Chatting to an Olympic Paddler - Tiffany Kruger

Toti’s very own paddle-powered Olympian, Tiffany Kruger is settling back into reality after her extraordinary adventure to the London Olympics in August this year.

Reflecting after the this auspicious occasion, Kruger enthused, “My highlight of the Olympics would definitely be competing against the best in the world, whilst having an enormous amount of support from all those back home and not to forget the huge crowd support from the banks of the lake, one moment I will remember for the rest of my life!”

Competing in a field of 29 ladies in the 200m Women’s Kayak K1 category, the 25 year old sprint specialist was eliminated in the heats, “For me the race was on another level completely everything you imagine it to be you can multiply that by ten. The organisation was phenomenal and the course was amazing, making everything perfect.”

She cheerfully continued, “Having had the opportunity to compete at London 2012, I certainly learnt a lot and know what needs to be done moving forward, that being said I am looking forward to Rio 2016 and all the competitions prior to the next Games. I am excited to move forward with a new perspective and a new plan.”

Having only arrived towards the end of the games, she made the most of her time soaking up the experience, “The fan park was phenomenal there were so many remarkable athletes present although I did get to meet Olympic Gold Medallist in the high jump event, Ivan Ukhov, a real inspiration.”

“I had the honour of attending the Closing Ceremony. I must say that it was one to remember being surrounded by all the top athletes in the world, many wearing their medals around their necks, watching the biggest concert in the world. It really brings unity and ended off with an introduction to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games which I must say excited me the most.”

Being back at home, the dynamite package had a month break after the Olympics, “My life revolved around training and preparation for London so it was really nice just to sit back and relax and do absolutely nothing. Since my return, I have also been involved in a few events and fundraisers which kept me busy and which I really enjoyed.”

Considered to be fledgling in the paddling world, Kruger is eyeing out her next big item on her to-do-list, Rio 2016 is most definitely on my list. I would also like to go back to my roots in the ocean and do some lifesaving and surf ski paddling to mix it up.”

Her eyes light up when she talks about her passion, “The best part of paddling? The scenery, we get to travel to some picturesque places and the lakes, dams and rivers are beautiful. The people in the paddling world are really down to earth and I have made many friends along the way.”

Having experienced one of the biggest sporting events in the world, Kruger urges, “Anything is possible if you are dedicated and love what you are doing.  Never lose the love for the sport!”

Asked what she would like for her legacy to be, she confidently responds, “Passionate, dedicated and a role model to up and coming athletes.”

Kruger is hoping to notch up another milestone in her career that of a Guinness World Record where she, along with 5,000,000 from 96 countries will be shooting a hoop on 13 October as part of the YMCA World Basketball Challenge Hoop Springs Eternal.

ENDS

Royal Natal Yacht Club's Opening Cruise 2012

Royal Natal Yacht Club

Opening Cruise 2012

Durban Harbour: 16 September

Durban sailors dusted off their gear eagerly ahead of the 2012/2013 summer sailing season, taking part in the joint Opening Cruise hosted by the Royal Natal Yacht Club in glorious spring weather in the Durban Harbour yesterday (Sunday).

The Commodore of the Royal Natal Yacht Club, Richard Crockett was joined by Point Yacht Clubs’ Commodore, Trevor Donald; they stood alongside fellow dignitaries, the Speaker of the eThekwini Municipality, Logie Naidoo and the NSRI Station Commander, Clifford Ireland all standing to attention taking the salute.

In admiration of their recent victory at the 2012 Lipton Challenge Cup, the Currie Cup of sailing, heroes in the Durban sailing community, skipper Ricky Robinson, and his crew Brennan Robinson, Jof Heathcote, Sean Van Rensburg, William Crockett and team manager Gregg Dobson were guests of honour during the opening ceremony. The young team dethroned False Bay Yacht Club’s Andre Giovanni and returned the cup to warmer waters after it was last here in 1984 and last won by the Royal Natal Yacht Club 39 years ago.

An array of yachts all participated in the traditional sail past; the procession was led by the Honorary Commodore, Willy Vandeverre on the yacht Kimaya, beautifully dressed for the occasion. The flotilla followed in a single line with the NSRI, club safety vessels and the recently elected Rear Commodores from adjoining clubs concluding the ceremonies.

In passing, the 45 yachts greeted the VIPs on board the main yacht with three cheers raising their hats, the salutation was heartily returned.

28 boats remained after the formalities to stretch their legs in a social race where the yachts competed in a light easterly chasing around a triangular course set in the harbour. The race was started on mass and was led from the start by Nigel Miln on Skitzo.

Positions across the line

1 Skitzo (Nigel Miln), 2 Choose Life High Performance Sailing Incognito (Byron Watt), 3 Ladybird (Andrew Dolloway), 4 Bellatrix (Gregg Hurter), 5 Flying Spaghetti Monster (Mike Pammenter), 6 Bandit (Sean Jones), 7 Prodigy (Chris Frost), 8 Choose Life High Performance Sailing Element (Jay De Engel), 9 Stoked (Struan Campbell), 10 Therapy (Gavin Wadsworth)

For anyone who would like to get involved in sailing, contact Gayle on 031 301 5425 to book a spot on a yacht in the upcoming Garmin Wednesday Twilight Sailing.

ENDS

YMCA World Basketball Challenge Hoop Springs Eternal

  

Durban: Albert Park: 13 October

Five continents, 96 cities, one day all with one aim, to mobilise 5 million people during a global celebration of shooting hoops in an attempt to create a Guinness World Record on 13 October with the YMCA World Challenge Hoop Springs Eternal.

Basketball originated at the YMCA in 1891. A physical education teacher, Canadian-born James Naismith invented the game when he took a soccer ball and a peach basket into the YMCA gym, thus a new game was born.

The YMCA event will take place in thousands of local communities around the world highlighting a global basketball shoot-out that starts in New Zealand, and ends in Hawaii following the time zone progression. The day’s activities will be connected by live broadcasting and other forms of social media during the day, creating a link with various communities and cultures.

The official count will be around how many people are shooting basketballs on the day, not the actual scoring of the goals.

Rev Ian Booth, CEO of the Greater Durban YMCA stated, “We are hoping that everyone coming to Albert Park will be brave enough to shoot a hoop. The whole day is going to be extremely colourful, along with some competitive action on the court.”

“The day is about fun, but also an opportunity to display what the YMCA is all about. The message we would like to achieve is; make a contribution, get involved in your communities, there are some great things happening. We are creating a safe space for young people,” Booth echoed.

In South Africa, YMCA Athlone in Cape Town will be participating in this record attempt. The common element on the day will be basketball but a number of other attractions will keep the crowd entertained.   In Durban, the day will involve activities for all ages; basketball skill development, friendly basketball games, entertainment, food and tons of fun organised by Greater Durban YMCA.

The International Federation of Basketball (FIBA) and UNESCO are worldwide supporters of the initiative.

The events will be open to everyone. Come down to Albert Park and shoot a hoop, making global history at the YMCA Hoop Springs Eternal Global Challenge on 13 October. 

For more info contact: Thandeka Ntshangase on thandeka@saymca.org.za or 031 305 4496

To follow the event on Facebook like our page South Africa YMCA or Twitter on YMCA_SA

        

The Way

The peace and tranquillity of being outdoors, far away from civilisation is soul cleansing and such is the case as you spend time trekking along the Camino de Santiago or The Way of St James.

The Camino is an ancient Catholic pilgrimage in the north of Spain. The main route is usually from the South of France from the town of San Sebastian, nestled in the French Pyrenees and heads west to the awe-inspiring cathedral in the historic town of Santiago de Compostela, close to the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Spain. Nowadays a variety of routes can lead you to the cathedral and some pegrenos opt to continue their voyage and go further, catching a glimpse of the mighty Atlantic Ocean.

Everyone’s Camino starts in a different place and everyone’s reason for walking the Camino is as individual as the characters you stumble upon. I met several people who had left their homes months ago, all with the personal aim of landing up in Santiago de Compostela. A couple had spent months cycling from Sweden using different modes of transport to carry them and their hardy bicycles ever nearer, as did a retired wine grower from the North of Italy and an Austrian I met in Santiago, having left in the midst of winter and pedalled the entire way.

The most common way to tackle the Camino is the century old tried and tested hike, but nowadays you can also cycle it or mount a trusty steed to carry you to Santiago, the frowned upon version of driving it is also an option. You carry all your own gear, so packing intelligently and light are essential but stopping for food is a sociable way to meet people.

We had descended on Leon as this was the vibrant hub of all the main transport stops, staying the night before our travels would begin. Home of the most intricate stained glass cathedral in the world, Leon had an inviting European old town feel to it. Soaking up each dappled ray of light that fell from the magnificent centuries old windows was breath-taking and hours ticked by as we slowly circumnavigated the interior.

Cathedrals were the original albergues that housed pegrenos on their epic trail to Santiago; they used to travel from village to village, spending the nights in a house of God. Now-a-days it is totally different experience with a variety of accommodation options in some villages, although the reasoning for forging onwards still remains the same.

For us, we started at arguably the best spot, in the village of Astorga. We spent some time at the Catedral de Santa María de Astorga, admiring yet another feat of Spanish architecture. Time marched on encouraging us to hunt for the pilgrims’ friend, the yellow arrow or sign which would immediately point us in the right direction and continue to guide us to Santiago.

On departing, the horizon glistened with snow-capped peaks, but the weather was a contrasting gloriously warm spring day, the Europeans claiming this spring weather to be a heat wave.

When you are marching forward over a smorgasbord of terrain, for long stretches you have only the chirping birds and sound of your pounding feet hitting the gravel as company. Occasionally you would hear a Buen Camino which would jolt you back to reality as a cyclist would whiz past. This was the greeting and well-wishing or honoured code between pilgrims.

The landscape was ever changing, you would determinedly climb Tour De France like hills, or cruise through lavender lined level dusty paths or amble down steep rocky inclines, but all of it offered the most inspiring breath taking scenery. Some sections you would trudge along tar roads or wander along lush vegetation with a gargling stream flowing next to you or saunter beneath these huge viaducts that soared high above you carrying fast paced vehicles to their destinations. Your surroundings constantly changed, keeping the expedition refreshing and interesting.

Each day, as I looked at the horizon, the dominating whiteness on the mountains decreased and in its place a palette of changing colours, an artist’s dream. I would pause, imagining paths obstructed with easels as painters captured the glorious spring colours as they emerged after their hibernation.

Each town or village that you meandered through had its own feel. We passed derelict villages with ancient stone buildings all slowly crumbling to the ground. On one day we passed two villages, the first situated on a steep winding hill, this village had six inhabitants who had set up shop purely to support the passing pilgrims, offering food and liquid refreshments. The second was in a state of disrepair, two chaps were up on a step ladder weaving leaves together creating shade high above us. They had a pole with a number of large towns being pointed to, the little pointers giving you a rough guide to the distance to each of these places,  Paris 1,000km, New York many more. These two chaps were admirably breathing life back into this place, not having any running water and only recently connecting up to electricity. Observing the surrounds, it looked like the house that they were working on was the only habitable place in the village, with tumbled down stone buildings littering the surrounds.

The highlight for me would have to be the Monastery built in the 6^th Century, having spent the night in Hospital, a few days out from Sarria, at this stage I was travelling with Marc from Belgium and Gary from America. Gary insisted we stop in at the Benedictine Monastery of San Xuliam de Samos in the village of Samos and we managed to catch the tail end of the service.

Sitting at the back we followed all the prompts from the small congregation, standing or kneeling. The priest beautifully sang through a list of saints and then concluded the service. This was the biggest Western Monastery in the world according to Gary. What was really quirky about this town was at the entrance to the town, a small single pump petrol station rescued passing vehicles from dehydration. Towering over the petrol station was the enormous walls of the monastery, and as a car pulled into the bay, a monk wandered out to help.

Another memorable moment was the Iron Cross on the summit of Monte Irago, the cross soars high above a cairn of pebbles, each one individually laid by a pilgrim. The mound of pebbles each represent a wish, a dream, a problem, a failure or a secret and it is Camino tradition to pause here tossing your pebble onto the pile, releasing your burden. Regardless of what people tell you, tossing the stone onto this pile representing so much to so many is completely emotional.

The Camino charges your batteries in so many ways, you hopefully find answers to the questions that were being asked at the beginning of the voyage, and you are invigorated by nature – some people having spent six weeks or longer having the honour of being a pegreno. Everyone prefers to be by themselves, after all, for the majority of pegrenos this is a solo trip and have the joy of travelling at their own pace but you meet some truly humble people. The conversations are intense, somehow missing all the flimsy small talk that we all begin with. 

I caught a train to Santiago, having the fortune of staying one night in this dazzling place. I dumped my bags and wandered across in search of the Cathedral. I glided over cobbled small roads and eventually made the discovery. I entered into the square and was struck by the immense overpowering beauty of the cathedral. I sat for ages, gazing up at the magnitude of the church spirals, the windows, the guardians and statues looking down on the square, taking in as much of the details as I could. I then strolled to a nearby outdoor cafe, relishing a Spanish black rice paella and then made my way back to the cathedral to see it in all its beauty showered by lights at night.

The next day, I went back but this time to soak up the atmosphere. I sat observing the pilgrims as they entered the square. Some punched the air in absolute achievement, some collapsed in a heap sobbing, and others successfully embraced their new found friends. The air was charged with a mixture of emotion as a wonderful journey ended and also began.

The Camino, every moment of it is special, every moment of it is treasured. It is an odyssey where you discover so much about yourself, Buen Camino!