Team www.AR.co.za in GoMulti Magazine

The new March/April issue of GoMulti Magazine is on the shelves and Team www.AR.co.za features in the Photo competition and MultiPeople sections. Thanks for your support GoMulti.

Team Triumph AR goes Urban

This morning I took part in the Kinetic Urban Challenge presented by Heidi and Stephan Muller and their team of helpers from the Sandton Biokinetic Centre. I raced in a girls team with Lauren Greeff and Debbie Smith; our team entry was sponsored by Triumph, which was one of the event sponsors (we got nicknamed - 'The underwear team').

When my alarm went off this morning at 05h30 I definitely didn't feel sunny - but by the time I got through to the Sandton Biokinetic Centre in Rivonia (Heidi & Stephan's gym and adventure store - and other stuff), the sun was up and the weather was looking great. Super vibe at the start - always good to see friends and catch up briefly on news.

After a quick briefing from Stephan (he is always helluva funny), we were off. The event had 4 sections; a run orienteering, run rally instruction, bike orienteering and bike rally instruction. You do have to alternate disciplines but can do either option in any order. We opted to do the run orienteering first, then bike O, then run rally and finally bike rally.

Each section had 'checkpoints'. They were different to the norm because instead of punching a passport at a flag, we had to answer questions like, "What colour is the gate at house number 15?" or "What is the name of the security company for the house with the green palisade fence?". If you're on the wrong road you won't get the answer correct.

Each of the sections took us between 30-45 minutes to complete - perfectly planned in terms of distance.

When we got to the finish we were treated to Heidi and Stephan's new creation... an inflatable obstacle course on the roof of their building. There are currently three large obstacles (Heidi is planning another two), which require you to clamber up, haul your butt up and slide over. Team work is definitely required because they're big obstacles - we couldn't even reach the top of them on tip-toes. A foot-up definitely helped (and being hauled up by your teamies already on top).

And then at the prize giving there was so much loot! Goodies from First Ascent, Buff, Asics, PeptoPro, USN, massage vouchers, bike service vouchers... Our girls team got fabulous gift packs from Nimue with sunblock and a very fancy body gel that stimulates lymphatic drainage and is specifically for after extreme exercise. Yeah baby. I also got another Buff for my collection (this time a pretty one; not a branded event Buff!) from the lucky draw. Debbie and Lobby also got lucky draw prizes (I can't remember what they got).

A really nice touch too is that the event sponsors all sponsored teams too, which is how we got so lucky with Triumph. It's a great match to our team too because we all wear Triumph's sports bras - and the same style - anyway.

The turnout at this event was quite low, which is surprising because it is right here in Joburg. Little traveling and nice and accessible; you get home before noon. Well, all the racers who missed this one - you definitely missed out. I can totally recommend coming to the next one in May.

I did Kinetic's first Urban event in about 2003 and I've done most (if not all) of the ones that followed. I'm really glad Heidi and Stephan are again presenting these fast and fun Joburg events. Wooohooo! Thank you - and well done on an excellent event.

The Purple Beemer & The Baboon

As seen on the N3 South at noon. I've seen a number of vehicles with Curious George-type monkeys hanging off the boot (trunk) but this combination of the purple beemer and the baboon (check its face) got me laughing.

Ultrarunning and AR tunes

Well over a year ago I was talking to Michael, an AR / ultra friend, about those silly songs that get stuck in our minds and that we hum over and over and over, especially when running alone on ultras. Elvis' 'Teddy Bear' is one ofmy personal favourites. I learned most of the words after being stuck with "I don't want to be a tiger, tigers play too rough / I don't want to be a lion, lion's ain't the kind you love enough / I just wanna be, your teddy bear" for more than 15 hours at H.U.R.T. 100km in Hawaii a few years ago. Now at least I can do some verses in addition to the chorus...

We then got on to talking about song titles and their suitability to these long events. My personal favourite is Chris Rea's 'The road to hell' and The Beatles 'Help!'.

Michael put together a list of songs chosed from their titles, applicable to AR and ultra running.

Please add to this list and I'll look at putting together a fun compilation.

• We're on a road to nowhere - Talking Heads
• The long and winding road - Beatles
• Help! - Beatles
• Do you know where you're going to? - Diana Ross
• Go your own way - Fleetwood Mac
• Going nowhere slow - Bloodhound Gang
• Runner - Mannfred Mann
• Under pressure - Queen
• All I need is a miracle - Mike and the Mechanics
• Run like hell - Pink Floyd
• Bridge over troubled waters - Simon & Garfunkel
• Road to hell - Chris Rea
• These boots are made for walking - Nancy Sinatra
• I will survive - Gloria Gaynor
• Bicycle race - Queen
• I'm going slightly mad - Queen
• Running on empty - Jackson Browne
• Raindrops keep falling on my head - BJ Thomas
• I'm walking on sunshine - Katrina and The Waves (original), also Dolly Parton (1996) and others