White Clay victory

The White Clay Challenge is an annual event hosted by a Coffee Bay establishment. It is 21km of serious hills - see picture. If you look closely you can see white dots (people) going up a hill. In 2008 a large Zithulele contingent ran, last year no-one did, and on Saturday, JT bravely decided to be our lone Zithulelean representative for this year's race. Everyone else was either away, sick or not fit enough.

Marlie, Megan and I got up early and went in search of JT to be her support team. Above is the view from the first hill we parked on. Up until that point I was considering the possibility of entering for next year, but after a very dramatic visual reminder of the terrain, I quickly changed my mind. It is very beautiful though!

JT ran like a legend. We managed to see her about 6 times during the race as we drove around spectating. She hardly even looked tired!

We took our role as JT's support team very seriously and made sure she became a celebrity in the race by displaying our poster everywhere we went. Other runners were continually asking "Who is JT?" and "Where is JT?" the answer was usually: "she's ahead of you!" JT encouraged us to start rumours that she had won the race for the past 5 years in a row!

White Clay had banners and tents and allsorts of festivities rarely seen in the Transkei. Below we see JT approaching the finish line, looking strong.

The champion completed the race 2 hours 20 mins and came 28th! What a legend!

JT's legendary support team :)

JT reveals her secret: