7 Dec '15: ATC NEWS

 
ATC Awards ’15 – ATC Pub Run ’15 – NO Canal Swim this week
 

ATC Awards ‘15

Welcome
After two weeks of frantic planning, sifting through hundreds of photographs, paging through scores of nominations and lots of debate over award winners, Chairman STeve Attwell called for calm and started proceedings at the 2015 ATC Awards Ceremony:
 
 “Good evening and welcome to Mykonos’s Taverna for the 9th annual ATC Awards evening.  It’s an evening of rich tradition, celebrating sportsmanship, acknowledging excellence and of course, awarding the best dressed at the Clanwilliam after party!  And… let’s hope you didn’t, but if you did, you will be fined with tequila for really silly things you did during the year.
 
ATC has lots to boast about, (and don’t worry I WILL get to that), but right now, I am going to boast about our special guests we have here tonight.  Before I introduce them, let’s explore the possibilities.  Perhaps we have the President of Triathlon South Africa here, the rock solid, the buck stops here, the get up and go, Dr Debbie Alexander?  Perhaps we have the General Manager of Western Province Athletics, the take it on the chin, work out a solution growing the sport while dodging bullets from all corners, Sue Forge.  Perhaps, just perhaps, we have the VOICE OF TRIATHLON, the only South African commentator to have ever announced not only the World Ironman Champs in Kona, but also presented the coveted awards ceremony on the island, Paul Kaye!  And perhaps, just perhaps, and I am not promising anything here, but we might just have the Reb Bull sponsored ITU heart throb, the pin up boy of South African Triathlon, the common wealth silver medallist, the one to beat in RIO 2016, all round great guy, professional triathlete and ATC member, Richard Murray!  And last, but not least, there is a chance that the most popular weather man on South African TV is here tonight!
 
But before I reveal if we actually have these role players, I want to boast about the biggest asset that ATC has, and it’s not our new Kelfords 2.2 TDi Ford Ranger, or the Tri SPaza shop operating from the new look Container, or the club house in the sort after Green Lung on the Green Point Common, at the Green Point Cricket club,  nor the scanning in and out system that the City of Cape Town wants to duplicate and integrate into the Green Point Athletics Stadium, or the canal in the heart of the city where we’ve been hosting a swimming event every week of the year since 2012.  Nope it’s none of that.  It’s potentially the sponsorship opportunity that our club and website has, that attracts over 16 000 hits on a monthly basis, and now has attracted attention of one of the biggest sports apparel companies worldwide.
 
But still, we are not even close…
 
This asset doesn’t need a 15000km service like our Bakkie, or updating from time to time like the website, or rebooting like the online shop.  This asset, eats, sleeps and breathes commitment to the club.  This asset goes to bed ONLY once the all the work is done, and wakes up before Australia to respond to anything before the work day starts.  I have said before that if you find yourself at war then you want this guy on your team, but over the years I have realised that with this guy, I would be confident enough to start the war!  And this, special guest is here: Gert Wilkins.
 
When Alexander Bell invented the telephone he had 3 missed calls from Gert Wilkins…
Gert Wilkins knows who let the dogs out…
Gert Wilkins does not sleep. He waits…
Anyways, big appreciation to Gert Wilkins for everything you do, selflessly, for the club.
 
Special Guests
So now back to who are actually here too from the special guests?
ATC Members, please welcome:
TSA President, Dr Debbie Alexander!
Sue Forge, GM of WPA, was unable to make tonight but sends here apologies.
The Voice of Triathlon, Paul Kaye.  Unfortunately Paul is travelling abroad to another Ironman event but he sent us a video…
ECNA weather man Luis Fernandez!
And finally… and girls please don’t rush the stage, don’t throw sports bras, or empty sports drink bottles, let’s act sanely, no screaming, no pleading for autographs, just clapping and a little whooping please; special guests and members please welcome our super star, Richard Murray!”
 
The audience was treated to a welcome message from Paul Kaye, speaking from Bahrain ahead of the Ironman 70.3 Middle East Championship.
 
Richard was called to stage to accept a special trophy made by the wire & bead artisan ATC employs to make all our trophies and medals.
 
Said STeve:  “Richard please come up and collect the ATC good luck charm as you chase your goals and our hopes for the RIO 2016 Olympics.  And if you can imagine, while you are racing, in that final 10 Kms, we will all be sitting together, screaming your name at the TV, wishing you find the strength to fulfil every athletes dream and return home with a gold medal. Rich, we are backing you 100%!”
 
This was followed by the You Tube Video Clip:  Richard Murray: Triathlete ready to dethrone the best in the world
 
ATC Committee 2015
“Before we get the awards started, I would like to make special mention of the current committee, without whom the club could not continue to run.  Not only because it’s in our constitution, but because of the invaluable time and effort spent to the benefit of our members.
If you could come up and collect an appreciation of our gratitude:
 
Garth, the-go-to man, Dorman;
Paul, the-scrap, Gordon-Brown, our treasurer, chartered accountant, and as its tax season, speak to him if you need to submit your e-Filing by the 3rd of December;  
Anthony, always-put-your-and-up, Dean;
Travys, my-dad-is-Gert, Wilkins;
Jay, I-beat-Ryk-Neetling-over-50m-at-World-Champs-last-year, Richards;
Jacqui Vockins and Ilze Els, Gert’s on-hand-help for over-flowing admin;
Kevin, no-sponsor-too-big to approach for help, Anderson;
Barry Goliath, development officer extraordinaire;
And last, but not least, Japie, pass-me-the-hammer, Bingle.
 
Special thanks to Hilda Visagie for her unwavering help towards the club for the past 2 years.  She has stepped down from the committee earlier this year.”
 
This is our 9th (actually, the 10th , but the first awards ceremony was held shortly after the club started) awards ceremony and next year ATC turns 10!  So next year will be our STEP UP celebration of the decade:  A black-tie affair with a hot dog MC, at a grand venue.  Next year, in addition to the annual awards, we will also award the athletes of the decade, most valued member of the decade and the ultimate legend!   Best dressed of the decade and best fine for a decade will also be honoured.
 
After our first awards ceremony in 2006, ATC decided that the same person could not win our prestigious awards more than once.  Next year we will reset the repeat award constraint and re-start the cycle for the next decade.
 
ATC currently has around 700 active members and we hope to reach the 1000 mark in our tenth year.  This should be easily achievable as this year our base has grown extensively with scores of engagements, marriages and new-borns.
 
One of our major achievements this year was to get access to the Green Point Athletic Stadium for our weekly track session.  As part of our agreement with stadium management, we have to send a weekly attendance register of all athletes who use the stadium.  Stadium management have been quite impressed with the efficient manner in which we can produce the register and have expressed interest in using our system for all access control to the stadium.  However, scanning through the list of attendees they must think that we make up some of the names:  Famous name-sakes such as:   Freddy Kruger, Jean De Villiers, Paul Kruger, Michael Jackson, Ben Stiffler, Mark Shapiro and Robyn Williams.”
 
Sunset Team Time Trial
We played a picture movie of photos taken by Simon Katz at the most recent ATC Summer Sun Set Team Time Trial, held in October this year.  This year we hosted two of these events and this involves a huge amount of work.  This year two teams, who did not race but did a lot of behind-the-scenes-work and was thanked with the ATC SSTTT Trophy. 
 
February’s winning team included:  Anneke Viljoen, who helped with preparing and running registration; Eckhard Scholtz, who has managed the marshals for the last couple of events; Esther Patience, who always helps out with handing out finishers cards in the chaotic transition zone; and Tamsyn Wells, who captured all the finishers cards for the results. 
 
October’s winning team included:  Bianca Krafft, who spent the whole day preparing and running registration; Inge Hansen, who handles all the event application duties (a huge task); Lara Browne, who helped with capturing results; and Jessica Hopley, who captured the finisher’s cards.
 
The Sunrise Team Time Trial open water swim, which we mentioned at last year’s ceremony is still on the cards but we are waiting for the building development, which has seen part of the canal blocked off and dried up, to be completed.
 
ATC Development
We then viewed a short move showing the ATC Kids and Juniors in action at various events through the year, reminding us of their dominance of the Spur Summer and Winter Trail Series, where they won both the Junior and Minimee categories.  The kids and teenagers also performed exceptionally well in the Cross Country Series and a number of athletes were selected to represent their schools at the Western Cape Championships.  For the Eleven Cape Town event, ATC Development teamed up with YEP CLAN Cycling, a youth empowerment organisation based in Khayelitsha, and our own swimmers, to dominate the team categories in both Olympic and Sprint Distances.  We also joined forces with YEP Clan and Songo.Info riders to ensure that our development team was part of the historical finish on the blue carpet on the blue track at the Green Point Athletics Stadium.
 
Our development program has been running almost since the inception of ATC.  In 2011 we seized the opportunity to become part of WP Athletics’ Kids Athletics program and have been participating ever since with a new batch of kids arriving each year.  As the kids outgrow the Kids Athletics program, which caters for ages 8 to 14, they move in to the teenager group, which ATC started as we and Barry were reluctant to leave the kids to their own devices during the teenage years.  So our count of development runners have been growing steadily each year.  As the teenagers grow older, the natural progression would be to start an Elite Development Team, which we will look into next year.  The dream continues and with devoted coaches like Barry Goliath we are only limited by the fund available to ATC to grow our development initiatives.
 
The ATC Kids and Juniors will have their own awards ceremonies later this week and next week.
 
Award Categories
STeve Continued:  “Tonight we are going to acknowledge and reward the members for top achievements, for improvements and for dedication to the club. But don’t leave early, as we are also going to fine members for silly things they do during the season!
 
The awards up for grabs tonight are:  Rookie of the year, Club Champs, Best dressed at Clanwilliam, Most Improved, Swimmer of the Year, Cyclist of the Year, Runner of the Year, Legends Award, Supporter of the Year, Junior athlete of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year and finally, the Most Devoted Member.
You will note that Richard Murray was nominated as Male Athlete of the Year.  Whilst we love to acknowledge the performances of our professional athletes, they can unfortunately not win any of the performance awards.  This was a decision taken at the inception of the Atlantic Triathlon Club.”
 
Achievements off the Field
But before we get in to the performance awards of our athletes we have some more people to thank.  2015 was marked by some major achievements for the club off-the-field. 
We established our base at the Green Point Cricket Club (GPCC).
We purchased a container and equipped it for use as storage, office and shop space for the club.
We joined forces with Embark and Kelfords to purchase a branded vehicle.
We purchased a new gazebo and airtex banners.
We started training on the Green Point Athletics Track (GPAS).
 
The above would not have been possible without the help of the members listed below.  So we would like to extend our thanks to the following:
Bradley Jocum for his assistance in getting access to GPCC.
Mark Sochen for his assistance in sourcing the container as well as arranging free transport.
Jonathan Bernstein from All-Phase Electrical for equipping the container with electrical and light fittings as well as the dry wall separating the shop and storage areas.
Luca and Davide Del Fante from Delmar Paints for the heat resistant paint used on the container’s exterior.
Pinchas Hack for arranging free storage for the club at Stor-Age in Claremont.
Tristan Kelly and Roan Strydom from Kelfords in Somerset West for their contribution towards the Ford Ranger.
Jessica Cloete from Hello Monday for the ongoing graphical design work she does on our kit and gazebo branding.
Simon Katz and Craig Brandenburg for the coolest pics at significant ATC events and sessions.
Sue Forge for her assistance in getting access for ATC to GPAS.  
 
Garth Dorman, upon acceptance of his award as the Most Valued Member for 2015, seized the opportunity to thank STeve Attwell.  As Chairman, Steve’s contribution towards the above mentioned activities of the club is often taken for granted.  STeve played an instrumental role in all the major achievements of the club and his negotiation and leadership skills are of huge benefit to the club.
 
Garth also wished Ilze Els and Chantel Rall, who were both absent  due to illness, all the best for the challenges they face over the next couple of months.  Ilze and Chantel are both cancer survivors who are now suffering a relapse of the dreadful disease.  
 
Twitter-Vote, Male Athlete of the Year
In a first ever for ATC, the committee could not decide between Male Athlete of the Year Finalists, Darrin Hofmeyr and JD Neill.  So it was decided to let the members decide through voting via Twitter.  After tallying the votes received via our Twitter feed throughout the evening, JD Neill was elected as the winner. JD celebrates his 30th birthday this coming Wednesday so if you can catch up to him at track, say Happy Birthday JD!
 
After treating the audience with some entertaining images from this years’ dress-up “T” after-party, STeve announced the winner of the inaugural “Best Dressed” award:  Peter McEwan
 
Performance Awards
The evening continued with STeve highlighting performances of the nominees and winners of the various categories.  There were over 70 nominations from which we picked 24 winners.  So we will not publish all these performances here.  We will just mention that it is quite understandable that STeve needed a hand from some of our athletes’ supporters to remember all the brilliant performances.
 
All the nominees and category winners are published at the end of this newsletter.  You can also visit the Awards 15 Events Page on our web site to view the complete list.  We have published photos of the event on our Facebook Page.

 

RESULTS:

At the Woolworths Charity Triathlon, ATC Female Athlete of the Year, Robyn Williams and Cyclist of the Year, Helene Rabie, showed why they deserved these awards by, respectively, winning and taking third, in the long distance event.  Congratulations ladies!
 
Congratulations to Meg MacKenzie, Embark’s coach for AfricanX 2016, who came 2nd in the Ladies Elite Final at the Red Bull Lion Heart race on Sunday.
 
ATC Runner of the Year nominee, Michael Gombart, won the 15 Km Dirtopia Full Stride Summer Trail Run at Delvera on Saturday.
 

TRAINING THIS WEEK:  Details here...

As we head into the festive season, our training schedule will be adapted to accommodate the holidays.  We will send training specific update for the festive period next week.
 
SWIM:  The Canal Swim will NOT be taking place this Friday due to Jailbreak.  We will swim next Friday the 18th.  There will be NO swim on Friday the 25th, nor Friday the 1st of January. 
 
BIKE:  Our mid-week rides (Thursdays) will be on the road.  We will start at 05:30 from the Point Virgin Active and will ride to Hout Bay and back.  There will be no club rides this weekend.
 
RUN:  The Tuesday & Wednesday Track Sessions will be largely unaffected by the holidays.  These will continue on Tuesday mornings at 06:00 and Wednesday afternoons at 18:00 at the Green Point Athletics Track.  The ATC office and shop in the container will also be open during these times.  This week we will do our monthly 5 Km Time Trial.
 

EVENTS:  Details here...

On Wednesday is the Aandwedloop, a 10 or 5 Km fun run, taking place at the Taalmonument in Paarl.
 
The Jailbreak Minimum and Maximum Escape Triathlon takes place Friday at the Brandvlei prison near Rawsonville.  Good luck to all the ATC’ers who will be attempting to escape!  Don’t forget to decorate your bucket so you can find it easily amongst all the other getaway buckets.
 
If your escape is successful, you can hide at the Backsberg Wine Estate for a while and do the Twilight Mountain Bike Ride taking place on Friday evening.
 
The Salomon Citytrail takes place on Saturday in the Constantia Green Belt.  A Citytrail is all about bringing the freedom and spirit of mountain running to the roads and cityscapes.  The route will be over constantly changing terrain and include a variety of bridges, parks, stairs, buildings and alley ways.
 
Road Running races this weekend include the Avbob 15 K in Table View and the Prison to Prison Marathon, Half Marathon and Fun Runs starting from the Brandvlei Prison.  Both events are on Saturday.
 
On Saturday evening is the CleanC Beach Run on the Bloubergstrand beachfront. 
 
On Sunday there are two trail runs:  The Lourensford Market run in Somerset West and the Trilogy Trail Run on the Warwick Estate.
 
The WP Aquatics Open Water Challenge #2 takes place on Sunday in the Eikenhof dam, Grabouw.
 
On Reconciliation Day, next Wednesday 16 December, the annual Barker Rock Swim will take place from Clifton 3rd Beach.  The Gugulethu Reconciliation day 10 K and 4.2 Km fun run will take place at the NY 49 Stadium.
 
Next Thursday, the 17th of December, we will head to the Waterfront for the traditional Sundowner 10 K.

 

FUTURE EVENTS:

Bike Transport to Ironman 70.3 East London
Focus-on-the-Finish-Line (FOTFL) will be offering bike transport to East London for Ironman 70.3 in January.   They offer a no-hassle service and will ensure that your bike get there safely and ready to roll.  There is no need to box your bike. Bikes will be carefully wrapped, padded and packed into custom-built trailers.  FOTFL can also transport extra wheels and other luggage.  Bikes will arrive in East London on Friday 19 January and you can drop it off straight after the event.  Please contact japie@focusonthefinishline.com for more details or to book.
 
Argus & Two Oceans Entries
Were you unable to get an entry for the Cape Town Cycle Tour or Two Oceans Half Marathon?  You still have a chance through Charity Entries.  Details are available on the event web sites but if you are struggling to get the information, reply to this email and we will put you in touch.
 
On World Cancer Day, Thursday 4 February 2016, the annual Lace Up For Cancer race will take place from Mouille Point with six different cancer organisations joining forces to raise awareness of the fight against cancer.  The charities include: Love Your Nuts, Choc, People Living With Cancer, HPCA, Sunflower Fund and CANSA.  The race will start at 18:30 with families mingling around the grassy parks before and afterwards to enjoy the entertainment and food on offer.  And you can dress up in weird and wacky ways to support those living with cancer or in memory of loved ones who have passed away.
 

ATC Pub Run 2015

Next Tuesday, 15 December, we will have our annual Pub Run.  We will start at the Green Point Cricket Club at 18:00.  Perhaps a warm-up lap around the field followed by a plyometric drink in the GPCC bar so you can pre-order your boerewors roll before we venture out through the park to our next stop.  We will visit a few pubs along the seaboard and in the Waterfront before returning to the GPCC for a boerie and beer.  Please bring cash for the boeries and drinks as we won’t be in one place long enough to run a tab (no pun intended although it could be short for pub and run).  Wednesday the 16th is a public holiday so we will linger at the GPCC after the run.
 

Goodbye 2015

As we wind down 2015 this will be the last newsletter for the year.  We will send a training specific update next week to finalise training sessions for the festive period.  We would like to thank all our members for their support during the year and wish everyone a blessed festive season and a prosperous New Year.  If you are going away we wish you safe travels.  Do use the “quieter” period to relax and rest, AFTER your longer-than-usual training session.    There are rumours of a 500 Km challenge, between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, the Rapha Festive 500, courtesy of Strava…
 
But, just before we go, breaking news….
 
Our first Ironman Certified Coach
Congratulations to Chairman STeve Attwell, who, whilst preparing for the ATC Awards ceremony, also successfully completed the Ironman Certification Program last week, to become one of the first IRONMAN Certified Coaches in South Africa!  Ironman University’s exclusive coaching certification program sets the global standard for endurance sports training with this curriculum, which provides coaches with the knowledge and tools they need to guide athletes to IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 finish lines all over the world.
 
Here’s to many more Ironman finishers in 2016!
ATC
 

Awards 2015 - Nominees and Winners

 

ATC Multisport Service Awards

 

ATC Multisport Performance Awards

Title

 

Awarded

 

Title

 

Awarded

ATC Multisport:   Most Devoted Member

Winner

Garth Dorman

 

ATC Multisport:   Male Athlete of the year

Winner

JD Neill

Nominee

Barry Goliath

 

Nominee

Darrin Hofmeyr

Nominee

Gert Wilkins

 

Nominee

Dean Hopf

Nominee

Inge Hansen

 

Nominee

Jean de Villiers

Nominee

Paul Gordon-Brown

 

Nominee

Richard Murray

Nominee

STeve Attwell

 

ATC Multisport:   Female Athlete of the year

Winner

Robyn Williams

ATC SS TTT Helpers' Team Award

Team

October '15

 

Nominee

Caitlin Van Den Berg

Winner

Inge Hansen

 

Nominee

Caylan Bromley

Winner

Bianca Krafft

 

Nominee

Helene Rabie

Winner

Lara Browne

 

Nominee

Marilyn Fischer

Winner

Jessica Hopley

 

ATC Multisport:   Junior Athlete of the year

Winner

Caylan Bromley

Team

February '15

 

Nominee

Bruzano Britz

Winner

Tamsyn Wells

 

Nominee

Daniel Arendse

Winner

Anneke Viljoen

 

Nominee

Dawood Goeiman

Winner

Eckhard Scholtz

 

Nominee

Tim Langerman

Winner

Esther Patience

       

Best Supporter of the Year

Winner

Katherine Neill

       

Nominee

Ceejae Miller

 

ATC Multisport Improvement Awards

Nominee

Eve Hopf

 

Title

 

Awarded

Long Service Award

Gert Wilkins

 

ATC Multisport:  Most Improved Athlete

Winner

Alexander Schubert

 

 

 

 

Nominee

Darrin Hofmeyr

ATC Multisport Club Awards

 

Nominee

Helene Rabie

Title

 

Awarded

 

Nominee

JD Neill

ATC Swimming: Swimmer of the year.

Winner

Emma Alsop

 

Nominee

Stewart MacKay

Nominee

Amy Barnes

 

ATC Multisport:  Rookie of the Year

Winner

Travys Wilkins

Nominee

Caylan Bromley

 

Nominee

Caylan Bromley

Nominee

Emma Alsop

 

Nominee

Luis Fernandes

Nominee

Karen Graaff

 

Nominee

Peter Adolphs

Nominee

Nicholas Mortley

 

ATC Multisport:  Best Beginner

Winner

Meagan Botha

ATC Cycling:  Cyclist of the year.

Winner

Helene Rabie

 

Nominee

Lucy Gauntlett

Nominee

Jean de Villiers

 

Nominee

Luis Fernandes

Nominee

Piet Viljoen

 

Nominee

Peter McEwan

ATC Running:  Runner of the year

Winner

Caitlin Van Den Berg

 

Nominee

Meagan Botha

Nominee

Bernard Griesel

 

Nominee

Robyn Elford

Nominee

Jean de Villiers

 

Nominee

Taschyana Hurter

Nominee

Michael Gombart

       

Nominee

Thalia Charalambous

       

 

 

 

 

ATC Club Champions

ATC Legends Challenge

 

Event

Type

Club Champs

Name

Events

Points

 

Clanwilliam Festival

Sprint Tri or DU

Jonty Low

Piet Viljoen

24

6291

 

Alice Oosthuizen

Gert Wilkins

24

5386

 

Half Ironman EL

Ultra Dist Tri

Dean Hopf

Caitlin Van Den Berg

18

4503

 

Helene Rabie

Helene Rabie

24

4327

 

WP TRI Champs

Std Dist Tri

Jean De Villiers

Steve Peirce

15

4111

 

Vivienne Williams

Douglas Burges

20

3737

 

WP Duathlon Champs

Std Dist Du

Henry Wolstenholme

Esther Patience

21

3631

 

Elrika Calitz

Taschyana Hurter

17

2598

 

Xterra Grabouw

Off-road Std Tri

Douglas Burger

Karen Graaff

16

2295

 

Robyn Williams

Wouter Vink

12

2251

 

Ironman PE

Ultra Dist Tri

Jean De Villiers

Peter Adolphs

16

2224

 

Marilyn Fischer

Alexander Schubert

20

1835

 

Knysna Xterra

Off-road Std Du

Dean Hopf

Chris Loker

24

1776

 

Ilana Steenkamp