Big round of applause to Die Tuishuise and Victoria Manor (Cradock) and Blanco Holiday Farm and Guest Resort (Tarkastad) for providing free accommodation to the Long Road To Comrades team. Proper Eastern Cape style. Thank you David & Lisa Antrobus-Ker and Chris & Kim Laubscher. Your generosity and kindness is appreciated by the Long Road To Comrades team. For others able to host en route refer shared post.
For friends of The Grahamstown Project not yet in the know, these are the 10 athletes (sometimes spelt, “loonies”) running from Cape Town to PMB over 19 days and then on day 20 running the Comrades Marathon. An unusual way to tour through the magnificent Eastern Cape but, hey, it takes all sorts and we love them all.
I’m not aware of anyone previously attempting such a feat. There is The Unogwaja Challenge which is ride and run in the footsteps of Phil Masterton-Smith who cycled from Cape Town to PMB for the start of Comrades in 1933. He couldn’t afford the train fare. Our lot are raising funds for a very special charity Children of the Dawn.
Three of my former Sunninghill Striders Running Club club-mates are part of the team. Mike Sewell, Roger Cameron and Koot Steenkamp. Koot was our inspirational captain and the #AccidentalBusDriver of Comrades 2016.
Once their mighty challenge is complete would be great to see them back at Die Tuishuise and Blanco. Perhaps another tour to run the spectacular GBS Mutual Bank Mountain Drive Half-Marathon on Saturday 25 August 2018 in Grahamstown. For now, all the very best with your preparations!
http://www.tuishuise.co.za/victoria_manor_cradock.htm
http://www.blancoguestfarm.co.za/
http://www.grocotts.co.za/…/gbs-sponsorship-boost-for-loca…/
GRAEME HOLMES
Before moving back to Grahamstown in Oct 2017, Graeme was a bank executive based in the big smoke and craziness of Joburg. He has 20 years’ experience in the Payments Industry. He is a Chartered Accountant, has a Masters in Management by Research (MMR) from Wits Business School, and attended an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) offered by INSEAD (The Business School for the World!) in France.
Graeme is the founder of The Grahamstown Project. It’s simple. He says, “Grahamstown is a microcosm of South Africa. If we can’t get this place to function properly then the whole country is stuffed. Many of the troubles we experience as a country today have their roots here in Grahamstown. it is here where black and white people first engaged in conflict on the African continent. It is here where 9 wars of dispossession over 100 years took place and virtually destroyed the amaXhosa nation. But we are where we are. I don’t have a British passport and the boat-trip back to where my ancestors came from is exorbitantly expensive. Furthermore, this is my home. I am a son of Africa. We must work together to redress the injustices of the past and move as one into a brighter future.”
Graeme is an avid historian, writer, vlogger and public speaker. Like and follow the Facebook page. Join him on a tour. Contact him. He would love that.