Two Bits – 30 years in the making

One of Ballito’s oldest clubs, the Dolphin Striders running club, will be celebrating their 30th anniversary later this month.

I have a very personal involvement with that club. A little while after arriving in Ballito I realised that booze was getting the better of me.

It had been developing over a while, through a very stressful job in Jo’burg (that was my excuse, anyway) and then starting The Courier on the smell of an oil rag.

I needed a lifestyle makeover and quick. One day I said ‘That’s it, I quit,’ and suddenly had all this time on my hands, previously spent at the Lali or Chaka’s Hotel.

So I decided to join the running club, which had been started earlier in 1987 by Richard Young, Joe White and a bunch of guys and girls.

Nothing like healthy exercise to fill the time! After a few months trotting around the block, I built up the courage to join the morning training run. It was unforgettable.

A group led by Joe and Errol Frame sprinted to Salt Rock and back to Ballito, about eight km.

I was nearly dead! Years later I cracked up when I heard that Errol had gone home that day and said to Clare, “I’ve just had the slowest run in my life with a long, tall fellow called Bruce”.

But for me it was a memorable achievement to have run with racing snakes like Joe and Errol and lived!

First Comrades was in ‘88 and I did get faster, to the point that in ‘93 I finished the down Comrades just 10 minutes behind Errol, him inside silver and me just outside.

Still slower than him, but improved.

Thing is, I’d given up a destructive lifestyle (and a bad bunch of ‘friends’ who evaporated as quick as you can say “Cane and Coke”) and found a whole new group of real friends who helped and encouraged me through thick and thin.

You might think it was a wrong move to join a club where members are known to take the occasional drink (but only when they’re thirsty) but in fact there was no pressure to have a beer.

Running also taught me how to focus on short and medium-term goals; how to choose an objective and work my way there.

There are also no short cuts in running, you have to put in the hard work if you want to see results. Much of what you learn in the sport can be translated into every aspect of life: marriage, relationships, business.

So Striders and running played a large part in my life – our lives, as Rose also caught the ‘bug’ and joined the club as a walker and made friends there.

That’s what got me on the road but not what kept me there. When you run a long way with someone you get to know them pretty well, warts and all.

Running groups talk a lot and some of the conversations, girls included, would make a sailor blush. I loved the sport, the fun and the friendships developed on the road that have lasted all of 30 years.

So, the club is calling all present and former Striders members to join them for a bash on Friday, August 25.

I’ve bought our tickets. Call Richard Young on 082 920 6014 to book your place.

* * * Well done to the municipality for getting started on fixing up Leonora Drive and Ocean Drive, which had long been held up by, in the first case, negotiation with Umgeni Water and in the second, by lack of money.

But as they say in the classics, shit happens! Reader Shellie Birnie, who’d just written to me complimenting the municipality for fixing her streetlights, was in despair Monday morning.

Last week they did such a good job cutting away the undercut tar on Leonora and filling it properly with crush and sand, but didn’t get around to the final step of tarring it or at least putting a temporary cap on it before TGIF hit.

On Sunday night, the heavens opened and we had a downpour of note, clocking 46 mm in Ballito. All that crush and sand washed down the road, as you can see from the photo.

Alas, some things you just can’t predict. Thank heavens the Ocean Drive fix is holding, so far.

May the daily exercise of playing dodgem cars along there end soon.

* * * Job interview for a psychiatrist’s office: So you’re interested in working with us.

What is your experience with mentally disturbed people? I’ve been on Facebook for five years now. Very good, the job is yours.