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.

By Dee Coleman

15th May dawned, a bright, chilly beautiful clear morning. We met at the Caltex Garage in Blair Atholl Road, all packed and ready to ride to Kyalami on our bikes. Nick and Heather had had a practice run to the Berg on their 1300 Yamaha a few weeks earlier, as Heather had never done a long trip. The 650 or so kms to Kyalami was quite a distance and Heather didn’t know if the ‘bum’ would survive. I couldn't help but notice that Nick had added an additional box for Heather’s shoes, as is well known, packing space on a bike is limited, and Heather loves her shoes! Nonetheless we all looked so smart in our riding gear, the three bikes set off, and we were on our way to the WORLD SUPERBIKE RACING. All too soon we were at Ultra City near Mooi River, where we stopped for breakfast. Much to Sean’s disappointment, the restaurant is a Steers, and not a Wimpy, Sean’s favourite!! With full tummies, we set off along the long windy road up Oliviershoek Pass past Sterkfontien Dam. The dam water was the most amazing blue I’ve ever seen, one really feels at peace when you are surrounded by such amazing beauty. Not long after, we arrived in Harrismith, where the flowers at the service station were in full bloom. The roses were magnificent. The whole garden around the Engine Stop in Harrismith was just a mass of wonderful colour. And we found a Wimpy for Sean. We followed the Toll Road to JHB – it was on this long, flat, totally uninteresting road that Heather experienced her first strong crosswind on a motorcycle. She didn’t enjoy that one bit but then nobody does especially on a motorcycle. We arrived in JHB at about 3.30pm; I took one look at the traffic and nearly died. It was crazy, cars moving in and out of lanes, bikes doing the same but a hell of a lot faster, move 2m and stop. If you left a gap of 2m between you and the car ahead, three cars, two taxis and a bus would try to sneak in. I just stayed behind Sean and made sure I didn’t loose him. It was awful and took us about an hour to do 10kms. We arrived at our B&B to find, with a lot of relief, that it was a beautiful thatched home converted to a B&B. Our hostess, Hillary, was very friendly, so were three Blue Kerry dogs (very unusual breed like a wire headed Terrier with a blue tinge in their coats). After off loading panniers we all ended up in the bar for a well-earned ‘nerve calming’ sherry. Hillary recommended Papachinno’s for dinner. She gave directions, but the ‘two old farts’ got lost, however, due to sheer determination and pure luck, we finally found Papachinno’s. The restaurant had a continental flavour, with pastas and pizzas in every combination you can think of. We all tucked into a really good meal. On the way home the ‘two old farts’ got lost again, I could hear Heather killing herself laughing behind me in her crash helmet, with a cackle from Nic. Yes the wine was good!!! Saturday was race practice day at Kyalami which dawned cold and blustery – undaunted the fearless four set forth on their machines and spent the entire day enjoying the sights and sounds (it was awesome) of world class riders on their flying machines. On our way home we stopped at Woollies and bought braai and salads for supper and lunch the next day. In a beautifully laid out casual setting at the B&B we had a lovely braai, thanks to 'Nic the chef' and his assistant who made sure that he did not interfere with the cooking. Sunday weather was a great improvement on Saturday, once more headed for Kyalami where chaos reigned at the entrance – 20 people not knowing what to do, must blame the organizers, but after all not too much of a delay. We thought practice on Saturday was good, Sunday the racing was brilliant, with riders doing over 250 kms per hour down the main straight and the “mine shaft”. The sound of the bikes and the skill of the riders, unbelievable, it gives one an adrenalin rush. The ‘two young girls’ had an absolute ball. Heather and I disgraced ourselves by jumping up and down screaming for Haga, a Japanese riding an Italian Ducati – yes we had a ball. A truly magnificent day. Last night before our trek home we decided to follow our hostess’ directions to another restaurant in Mid Rand, the ‘two old ballies’ again were unsure where we were heading and‘round the corner’ ended up being 8 – 10 kms away, so we can’t really blame them. What would we do without our wonderful men? Lovely restaurant, can’t remember the name, but we had a lovely meal and then the weary foursome headed home. Was very chilly going home on the bikes at 10 in the evening. We set off 9.30 am to avoid the JHB rush hour traffic, at my request!! We travelled home via Standerton, Volksrust, down the old Majuba Pass, very scenic, much better than the Free State road. By-passed Newcastle, then through Ladysmith, a different route, very enjoyable, then onto the Freeway heading for Durban. Heather passed the test of a long distance ride and sore bum with flying colours. I’m sure the bug has bitten. The four of us had a brilliant and fun filled weekend with lots of fun and plenty of laughs. I am sure we will enjoy more biking trips together. Dee Coleman completed her 30th Buffalo Rally which took place in Mosselbay in March 2009. She has ridden her own motor cycle to 24 of the rallies, the balance as a pillion with Sean. She is the first lady in South Africa to have attended that many rallies.