller group of dedicated and committed ladies which make up the HIGHWAY RUNNING team also did very well in what is the most competitive section of the time trial league. Well done -   A great effort, ladies and CONGRATULATIONS to Roshini Natasen who was 1st HIGHWAY runner home at all of the 7 events.  Once again I want to thank you all for your commitment and support. You have made Highway AC proud!

It was great to have new members, Ronel Laidlaw-Perks, Bronwyn Jones, Nikki Draper & Linda Feher take part in a couple of the time trials.  We do hope to encourage a few more of our new ladies to join us next year.   It is really a great way to improve your walking or running times and if you stay for the prize-giving afterwards you can get to know other Highway members, enjoy some lovely snacks and you may even win a new pair of running shoes or a lucky draw prize!

At the TT AGM in October, it was great to see Frankie Cawdry back in her seat as convenor of the League Time Trials -  what an inspiration this lady has been to us all!

The issue of continuing to host our Highway time trial at POBAC was raised by myself at this AGM and I will be presenting the feedback and options available to us at the next Highway Committee meeting.

Lastly, a Big Thank You to our sponsors, KLOOF VILLAGE SPAR who provide the delicious snacks and our time trial T-shirts.

Born: Durban 1936.
Education: DPHS and DHS. This was early days in local education. School sports were exclusively rugby and cricket. Other sports were never acknowledged except briefly athletics and swimming in season. There was great and enforced stress on being a spectator and, as I had interests in other sports and preferred to do things rather than watch other people doing them, this was not a great start for me. Went on to University in Pietermaritzburg. Over the following ten years taught music and art at Highbury and Thomas More

Love Life: At this stage I developed what became a lifelong passion for pre-Classical Music. Through this interest I met Jitske who became my wife in 1965. On a motor scooter we drifted around Europe together for six months pursuing this shared interest. Returning to Durban, Jitske became a permanent member of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and I taught music on the part-time staff at Natal University and UDW. Together we formed a small professional chamber music ensemble which did a lot of concertising around this part of the world and broadcasting on a fairly regular basis. A high point during this phase was the development of a Summer School of Music held each December in the Natal Midlands which attracted young musicians from all over South Africa and ran for twelve years. Out of this experience I started working with Youth Orchestras here in Durban over a period of about twenty years, culminating in conducting the KZN Youth Orchestra between 2000 and 2008. At the time of writing this I coach a completely delightful orchestra at Durban Girls College. Over the ten years I have been with them we have taken short concert tours here and there around KZN and twice to Cape Town. We play at all school functions and have a wide repertoire of varied music. For myself I run a small ensemble, Flauto Dolce, who focus mainly on pre-classical and contemporary music. We have recently played lunch hour concerts at UKZN and the Tatham Art Gallery in PMB.

Sports: As an extension to these various of my life I joined Highway Athletics in 1999. I had previously done quite a lot of long distance hiking and cycling trips but never cycled competitively. Running soon became an addiction. I feel so good when I’ve been out running. My mind clears as the blood pulses faster through my body. Running is really great for getting you into positive thinking!

Training: I like to do each week: one short intensive intervals session, one 12 – 15 km run alternating 3 minutes easy jog and 2 minutes fast, and one long slow run (or two totalling the same distance) giving me about 50kms a week. For races the half marathon is my ideal distance - recovery is quick, you’re back home after a Sunday race when the family is just getting up and you can get on with a normal day feeling really good. I have an occasional shot at a 42k but it’s not a good distance for me.

Now: Aged seventy-three the joys in my life are:

• my family: married for 44 years: three children and seven grandchildren all living Westville/Hillcrest - and what a pleasure to run this year’s Two Oceans Half Marathon with two daughters-in-law,
• my orchestra at Girls’ College,
• giving occasional public lectures on listening to music and pre-concert lectures during the local symphony season.

Not sure about future hopes/plans. I enjoy what I do to the extent that I don't dream of retirement. Perhaps to see more of the Drakensberg and maybe, if it's true that endurance improves with age, I would like to have a shot at the full Two Oceans.