Photos taken by Humphrey Lewis in Hout Bay at this year's Two Oceans

Sue Brewin is a former Phobian now resident in Ireland. We are very grateful for her regular contribution of interesting and amusing articles on her running exploits, both locally and abroad. Thanks again, Sue, for your latest account: 

ROME 2012

THE MARATHON THAT NEARLY WASN’T

Sue at the Rome Marathon

I have an impulsive side and that sprang into action once I finished the Dublin Marathon in October last year (see "Tale of theTwos/ Too's" below). I decided there and then that I had to do Two Oceans again. This was a joke on its own as I entered as an international athlete which costs an hell of a lot more than a local – much to the amusement of Rowan. You do, however, receive a number of additionals as such and I shall take advantage of all of them!!

Back to the story of Rome – so the Ultra was entered and now the worry was to get the distance in as Europe was in the grips of winter cold and darkness so training was not easy. There were only trail marathons in the UK (not my forte) so I opted to enter Rome as I love the city and international marathons are very special. This I did not thinking that 3 weeks before Oceans may be a bit close.

I actually never gave it any thought that I never received a confirmation mail or race updates but my business life has been so hectic that I would not have noticed anyway. Imagine then my surprise when I arrived at registration in Rome to find I was on the “pending “list. I headed off to the pending desk only to find that in my impulsive, ill preparation I had failed to notice that one needs to complete a medical form with the doctor’s signature and stamp!!! I could not get cross as it was my fault and there was absolutely no way you could even get a number without it.

I then called my man in the UK who luckily had a good GP friend and they managed to get this completed and sent back to me at registration 4 hours later!! It was a bit stressful I must admit but for all those planning to run in Italy remember the form as apparently it is law over there. The expo was quite big and most of the European races were there but I think once you have seen one expo you have seen them all.

With race number in hand I made my way back to the hotel and a large glass of wine!! I chose an hotel in the city centre so I could walk to the start at the Colosseum and arrived an hour before the 09h00 start. The warm up gym class they love over here was underway and the usual buzz of the big marathons. It was incredibly well organised and actually felt quite surreal standing at such an historic site surrounded my fellow runners whilst they played – Its Amore!!

The route is incredible and takes in all the wonderful historic sites of the city as it weaves through the streets and it was a stunning sunny day which also helped. It takes your breath away at 17km when you round the corner and the Vatican is right before you. The same can be said for all the other famous landmarks dotted around the route. As you run through the Piazza’s they are packed with people out for lunch so the crowd support is superb. Water tables and sponging stations were every 5km and there were biscuits and fruit available in the second half as well as the water and Gatorade. The route is fairly flat but the most difficult thing is the cobbles – 30-40% of the race is on cobbles and this slows you down quite a bit especially if you are cautious of falling like I am!!.   I did see a few South Africans but the majority of the field were European and quite a few were at my hotel and were very friendly.

The finish is back around the Colosseum which just perfectly ends this wonderful race. I then decided I knew my way back to the hotel ( not!!) and finally had to admit defeat and call a taxi. When he arrived I only had the name of my hotel and not the address which infuriated him no end and he kept crossing himself – I am sure he was swearing about me as well. I actually sat in the backseat in my space blanket just laughing as he was so cross and could not just dump me. He did find the hotel and I did give him a tip so all happy in the end.

I had a few additional days walking through this wonderful city, enjoying the great food and kept their economy going by shopping up a storm. It was a wonderful experience and I hope to do may more European races in the future. Venice is next on the radar so watch this space……

Hope to see many of you in Cape Town. Travel safe

Elbert Loubser's account of the Deloitte Half Marathon

25 February 2012

I arrive at the PHSOB Club venue set out to find the start amidst the 9000 other participants. Past the long queue at the toilets, out the main gate and left up past the Shell garage. On the corner it took some planned footwork to get through the huge crowd of 10k participants.

I was most impressed when I actually heard the gun shot. I was able to reach the start banner (corner Church Ave and Lynnwood road) under 30 seconds (as opposed to five and a half minutes at Tuks the previous weekend). We climbed Atterbury road and then swung towards the West into 11th Street. I join up with Pieter van Schalkwyk (RAC), Gerhard and Hettie Fourie (Fit 2000). Although quite humid (started sweating quite copiously), the temperature was quite mild with large patches of overcast clouds keeping direct sun rays at bay. The climb up towards the highest point in the race starts seriously as one corners around the Menlo Park shopping centre and curves left into Thomas Edison Street. A little respite and then Sidney Avenue blends into a right curve into Aries, all the way up-up to Johan Rissik Drive. Past a most inviting water table stretch (probably due to the knowledge that the worst has been conquered. And then starts one of the most scenic, runner-usable sections in the whole of Pretoria. Yip, other than a few ‘bumps/ascents’ on the way down to Klapperkop, the body welcomes the thrill of being able to open up the cadence throttle somewhat. The pipe band welcomes one as we hit the downhill section after the two water reservoirs. The nine kilometre board is left in our wake. Hmmm, maybe, with a bit of a stretch in stride, a sub six minute kilometre from 9 to 10 might be on the cards. Rina from Alpha Centurion joins the ‘rabbit’ chase. Suffice to say, the stop watch lap time for 9 to 10 registered 05:16 as we flashed by the 10 kilometre marker board. Ok, next target was to get to the 15 kay mark as close as possible to 2 hours. Rebuilding energy and recovering from that devastatingly (in my frame of reference) fast kilometre, we glided down to the Fountains Circle. Yip, there are sections here where I get that feeling of what the couple (actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio) must have felt, standing on the railings of the front-deck of the Titanic. So we pace ourselves up George Storrar Drive, turn left going past the SABS, take a break up Dr Lategan Road, gather our stride and hit the 15 kay board (next to Magnolia Dell) in 01:59:58. Mission accomplished, second goal gets a tick.

Approaching Pretoria Boys High from the West, we negotiate the steep incline into the school grounds, as the leader of the marathon makes us look like we are searching for a parking space. As usual, the school brass band is busy packing up their instruments, so once again, no entertainment afforded to us. Ok, they apparently are there every year for quite some time before we are able to grace them with our presence. So as to their musical ability, I still cannot give back an objective ‘first hand’ report, after several years of running this race. The watering point in the school grounds brings up a thought: The ‘worst’ of the hills are now behind us. From here on, one only needs to keep things together and work gently on the remaining 5.1 kays. Whilst in the school grounds, the lovely shade and school buildings contributes to that ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ and ‘Spud’ movie type of ambience and feeling which wafts over me. Actually a pity that one is psychologically plucked back into ‘reality’ as one negotiates Roper Street. Granted, the dense foliage overhead of Anderson Street, somewhat eased the ‘reality shock’. Eish! Beautiful trees! At the watering point in Anderson Street, the marathon second lap split point, reminds me of a sensible decision made to only enter for the 21.1 (nope, haven’t been brave for quite some time now. For those that did the marathon, well done! This is not an easy route. With enough time in hand for a sub three hour ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival), by grace, all seeming well in control, we worked our way back via Rosemary Road and Queens Crescent. The sloping downhill of the latter and the familiar circuit around the Phobians field (just shy of the thick ropes demarcating the edge of the cricket field, lined with numerous different coloured Athletic club gazebos) brings an end to ‘another hard day in Africa’. . A lovely, enjoyable, well organized race!

Click here for a slide show of all the Deloitte 2012 Winners

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THE TALE OF THE TWOS/TOO’S 

This is the tale of the twos/too’s

Two beautiful cities

Two international marathons

Too much food

Too much wine

Too much fun

Dimitri arrived in Dublin on the 28^th October to start a two week holiday which would take in both the Dublin and Athens Marathons. Since I am now resident in Dublin it seemed like a great idea for me

# to go across to Athens and do the iconic Athens Marathon – now 2501 years old.

Dublin is a wonderful city and having guests always allows me to show it off and to go and visit new pubs, restaurants and shops. The registration for the event was at the RDS in downtown Dublin, close to the Aviva stadium and after a breakfast off Grafton Street we met up with another friend of mine visiting from SA and made our way there in horrific traffic. Dublin does not do so well with large volumes of traffic at times and this was one of them. Once we were parked and got in the expo was quite good and collection of numbers and goody bags very slick. The running chips are attached to your number which is very practical as you don’t have to bend down to take if off the laces at the end. The expo was much like ours with stands for apparel and international races and had a nice vibe to it.

The race was on Monday the 31^st and we took a cab to the start in Merrion Square. We were there early so went to a nearby hotel and had coffee and waited before handing in tog bags and going to the start. The people of Dublin love the race and have no issues with runners all over the hotel and bathrooms. The race started in waves according to your predicted times and there were 14000 entrants. The route is stunning – goes from the city centre, through the Phoenix Park and then back around the suburbs and into town. The crowds are out all over the place with music outside pubs and people dressed up for Halloween. The water points are every 5km and 4 have energade the rest have only water. We started in good weather but by the time we reached the end it was lashing rain and really cold and Dimitri really lost his sense of humour when we could not find a taxi to get home!! We eventually did and were very grateful to be back in my warm apartment. I had to go back to work but Dimitri spent the week exploring Dublin and in the evenings we tried out different venues to eat and drink. We also went to the local Leinster vs Munster rugby derby at the Aviva and then back into town for dinner – Dublin still rocks at 1am. We even managed another run on Saturday morning just to remind our legs there was another marathon looming!! It was a freezing morning and we were underdressed, the local kitten followed us until we had to run around the estate to lose but we had a great 15km in the Phoenix Park.

I had to go via Rome to Athens on business so Dimitri kindly dropped me off at the airport at 05h30 – a good friend indeed and then proceeded to oversleep himself the next morning and miss his flight but he can tell you that story!! I did not get to see much of Rome as we were working 8 to 8 but we did have a dinner out with stunning Italian food and I met wonderful global Colgate people from South America who taught me some Spanish language basics. I flew to Athens on Wednesday morning and spent an hour in the queue to get through security – the joys of international travel. Dimitri and his cousin Nick picked me up at the airport and we went down to the coast for coffee at the stunning Weston hotel overlooking the Ocean and from there on it just seemed like food and wine 24/7. We did the tourist thing which means a lot of walking thank goodness and Dimitri’s apartment is close to the subway so getting around is really easy. Athens is so old and the Greek mythology makes it so interesting – we did the Acropolis and the stunning new museum, the Lykavittos , shopping the high streets and had a run up into the suburbs just to make sure the legs were still there. Registration for the Athens Marathon was in town near the parliament buildings in a stunning old building – it was similar to Dublin in terms of stands and offerings but here we got chips for our shoes. We had to catch a bus to Marathon for the start and it was freezing cold, howling wind and rain and we arrived there 2 hours before the start. You have to understand there is no protection for the 10 000 runners and again I was not prepared for this. Luckily we squeezed into the elite athletes changing tent with 50 others and kept warm there. It was quite handy as it had two toilets in it so you did not have to go far and we met some interesting athletes . We were thrown out of there with 45 mins to go and had to face the elements until the gun. We started in waves again and we went off 2 minutes after the leaders so it was not too bad. It is a flat start to the race and then from 10km to 20 it undulates through the little villages outside of Athens. There were water/energade tables every 2.5km after 5km and toilets at every stop. From 20-30km is an uphill battle and then it drops back down to the city for the fantastic finish in the original Olympic stadium. I will never forget the moment as you run in and the Acropolis is above you – it brings tears to your eyes. The weather conditions were terrible and the cold is quite tiring but luckily the wind was behind us for most of the race. We had to have a few photos in the stadium afterwards and I must admit I lost my sense of humour here as it was so cold so we were one all in the bad mood stakes at this point. We caught the subway back to the apartment and the journey was over.

It has been a wonderful two week of different wines, different foods, funny cab drivers, good and bad weather, lots of laughs, different cultures and sayings, new friends, beautiful cities and wonderful new memories. It is really worthwhile doing these trips and I hope to do many again in the future.

So fair Play and Bravo to Dimitri for coming over to do the races and my door is always open to any other takers for next year’s double!!

Charles Stewart and Patsy were meant to join us but had to pull out as Patsy has an hip injury. We wish her a speedy recovery and thanks for all their great support.

Sue Brewin

Dublin

 CHAMBERLAIN CAPITAL CLASSIC 2011

THANKS AGAIN, PHOBIANS & ALPHA CENTURION
From our Chairlady

Thank you Phobians, Alpha Centurion, family and friends in making the Chamberlain Classic a great success, despite the rugby and school holidays. We had 3079 finishers over the 3 distances.

I would firstly like to thank our sponsors, Chamberlain Hardware. Thank you Dawie. Without your sponsorship, the event would not have happened. The T-shirts were a great hit this year.

To the pipe band that played at the start and at the finish. Thank you for all your hard work. The athletes enjoyed your playing immensely.Thank you Zurani for your input. The music was stirring!

Thank you to all the watertable Captains and their team; Run away sport at the finish, on the route Running Inn, Sportsman warehouse with Phobians Anita and Chris, the DA with Phobians, captained by Brandon and the Alpha Centurion water point.

To all our marshalls a special thank you, the athletes rely on you. Thank you to Wulf, Menno and Jannie for being out at 4 am directing traffic. To Bokkie and Pietsie for bunting off Queens Crescent before day break.Thank you to those who worked at entries and at the finish.

To Neels, thank you for entertaining us and doing the compare for the event.

Thank you Derrick for setting up the finish and for doing the time keeping.

A special thanks to:

Our committee, who attended endless meetings putting all in place for the big day, thank you. To Hennie who spent many hours organising along with Dimitri, the Pepsi and water and for getting it to the water tables along with the help of Gustav. Thank you Ryan for seeing to the marshals. Thank you to Gerald and to Bert and Mike from Alpha Centurion who had jobs that required huge dedication. Thank you to Dimitri and Roy for driving the lead car and Henry for leading the 5 km fun run. To Mike, Hannes and Kenny for setting up the Start and Finish. Thank you Leon, for sorting all the payments and counting of the money on the day.

Thank you to Marina, who is not a Phobian, having had an accident, and without a car, still managed to be there to help at a water point.

Thank you to Rick for sorting out the Scouts parking area and to the scouts for the delicious pancakes. Thank you for the specialised coffee and to Dawn for her hamburgers and boerewors rolls.

Last but not least to Louis Legat and his team, thank you for a spotless venue and for having the barmen on duty. The rugby fans appreciated being able to watch the world cup matches while having their favorite beverage!

Please remember to return your bibs and flags to the club, we will need to do stock taking before the Deloitte marathon.

Elise McFadyen

The article below, written by founder member Joop Buhrs, who is still with Phobians, was published in the November 1991 edition of THE PHOBIAN RUNNER, on the 10th anniversary of the club. The full newsletter makes interesting reading and can be downloaded by clicking on the cover image below.

ESTABISHMENT AND EARLY HISTORY OF
PHOBIANS RUNNING CLUB

1.0      ORIGIN

In 1981 there were only two running clubs established in Pretoria, viz. Pretoria Marathon Club and Harlequins.

During the second half of 1981 the idea arose to establish a new running club in the east of Pretoria, with its home base at Pretoria High School Old Boys Club.

The word was spread by a.o. our former chairman John Bucke and Johnny Cave and an inaugural meeting was arranged to be held at the Old Boys' Club. 

2.0      INAUGURAL MEETING

The exact date of this meeting is uncertain, since no minutes were kept Possible dates are 21, 22 or 23 September 1981.

Chris Petty had been in contact with the NTAAA concerning requirements to establish a new club. He reported to the meeting that a minimum of ten members would be required.

A list was circulated among the persons attending to obtain the necessary quota of signatures.Unfortunately the list has gone astray. After careful research and interviews, it can be established that the following persons did attend and sign:

John Bucke, John Cave, Chris Petty, Joop Loeve, Bean Bornheimer, John Songster, Gary Paul, Kim Leslie, Greg Gamble and Neville Moorby.

Chris Petty was delegated to register the Phobians Marathon Club with NTAAA, and draw up a formal membership application form.

3.0     STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Further to the inaugural meeting, John Bucke arranged a Steering Committee Meeting, which was held on Thursday, 24 September 1981, and attended by John Bucke, John Cave, Gary Paul, Chris Petty and Andrew Birtwhistle.

The name "PHOBIANS" appears on the heading of the Minutes of their

meeting.

Main subjects dealt with:

-   Affiliation with NT Athletic Association and NT Marathon Runners Association

-   Membership

-   Club runs

-   Club colours

-   Club Committee

It was agreed that the First Annual General Meeting would be held on Wednesday, 30 September 1981, at the Old Boys' Club at 7.30 pm.

4.0    FIRST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Formal Minutes were kept by Chris Petty. The following Committee was elected:

John Bucke, Chris Petty, John Cave, John Songster, Joop Loeve, Gary Paul, Kim Leslie, Jerry Miller, Minky Gioia, Andy Birtwhistle, Greg Gamble, Dave Mabin, John Vickers and A. Louw.

5.0   MEMBERSHIP

Towards the end of 1981, membership had increased to 23 members, following further applications by:

Neville Moorby (undated), Bik, Barry and Marcel van't Slot (12 Oct). Mike Antelme (14 Oct), Neil Mole (24 Oct),Tony Brown (8 Nov), David Lilley (23 Nov), Mike Ruane (25 Nov) and Wolf Reusch (8 Dec).

By end February 1982 total membership had risen to 34.

At a Committee Meeting held on 21 June 1982 it was reported that membership stood at 43 with 5 people "in the pipeline". Subscription fees amounted to R60 per annum for Senior Men. Ladies (unmarried) over the age of 21 paid R30 per annum. Married Ladies enjoyed a discount of R5 on this amount.

Club colour vests were obtainable at under R4 and red shorts at approximately R7 (Albie Bates' shop - Halfield).

The early vests were based on the Boys High vest in rather heavy cloth (white) with red and green stripes and the word "PHOBIANS" in red on the top left. The members that still possess a "wearable" issue of the old vest are encouraged to use it at the annual 15 km handicap race.

6.0    AFFILIATION

On 10 November 1981 the Northern Transvaal Amateur Athletics Association granted provisional affiliation for a period of one year. After the follow-up application for permanent membership, Chris Petty was advised that the conslitution of the NfAAA had been changed to restrict this body to track and field only, and roadrunning would fall under the jurisdiction of the Northern Transvaal Marathon Association. Permanent affiliation with the NTMA had already been granted on 15 April 1982.

 Cover of the November 1991 Newsletter

Click on image to download full newsletter (600kB)