Transvaal 100 miler championships(very long)

["Budler, Cindy" <natcon@afrox.boc.com>]

Hi all,


Spent this weekend crewing for my friend , Johanni, at our 100 miler
championships at Alma in the Northern Transvaal. 
This area is in the Waterberg Mountains and is a very scenic area
although the ride itself is not a prettry ride as it is all on sand
roads.
 We arrived at 5 that evening only to find that they had moved the start
time forward to 9 pm because of the heat during the day. A major rush to
get all ready and try and grab something to eat.
 We vetted Zaleyah in(pulse 28) and got everything ready. The moon was
beautifully bright already by 7 pm and the evening was balmy with a
slight breeze. The field was very small as our top horses competed at
Hofmeyer last month for the WEG qualification and if they were not
chosen they are now being rested during Horse sickness injection period.
This was the first ride in our new division for 100 miler national
colours. The points sytem (based on Eldric) has been implemented and a
rider who obtains 400 points in 100 milers in a season obtains national
colours. 
Most of the riders were only doing the first two legs(116 km) for
experience before the new season next year. 
Everyone set off and the crews met them at the first point at 29 km.
There was no water on the trail at all, so this point was the first time
we could give them water. At this stage  Hennie Bezuidenhout was already
20 mins ahead of the pack and was followed by 2 juniors with Johanni and
her friend Juanita about 5th and 6th.
 The evening was beautiful - quiet and bright. We crewed every 7 kms and
went ahead of the riders to wait - quite a feeling to be sitting outside
in the bushveld hearing owls and birds waiting for the sound of hooves
in the distance. We always knew when it was our two as we heard voices
in the distance- not hooves!!
 At the first check we vetted in  after 2 minutes with pulse of 48..
Johanni and Juanita were still 5th and 6th. Fernando Kumba was really
going well on his boerperd Blok and was 3rd at that stage, Hennie still
had a 20 min lead. The second leg went well - the same route in reverse
- and the two juniors dropped out at the end of this stage. At this
check 2 min vetting pulse 50 and average speed 15km/hour. The moon went
down and for 15 min the riders rode in the dark , but the sun soon came
out and the day turned into a scorcher.
 The 3rd and 4th legs were the same and at the 3rd check Johanni and
Juanita were 2nd and 3rd with Hennie still ahead and Fernando 5th by 8
minutes. At the half way point in this leg we could see Hennie up front
so we were catching him , and Fernando came flying past us!!! His horse
was really going well at a long extended trot and looking perky and full
of go - he rode a very clever race!!!.
 7 km from the end and it was getting very exciting with Juanita giving
it all to catch the first two - Johanni decided not to race but to carry
on the same pace(17km/h) and let the others go.
 At the finish 51 seconds seperated the first three riders, with Johanni
5 minutes behind. Zaleyha crossed the line bright eyed and ears pricked
and a pulse of 52 in 2 minutes. She looked like she could do it all
again!!!.
 She is an amazing horse - this is her 7th 100 miler without dropping
out and she is 15 years old!! This is also the first time another horse
has ever passed her from behind on the last leg of a ride, so Fernando
really deserved his 2nd place.
A junior , Albert Dekenah came 5th overall on his first 100 miler on his
own!!!. He really had bad luck as his horse Zorro had fallen at our
national finals at the finish line on day one and really tore up his
knees. On the last leg of this ride he fell again 7 km from the end and
hurt the knees gain. They walked in , but the horse was sound , just
scraped so they got a completion after all.
Here are the final results - excuse the missing parts as needless to say
I was slightly brain dead after no sleep!!!

116 km Juniors
T. Smaller		7hrs20

116 km Lightweight
M Francis	Samurai	8hr47
JJ Du Toit			12h59

116 km Heavy weight
H Janse Van Vuuren		11h57

115 km Standard weight
R Wight		Subaka		11h56


165 km Junior
A Dekenah	Zorro		11h53

165 km Heavyweight
R. Lubbinge			
A Brown

165 km Standard weight
H. Bezuidenhout		10h02
F Kumba	Geepad Blok	10h02
J Doyer				10h02
J Geldenhuys	Marsoll Zaleyah	10h07
A De Kok			11h56
K Smit		Anke Rebel	12h00
R Roux		Drumbeat Eureka ?		
T de Wet			?			
M Strydom			?
?	
S Steenkamp	Aanjag		?
D Joubert			?	





Cindy Budler
National Contracts Department
Fabrication Division
Afrox
South Africa
Tel :27 011 871-1000
e-mail: natcon@afrox.boc.com