My ideal situation is seeing women coming out in numbers like they do in the lady’s races. Coming from the Western Cape township areas it is so disturbing to see the lack of women participants in our races or in any form of exercise. I know it takes courage to start but I promise you once you start there is no looking back.

The purpose of this post is to encourage more of our sisters to consider starting running or any form of exercise. The time spent on running or exercise you will realise later how much change it brings into your lifestyle. How wonderful it would be seeing most of our races being dominated by womenfolk. I challenge all ladies who are currently involved in running to entice their friends,colleagues, family members, neighbours and just about every lady to start up running.

In terms of our club we welcome everyone who wants to join us for training sessions and advice. We operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays at NY49 Stadium Gugulethu starting from 6pm.

You may want to contact our resident coach Marshal on 0846508785 for training session.

Come out in numbers.

I was asked why I run every race.

The reason why you see me at most, if not all, the races is that I am a member of Mille Miglia.Mille Miglia is a thousand miler club, comprising of members from athletic clubs in the western province.[Gugs have four representatives]

The goal is to cover a thousand miles [1609 km] within a year. Should you not reach a thousand miles you  still get acknowledgement for what ever mileage you did, if it is ASA or WPA approved .The members of this club are real kilometre junkies they reel in every available kilometre and this has probably rubbed off on me.

Last year [2010] I reached this remarkable achievement [1700 km]. The fun is to send in monthly details of races completed and to monitor progress. You will get a kick out of watching your mileage grow. So next time you see me at a race you know why. 

PS: “Yimmy” has more running vests than all of us combined at the club.

He was not pertubed about what he was up against and how fast these guys run all he had in mind was flying the Gugs flag across the continent.

Well done to Trevor Brown for representing RCS Gugs. We have had others doing the same across the globe and these and many stories we will post on our site.

His comments are: 

I had a fairly pleasant run in a time of 1h 54min.The course was fast and flat but the weather turned very hot half way thru the race.It good experience.

I was surprised with the differences in staging a race :

1)No KM marker boards on route

2)No water sachets – they use 300ml bottled water which must be helluva expensive.

 However a very well organised race.

As we have just launched our site one of the things we want to achieve is to get our members exposed in terms of having weekly spotlight on any member who sends/responds to this email by answering or giving us valuable information about themselves and their picture.

 1.       How do you feel about Gugs athletics? –  I feel at home – I feel honoured to be part of this elite group of runners.

2.       What do you think about athletics in the township? –  I’m not in the township – so no comment

3.       Which of your personal best times are you most proud of?   I’m proud that I could finish comrade both times ’08 & ‘09     

4.       What is your favourite distance? – Any –between 10 – 21km

5.       What is your favourite race? – Safari 21km

6.       How do you get to races? – own transport

7.       Are you going to Comrades in 2010? – Definitely

8.       What accolades have you collected, team prizes, individual, lucky draws etc. – none – But I’m more confident in races

9.       Who inspires you? –  Grand master runner’s – I ask myself will I reach this age and still be able to perform like they do. Anger – if I come back form a run I feel relaxed and stress-free.

10.   What would like to see happening in the club?  That the club go hiking and do so trail runs                

11.   What community initiatives would you like us to be involved in?  -  An Awareness Campaign – The benefits of running / walking and attracting new members

12.   How often do you participate in races?  - As often as I can

13.   What do you think of team spirit? – Great, all are polite and friendly

14.   Any additional input?  A Possible change in the tracksuit design. At races try and group together and socialise and show our presence

To get member’s views we sent out a questionnaire to all members and in this feature we will be featuring different member’s input. So read on ….

How do you feel about Gugs athletics? – Have not been a member long enough to comment but I saw at the 2Oceans, I like a lot.

1. What do you think about athletics in the township? – Have not been exposed to it
2. Which of your personal best times are you most proud of?        
3. What is your favourite distance? – 21km
4. What is your favourite race? – 2Oceans
5. How do you get to races? – own transport
6. Are you going to Comrades in 2010? – No
7. What accolades have you collected, team prizes, individual, lucky draws etc. – Nothing
8. Who inspires you? – Politics – Obama and athletics – Bruce Fordyce
9. What would like to see happening in the club?  - No comment                
10. What community initiatives would you like us to be involved in?  - No comment
11. How often do you participate in races?  - not often
12. What do you think of team spirit? – what I’ve seen has been good
13. Any additional input…..nothing at this stage