[Editor: The revamped PE2EL Challenge - now renamed the "Southern Shamaal" - takes place on 6-9 December 2008.  Andrew Hardie sent us this classic account of the 2004 race.  We'll be showcasing this awesome event with a series of articles over the next few months highlighting its history and tradition.]

Day 1 Preparation (PFDs? Leashes?!) (Pic: Andrew Hardie)

Port Elizabeth to East London Sunshine Coast Surfski Challenge

15th to 18th December 2004

Distance - 244 kms

An account from the "middle of the pack" - Boat Number 72, William & Andrew Hardie, Team Gauteng

The lead up

William and I had put in the time and effort (by going round and round and round Emmerentia Dam and taking advantage of Tim and Nicky Firth and Gav Searle's hospitality on our qualifier trips to Durban) so it was now a matter of taking it easy the week before. Of course I picked up the usual chest / sinus infection (am sure it is a mind thing!) and in order to not mess around hit a course of antibiotics. Did not tell William as there was no need for him to know / worry. Actually funny thing about the race is that it makes no sense getting your partner worried by telling him about anything that involves pain, sickness, etc unless it is so drastic that you cannot carry on!

Week spent in St Francis Bay sleeping and doing a couple of light paddles. Managed to not think about the race too much (and that ‘lambs to the slaughter' feeling!) but felt pretty chuffed that we were giving the infamous race a go and had given ourselves a reasonable chance to succeed.

Tuesday, 14th December ‘04

Less than 24 hours to go. Day spent packing, checking gear, getting the ski ready for the long first day where double sets of drinking systems would be required as there is no beach stop-over on Day 1.

Drive to PE and Kir helped me sew on velcro to the Trippers - one of many tasks that she would perform over the next 4 days. We had been quite blasé about the importance of a second but Kir's awesome seconding display was to play a massive role in us finishing in good health. You are out at sea for a long time on your own with very few constants and it is just nice to know that someone is there looking out for you at the other end.

Arrived at Kings Beach, PE for registration and started to feel the whole vibe. Registered and put our stickers on ol' "powder blue" (colour of our ski). Seeing the long "Sunshine Coast Challenge" sticker on the side of the decks made me feel pretty proud as I had often seen the sticker on other skis and had thought that these people must have been from another planet to try this event! Now it was us! We had to take off the MensHealth and Discovery stickers on the organisers' insistence - bearing in mind that surfskiing in SA would not exist without MensHealth this was a point of contention between the paddlers and organisers. In addition, the entry form was not clear about the flare requirements (each paddler had to have a flare) which meant that I had to go down to the docks to get another 6 shot pencil flare (which, by the way, we had no idea how to use [and still don't]!).

The race briefing was fairly routine and low key but was impressed by the number of really fit looking people in the room. Not that fanfare is expected in this the toughest surfski event in the world but the organisers could have had a more accommodating attitude. Larry (the chief organiser) basically read us the riot act and told us that in no uncertain terms they would decide on the conditions, the race directions, etc. This is fair enough but his approach was irritating. I immediately struck up a serious dislike of the guy!

Joined Ryan, who paid for the all of us, and Keith Anderson and the rest of the Cape Town crowd for dinner in Bluewater Bay and then headed to our very well placed but fairly disgusting B&B on the Bluewater Bay beach front. Made final preparations before hitting the sack.

DAY 1 - Wednesday, 15th December 2004 - 80km - Bluewater Bay, PE to Woody Cape

03h30 start. Slept terribly due to nerves and my room adjoining our alkie host and his bergy wife's sleeping quarters (they smoked, drank, swore and talked until 12 o'clock). Only 3 hrs sleep but looking forward to the day.

We are able to walk across to the beach from the B&B which is a bonus. We set off at 04h45 - still dark. Very chuffed that we chose to change from the A batch to the earlier batch as (i) we would have been dropped by the more experienced ‘sea' paddlers in A batch (we could probably have beaten most of the doubles in a river but paddling on the sea is a totally different kettle of fish (no pun intended!)) and (ii) it gave us 45 minutes head start.

Strange but feel waves of emotion as we set off. Small surf but just enough to get wet and feel part of the race. The ski was extremely top heavy as, due to the fact that there is no beach stop-over on the first day and we had to therefore carry all our provisions. This included two 3 litre juice packs each (by far the heaviest item) as well as the normal packs of potatoes, energy bars, bananas and flares (which were supposed to be kept on our bodies but which were very nicely packed away in our Tripper bags on the ski!).

Day 1 Start (Pic Andrew Hardie)

Hardly any wind (light SW) and so looked to get onto a diamond (method of slip streaming much the same as that used in cycling). Bearing in mind that this was only our 6th time in a double on the sea we took a while to get the feel of the conditions and our routine sorted out (such as clipping and grabbing our juice cords without tipping over the whole boat and losing ground to other boats on the diamond). At St Croix the diamond split and we were not well positioned to take advantage of the situation and therefore unfortunately had to opt for the slower bunch. We saw those cagey old sea dogs Pete O'Connor and Dave Gilmer disappear into the distance! At this stage we were about 5 kms out to sea and therefore easily missed the Coega breakwater which apparently extends about 2 kms out to sea. See no large plastic bags that we were told to watch out for.

From about 15km we split up and we are on our own (and remain so to the end - some 65 km later)! The check point (at about 22kms) is a Rescue Zodiac off Sundays River (the boat definitely being positioned a lot further out than the 1 km we were told were the co-ordinates so battle to find it). Stop for a banana and some lovely boiled potatoes at the Rescue boat. Wind starts to pick up with the rising sun. Couple of squabbles over wave riding techniques but generally mood is good humoured and focussed. Head down, watch the timing, try and keep the ol' mind active and hope like hell that we are ticking off the miles at a good pace. Scenery is amazing if not monotonous - long straight beach with massive dune field for miles and miles. We can see (what we believe is) Woody Cape point (deciding that it is Woody Cape as it is the only bush area for miles!) but the point never seems to arrive. Tailwind gets stronger and we are able to get some nice long rides. Take the deep option which (after discussion at the end) was better than riding the current closer inshore. Don't see another soul for at least another 3 hours except for a bewildered chokka boat whose crew were extremely surprised to see two idiots paddling in the middle of nowhere 8 kms out to sea! Just us (not much conversation), the raging sea, the blue sky and glaring sun, and the distant dunes. Every one rightly goes on about the endurance aspect of the Sunshine Coast Challenge but it is pitting yourself against the power and unpredictability of the elements that makes it such a challenging event.

We see our first shark (followed by another about ½ hour later) but then joined by other fins - some seriously large bottle nosed dolphins. They are inquisitive and playful and at least 30 ride with us for a long time. If anything this was one of the real scary moments of the race as they got quite close (arms length) and could have damaged our boat if they had hit us. Did not fancy an 8km swim back to shore without a lifejacket!

About 10 kms before the point we noticed a storm in the distance which caused the wind to swirl and the sea to chop up dramatically. This went on for another 45 mins or so. Finally we reached the cliffs of the Cape but no sign of the flags at the end! Having been at it for 6 hours both of us were starting to feel the strain. Around the point is another massive beach that stretches for miles and miles and we could not detect any form of life so figured we had a lot further to go ...............

About 3 kms past the point we spot tiny figures on the beach and realise that it is the end. Other boats started appearing as well (one of the strange things about surfski races is that you will not see a soul all day and then, at the end, everyone appears on call from nowhere!). Huge relief but now we have to tackle the infamous Woody Cape surf.

Whilst we were easing towards the first set of (what we though was) the back line I look back and spot a gi-normous house of a wave peeling in towards us about 100m further out!! We spun around and paddled like the wind towards it. At one stage I thought that we were doomed and saw our lives passing by as the thing looked like it was going to break any second. I suppose it took a long time to break as it was so massive which helped us reach it and shoot over it into the air like a rocket as it crashed down behind us. Suddenly feel a bit more rattled and not so confident about our entry. Turn around and head back tentatively towards the beach. Choose (what was to be an excellent) line and go through the approach routine - entered behind a big wave and then paddled hard to avoid the break of the following waves in the set. The foamy behind catches us but we keep paddling and are ok. The waves reform at the shore break where, when putting on the brakes (done by me [the back paddler] putting my feet over the side of the ski) to stop us going over the falls, we fall. The boat gets washed in but we can stand. Good feeling to feel land under foot after 6 ½ hours in the ski. Our ski is washed down the beach but we collect it in one piece and run back to the finish. Great feeling all around and our trusty second, Kir, is there with all kinds of goodies to bring back life to our tired bodies.

Woody Cape - monsters in the background - and there were more further out... (Pic: Andrew Hardie)

The relief on the faces of the other finishers is very obvious. Immediately start eating more of the ol' baked potatoes to get the energy levels up for Day 2. Carol, the children and Annah and Joseph have made it there but missed our entry. Leave ski on the beach and slog back to the car up the huge Woody Cape dunes.

Good to have a day under the belt and to change the focus to Day 2.

Stayed with the Sutherlands in Graeme Reynold's house in Kenton. Extremely tired and stiff but no real aches and pains to report. In fact it is all relative - every thing is sore (back, bum, shoulders, arms, blistered hands) but they kind of cancel each other out! Try and sleep in the afternoon but to no avail as already thinking about our exit at Woody Cape tomorrow! Skip the 18h00 race briefing at Woody Cape (our ever helpful and supportive Pete O'Connor [doing his 10th PE to EL] does the duties for us) and go for sun downers at the Bushmans mouth with the Sutherlands, Rileys, Shuters, etc. Felt like we were really achieving something by doing this race and klap too many beers in celebration! Poor Rob and Susie - we are hardly the most exciting guests to have on holiday but their usual good hospitality went a long way to get us ready for the next day.

DAY 2 - Thursday, 16th December 2004 - 46km - Woody Cape to Port Alfred

03h00 wake up call! Woody Cape is a 40 mins drive away (through the dairy farm countryside) and we are starting at 04h45.

Standing on the high dunes overlooking the Woody Cape beach I over hear two competitors speaking which went something like this - "oooh, aaaah, jees" - "how big do you think those X#&*# waves are?" - "about 12 foot" - "how do you know?" - "by the degree that I am ‘knuiping' my sphincter!"

Walk down the dunes onto the beach in the dark with nervous chatter all around about the impending doom that the huge Woody Cape surf is about to inflict on all of us. Need to glue on an extra tripper bag fastener, strap on all our kit and do some stretching. Singles off first to much carnage - about 10% get out and the rest are crushed by the surf. Not good for our confidence! We hear later that some people took up to 1.5 hrs to get out and that about 6 boats were broken. The rescue craft also overturned whilst trying to save someone having an asthma attack.

Line up near Anton Fouche and Simon (two Durban Pirates surfski legends) who state confidently that it is "just another day at Pirates" and (at us) that the conditions "were slightly rougher than those we had experienced on Emmerentia Dam"! Once again the beach is emotionally charged with seconds (including Kir) literally in tears when their boats made it out.

After the daily routine of a kiss goodbye from Kir the dreaded siren goes off and we are off. The feeling we had can be likened to soldiers in a 1st World War trench storming the enemy ..........very few are going to get through and if you get hit you are going to get hit hard!

We hit a couple of big powerful foamies in the shore break but hit them square on and kept our paddles up. Balance pretty well sorted and press on. Suddenly there is a lull at back line and those of us that are still in our skis pin our ears back and race towards the horizon. 5th ski OUT!!! Massive relief but William is still not convinced and is paddling like a mad man towards Australia. I tell him to start heading left up the coast but all he can think of is that flash wave from yesterday and (in a few choice words) tells me to "keep quiet". It is only when Andrew Blackburn (the overnight leader), who was on our right at the time, kaks on William does he change tactics and start moving up the coast. One of the amusing moments of the race!

I suppose we had made our luck by staying in our ski in the shore break. The only real difficulty that we had going out was dodging other skis sans their paddlers. One of these being Anton and Simon's ski with them no where to be seen ......... and, yes, we made sure to rag them later about the comments they had made on the beach! We found out later that those that did not get out in the first break were pummelled by a number of huge following sets so we thanked our lucky stars for that lull. I spend at least the next 1.5 hrs thinking about Woody Cape ..... frightening stuff.

Conditions are slightly chopping with a light NE headwind. Wind starts picking up towards Kenton and we know that it is only going to get worse. There were a lot of skis around us and we join up with a bunch to work together to slip stream into the wind. Feeling pretty good and paddling within ourselves. Sea is a lovely blue colour, more Dolphins and enjoying the coast line. Paddle close to the backline to try and pick up the current.

In the race I tried to avoid looking at my watch (I did not want time to work on my mind) but it did come as a surprise at Kenton to find out that it had taken us 3 hrs to do 22 kms. The conditions were worsening and what was supposed to be a relaxed, easy day was soon to turn into an epic.

The stop-over check point on Kenton beach was great. No problems getting in and met up with the Sutherlands, pregnant Carol, India and Sam, Kir, Paul and Kelly Davis, and Wade. Ate sandwiches, potatoes, bananas and probably in the end spent too much time on the beach but we were really not worried about racing and just wanted to ensure that we maintained our strength to finish the whole event. Also nice to vary the conversation as had run out of things to say to William (only jokes!!).

Massive head wind on Day 2 (Pic: Andrew Hardie)

Next 23 km and a further 3 hours is a blur. We were on our own in an inferno of a sea - almost gale force headwind with waves crashing onto us and all around us. Side waves breaking into my cockpit would literally lift me right off my seat and if it was not for my foot straps I would have been washed overboard. Massive concentration required to stay in the boat. At one stage I looked up and could not believe how rough the sea was as it was whipped up into a cream by the buffeting winds. So decided that it was better for the psyche to just focus on a 3m radius around our ski! Although W was not convinced, timing in these conditions was almost impossible.

Port Alfred never seemed to arrive (more stark but beautiful long straight deserted beaches between Kenton and Port Alfred) and when a settlement was spotted I was (unlike William) sure that it was not Port Alfred as it looked too small (stating that I could not see the golf course). I had it in my mind that we had at least another hour to paddle (which was probably a blessing as I had conditioned my mind to another hour of this sess pit) but it turned out that the golf course was not the marker to look for and, on paddling past another boat, we were assured that it was Port Alfred. Relief but due to the strong head wind and rough conditions it still took us a long time to get close to and spot the awaiting entourage on the beach. Surf coming in was wild but we did pretty well until once again falling when braking in the shore break. Ski again arrived at the finish without us but we were able to walk in through waste high water.

Chipper on Day 2 (Pic: Andrew Hardie)

Kir and Carol on the beach to meet us - the incredulous look on my wife's face said it all! A long hard day - both feeling tired but chuffed. 45km on Day 2 had taken us 6 hrs which is almost as long as 80km the day before had taken us! More boiled potatoes! Watched a few other skis come in (few and far between) but the beach was wind swept and very unpleasant so headed back to Kenton. We later heard that two skis had broken in the Port Alfred shore break (one of them being our new found Durban mates Angus and Derek). Would not have liked to have been in a single today (or any other day for that matter) - some taking 9 hrs to finish. Bad blisters on my left hand and head to Port Alfred golf club for a new glove!

Slept like a king that afternoon (no more Woody Cape worries!).

Went to the 18h00 briefing in Port Alfred. Good to mingle and hear the different war stories of the day - many of which were inflicted by the Woody Cape exit (not least of which was Dave Gilmer and Pete O'Connor's saga of having to paddle for most of the day in a sinking ship after some big hits at WC - an impressive effort on their behalf for finishing the day). Although, again, our intention was not to worry too much about our place we had had a good day as we had made up 4 places (lying 14th out of 30 odd doubles).

The rough conditions have taken their toll as every second person had strapping on their forearms for tendonitis. At the end of the 4 days only 61 of the 71 race starters would finish and almost every one that could not carry on was due to the second day (mostly broken boats at Woody Cape).

At the briefing there were six different versions of what the wind was going to do the next day so it was decided that we would meet at the beach at 07h00 and make a decision in the morning. Going forward the organisers should probably replicate Billy Harker's use of sms technology for his MensHealth Surfski Series to communicate daily information.  

Back to Kenton for dinner, a massage from Carol (shoulders were now really stiff) and an early night. Only thing that wasn't sore was my bum as it had been saved by my "butt pad"!

DAY 3 - Friday 17^th December 2004 - 68 km - Port Alfred to Hamburg

Although a fairly strong Easterly headwind was blowing it is predicted that the westerly wind would come through later on in the day and so the route to Hamburg remains the same. Some say that we might be turned around if the predictions are wrong and the NE picks up again.

Probably our worst start - everyone else seemed to get out fine except us as we got hit by a couple of shore break dumpers. Stayed on ok but once out needed to pick up the pace and find a nice bunch as we did not want to have to tackle the headwind conditions on our own. Sea was choppy with fair sized oncoming swells. Paddle in single file towards the distant point.

One of the challenging things over the whole race is that we never really knew how far we had paddled or how far it was to go. This information was never given out at the briefings and one generally hoped that the half way check point or end would be around the point that you were heading towards!

The bunch we were in was paddling fast and my worst fears began to materialise as I started getting pangs of pain in my right tricep. I always knew that there were probably three things required to complete the race - fitness, head (being able to endure heat, pain, scary seas, etc) and a body that could stand up to the strain. I knew that I was probably going to be fine with the first two but it was my body that I was worried about due to the fact that my shoulder had never recovered fully from a botched operation by Dr (he doesn't deserve this title) Mark Ferguson two years ago. The dreaded had therefore happened - my shoulder was fine but its weakness meant that other muscles and tendons were working too hard with the net result being my tricep packing in. The pace in the bunch was relentless and I was getting sorer and sorer with each stroke. It had probably been brought on by the rough conditions on Day 2 but today's similar jarring chop was adding to the problem. I had to grimace each time we had to raise the tempo but did not want to loose the wave or let on too much to William. No concern from his side - none expected!!

The pain was not good for my psyche because the words "if the NE picks up we will be turned at a point and head back to PA" rang in my ear and I constantly hoped that I would see a paddler coming towards us from the opposite direction. Of course this never happened.

William, who drinks almost twice as much as me in a race, ran out of juice with at least 5/6 kms to go to the check point. I had not arranged with Kir to refuel at the halfway point (electing to take on all my juice provisions up front) so we made a decision that William would hang in there until the stop over - barring a collapse. Strategy worked and he seemed to get through the next 5 kms or so OK.

At the stop-over check point we co-ordinated with the two other double skis (two young guys that we had, and would, paddle with for much of the race and an ‘odd' mixed ski combination) that we were paddling with to go out again together so that we could continue to work together into the wind. General mood on the beach was down. Kind of a reluctance to deal with the conditions. I believe a couple of people just stopped here to end their race. Dave Ashman and Kir do a bit of physio on my tricep but not feeling great. Head out again with our two double ski companions.

Pass a few bedraggled singles - tough game for a single. Save energy by sharing the front boat load but kind of hope that the others will put in that extra bit of time! More deserted shoreline, try to channel my focus on the ski, the choppy conditions, and not think of my tricep.

Still battling to pee in an Easterly!!! All the rocking and concentration made it very difficult and, with a full bladder, a painful experience to hang onto the other skis' waves! Strangely enough I had no problem peeing when paddling down wind!!

Just near a reef and after having spotted more dolphins the wind swung and started howling from the south west (tailwind). There were great hee-hah shouts, we all split up and we were off. The wind met the NE swell which made for some awesome runs and we just flew to the end. In addition we were really starting to get the knack of this swell riding business and put time into the other boats.

First 38 kms took 5 hrs, next 30 kms took 1 hr 45 mins! Although there is a rocky point with fairly rough conditions at Hamburg the waves were small which made for an easy entry into Hamburg. The paddlers were the only people on the deserted beach and there was a great atmosphere. Without getting too confident there was a general vibe that barring anything out of the ordinary the survivors of Day 3 WILL get their tired bodies and souls to EL.

Kir bought a whole lot of goodies in Port Alfred and we have a post race ‘feast' with Angus and Derek in the car park before heading to the Hamburg Hotel which Pete O'Connor had organised for us.

Prize giving at 18h00 at the camp site on the lagoon. W and I have a massage beforehand (with me looking for a tricep transplant facility!). Larry the lurker (head of the organising committee) has his usual silly, sarcastic remarks at the briefing. Take a drive around Hamburg looking for the Leach's house. Hamburg is like St Francis of old - great beach and lagoon with a rustic feel - and a good investment prospect!

Dinner with W&K, Dave and Michelle, Pete and Gill - wait for ages.

DAY 4 - Saturday 18th December 2004 - 51km - Hamburg to East London

51 kms to go. Wake up early - no wind yet but forecast SW means that everyone is up beat. Last routine of carbo loading, packing, suntan cream, checking equipment, strapping the day's provisions on the deck, etc, etc.

Day 4 Start (Pic: Andrew Hardie)

Easy paddle out into the rising sun at Hamburg as surf is small. Take a slightly deeper line and start smoking up the field. Great runs to Kidds Beach (half way check point) and plenty of dolphins along the way riding the swells with us (amazing memory). Our quick start meant that many of the more experienced paddlers only started catching us after about an hour. Although a strange wave to read, Kidds Beach today was very small (in the past it has been a boat breaker so the sea gods were kind to us for this the last of our ‘known' obstacles) - probably the busiest beach we have stopped at. Guzzle down an energy bar and potatoes to stock up for the last stretch and we are off. Going out we should have gone deep (first time W has made the right call!) but I am persuasive about us taking heed of the advice given to us and hug the coast line to work the current. Bad decision - all the time we had gained on the first leg was given away and some - looking at the results later we must have dropped 20 places (on Day 4's log) over the last leg. Up until then our decision making had been clinical but today was probably clouded by our one and only major ‘pow-wow' at Kidds Beach backline were I wanted a banana and W did not want to stop to let me have it! Sounds silly now! I was seriously grumpy and had to stop myself klapping W over the head with my paddle. Stayed grumpy for much of the next hour!

Spirits climbed when we saw our final marker in the distance - a lighthouse on a point that juts out into the sea just before the EL harbour. Conversation in the ski (around about where the wreck is at about 15 km to go) - AH "We don't seem to be getting anywhere" (shoreline current not working and distant "deep" swells look much ‘juicier'); WH "I know we are" AH "How can you tell?" WH "Because that f'ing lighthouse is getting bigger!" Funny at the time!

Home straight around the harbour wall (managed to miss a large container ship that almost ran over Pete and Dave!) is obviously an amazing feeling but almost an anticlimax as we had started celebrating the ‘victory' in Hamburg. Very flat straight into the beach. Hitting the beach felt awesome - "powder blue" had made it with not a scratch! Mood at the end felt strange in a way - not like Dusi where there are pom-pom girls and announcers on loud speakers - just a few "well dones" from those that we had got to know and not much more but inside we felt like heros! Anton Fouche and Francois Ferreira (who had kindly come all the way down from Morgan's Bay to see us in) carried our ski up to the top whilst we savoured our glory. For the record, the last day had taken 4h12 (not too unhappy but probably a good 20 mins too slow for our liking).

Finish - sea like a millpond (Pic: Andrew Hardie)

Shower, more chats, prize giving at the Yacht Club (and a few ‘coolies') and headed back to Kenton for a well deserved night out on the town. Wrt the latter, in hindsight we should have joined the Cape Town paddlers in SFB to extend the feeling with fellow competitors and relive the war stories for a little while longer but a BIG evening out with the Sutherlands and Rileys proved to have the same effect!

William had had a great race. He drove well and more importantly, apart from one shoulder grimace on the 4th day, his body (and dehydration concern) had held out incredibly well. W's only complaint was his blistered lips which every competitor suffers from  - caused by the extreme reflection of the sun off the sea which also gave one or two paddlers sun blindness. I am not a fan of sitting in the back of a double but would do it again with W! To me the degrees of enjoyment / pain (whichever way you want to look at it) go as follows:- 1) Paddling in a double and enjoying yourself (although you don't talk much it is nice to have someone else there with you), 2) paddling in a double with someone you are continually arguing with, and 3) paddling in a single - although we were not in the second category it just has to be better that being all alone in a single for all those hours!

Feel like we have really achieved something (certainly one of my greater sporting moments) and nice to have been able to share it with William.

Finished! Andrew & Willam Hardie (Pic Andrew Hardie)

The winners were some 2.5 hours slower than the previous year's race which is a good indicator of the tough conditions experienced this year.

Net result - no swims apart from the two shore break ‘tip outs' at Woody Cape and Port Alfred; met some really good people; did the authentic route from PE to EL with all the mandatory check points and no direction changes; and, apart from the moments of pain, really enjoyed ourselves. One of 4 "Guatengers" to compete and the only Gauteng double. It could have been different if we had had some big swims and lost our confidence but, for this one, we were able to finish on a high.

If I ever move to the coast I will probably do it again but not if I continue to live in JHB as there are just too many sacrifices wrt time away from family (although Carol was an amazing support) and effort to drive to Durban. In addition, another 4 hour session on Emmarentia does not make me want to jump up and down with joy!

I now know how women can have more than one child as in the end only the good memories are remembered and the pain forgotten!

The End ........ for now ..........

Comments (1)

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Congrats
written by Gavin Dickinson, August 01, 2008

To complete this race from a base of Jhb (land locked - with a small local pond to train in) is a fantastic result. I am very sure that there will have been very few like you. Well done guys.

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