100 kilometer through rain and cold - 16 June 2009

On June 15, 2009 at about 10.30 pm three brave (mad, some would say) endurance athletes set off from a wet and cold road close to the Bain'sKloof Pass near Wellington. The rain was coming down, but mercifully there was no snow anywhere. The aim was to complete 100 kilometers over the mountain and through a couple of towns to finish at Plattekloof, not too far from Cape Town, South Africa. The focus was on poverty eradication - let us stand together and eradicate poverty.

The three brave ones are all long distance runners (Comrades quality athletes - ) and they are all Independent Herbalife Distributors. They used Herbalife products to keep them going through this challenge. The plan was to run with headlamps over the moutain into Wellington and then to run with the aid of the well lit streets through to a town called Paarl. From Paarl the daylight would guide the athletes past and through Bloekombos, an area with a lot of poverty, and on through Durbanville (more affluent areas) and home to Plattekloof.

Uys Nimb, Herbalife President team member, started the run with an injury and was not sure if this would allow him to complete the run. After the first hour the runners had to slow down considerably. The injury flared up and the Achilles and the calf did not allow Uys to continue beyond the peak of Bain's Kloof - about 15 kilometers from the start of the effort.

Richard Healy and Hansie Louw continued the run. The descent into Wellington was quick at and at a fast pace. Just before 3 am the house of an angel provided shelter against the cold and rain for more than an hour. And then ....

the rain came down - it was tough to get going again. The muscles were cold after the break, but rain drenched clothes was a bit warmer and wonderfull soup and other snacks helped to drive the cold out of the bodies of Richard and Hansie. Then the run continued ...

At least the activity of running and walking helped to warm up the bodies and to fight the extreme cold and wet conditions.

just a thought - how tough would it be if you do not have adequate housing and the wind blows through the cracks and drives the rain into your place so that you are drenched and wet and cold. Combine this now with inadequate nutrition and you could die of the cold. If you have children or babies, the inadequate nutrition would lead to less adequate abilities to learn - so the cycle of poverty is repeated - end of thought.

Close to Paarl Hansie Louw almost went into a condition of hypothermia - he was talking to a radio station on a cell phone with his head in a car to be able to communicate properly. His body was out in the cold - the team shoved him into a support vehicle and turned op the heat while he got rid of the wet clothes. The body adjusted and the run could continue.

The support team in the night was Hannes Louw and Karla Mulder and taking over from them at 3 am was Anita Louw and Karin (Wellington angel). Early morning (from 7 am) John Solomon assisted. Uys Nimb joined to support the effort. Later the day Hester van den Heever joined and ran and walked for about 7 hours! She was a great supporter towards the end. Sue Healy joined to support and assist. Later Johletta Nel, Ronel van der Westhuizen, Gert and Marie Mulder, Hannes Louw and Karla Mulder joined to support for the last few kilometers (or meters).
All of them are involved in Herbalife or connected to people involved in Herbalife.

From Paarl, the route on the R101 eventually took the runners through Bloekombos, where the residents were quite amased about the runners and also enquired about Herbalife. There are poor people living there. The route turned away towards Durbanville, and continued through Durbanville. Here Richard Healy was running very strong and well. He had a meeting scheduled for late afternoon and he had to speed it up!

Close to Durbanville Herbalifers Chris and Jean Thompson (President Team, Herbalife) met with the runners and support teams for a photograph or two.

The run and walk continued and finished just before 6.25 pm on Tuesday June 16, 2009. A distance of 100 kilometers was covered in a time of just under 20 hours. The last 9 kilometers included some tough hills close to Welgemoed and Bellville gholf course.

For nutrition the runners used Herbalife products - shakes, protein bars, thermojetics (green tea), lift off (energy booster) and H30 Pro (isotonic sports drink). Soup and bread, bananas were also consumed.

The message of all of this: we want to stand together to eradicate poverty in Africa and South Africa. Herbalife is an excellent tool to do it with - as a business opportunity and as good nutrition!

This cannot be done without the support of everybody - you need runners (who will run with the idea and the projects) and you need supporters. Where do you fit in?