Andre's First Post

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Created on Monday, 04 March 2013 20:02

Written by Andre Hawarden

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I guess leopards never change their spots. I couldn't get to the Dusi this year so rather than go crazy reading about the Dusi, I entered a new event. I've never been a swimmer so I challenged myself to train for and enter the Xterra full in Grabouw last weekend. The Xterra is an off road triathlon that consists of a 1.5 km open water swim, 27 km mountain bike ride, and 12km trail run. It enjoys huge popularity in the USA and the rest of the world, and with the increase of popularity in mountain biking, trail running and open water swimming in SA, is becoming very popular locally with events being run in Knysna, Buffels Poort and Grabouw. The Grabouw event is the SA Championship.

Well I managed to finish in a reasonable time and I was the winner in my age group category (65 – 70 years). In actual fact I was the only competitor! All the other guys were too lazy, or too chicken (or perhaps just more sensible!) so I got the medal on the podium! Way to go Andre, there you go again, a doddering old 64 year old! (I must add here that I feel quite vindicated in accepting the congratulations for winning because I was the 2nd fastest in the next younger age group as well 60 – 64 years)

The result of all this is that I have been awarded an entry into the Xterra World Championships (Good grief, I'd be representing SA!) in October; the only problem is that they are in Maui, so I'm rushing around looking for sponsorship.

The real urgency is that the entries have to be registered by the 10th March so I have a week to raise $475.00. (You know I don't have anything like that in the bank!)

So that's where this crazy old ADDer is at this moment in time. I've opened 2 whole new cans of worms. The first is getting to Maui, and the second is a new secondary cause linked to me having Rheumatoid Arthritis. One in every 250 juveniles in SA has a crippling form of Arthritis! There is medication that can help some of them but it is costly and the State doesn't supply the drug if the parents can't afford it. So, I'm on a mission to raise awareness of Juvenile Arthritis around the world and to help raise funds for specific medication.

If there are any ADDers who want to chat about anything, if you have advice for me, if you want to talk exercise, just contact me!

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