WOW, what a day out! And amazingly I can actually still walk today. If you didn't read my initial post, I signed up for the Platteklip Charity Challenge: how many times can you climb Platteklip Gorge between sunrise and sunset... And the answer is... 10! Well, ok, I didn't do 10, but madman Georg Schoenbaechler did, with Andrew Hagan close on his heels, finishing 9 laps of the gruelling 5,5km course. Tatum Loftus (Prins) was the hardcore chick of the day (but of course) who managed a total of 8 laps. With 760m of ascent for each lap, Tatum climbed a total of 6080m, while Georg did 7600m!!! To put that into perspective: the peak of Kilimanjaro is 5890m above sea level The winner of the day, though, was the Masikulisane Crèche, for whom we raised a total of R 539 450! The day started at 7:15am at the base cable station on Tafelberg road. All 57 participants looked very smart as a group in the red shorts and grey shirts supplied by First Ascent. The kit was great as we were all identifiable throughout the day and hikers easily picked up that there was something afoot. I was quite impressed with the number of hikers about, as it was a very grey and misty day. Or so it appeared at first: once the sun was up and the 'mist' hadn't cleared, I realised that the mountain was enshrouded in cloud, and so it remained for most of the day. A godsend, as it was perfect weather for us, and the 20m of visibility meant we couldn't see up the Gorge at how far we had to go. It was like running with blinkers on, just focusing on your next step. It was rather amusing as I passed some hikers, all on our way up the mountain. I then got to the top, took the cable car down, ran back along to the base and started to climb again. Near the top I'd pass the same hikers, who were now on their way back down. Again, I ran to the cable car, descended, ran back again, and not far up I passed the same people yet again, still on their way down. Each lap went much faster than I had expected, finishing my first in 1hr05, and my second and third in 1hr12 each. After that it got a bit slower, but not by too much. Waiting for the cable car was a bit of an unknown time frame, but it gave us all time to catch our breath, eat, drink and stretch. With so few tourists about, it was mainly us mad runners steaming up the car and having a good time chatting as we dropped through the cloud, ready to go at it again. I wore my runners belt with a 750ml bottle of juice and carried a Mule Bar for sustenance en route. But most eating and drinking was done at the top of the mountain, where some very brave souls took turns to man a water table in the cold and damp. The first lap was a race to the top, prizes going to the first 3 men and women. Being my usual competitive self, I hung on to Tatum and Kate while we ran along Tafelberg road, and did what I could to keep up with them on the ascent, but slowly lost them in the cloud. I got 3rd place in about 47mins (that's approx 40mins from the base of the climb), so was pretty chuffed anyway. Considering I'd been fighting off a cold the few days prior, it wasn't bad at all. I had put my name down for 5 laps and had been challenged for a 6th. By the time I'd finished my 2nd lap I had decided that I was going to take on the challenge and do all 6. By the 4th lap I was still feeling strong and considered whether I should do a 7th. I had enough time for it. But at the top of my 5th ascent I was ready to climb back into bed. The last climb became agony on my legs and I decided that nothing would persuade me to do another one. Event organiser, Anton de Waal, tried to coax me into doing another one with him, but I said no. Once at the bottom of my last lap, I tucked into the hot dogs that had been provided for lunch, when 2 very cute guys also tried to get me to join them on a 7th lap - even they couldn't sway me. For once some sense of sanity had prevailed. I climbed into bed that afternoon having covered 33km and climbed approximately 4500m. The only event to beat that is the 5000m of La Marmotte, but then that was on a bike. Luckily we had the Cable Car to get us down each time, otherwise our legs would have been dead after the first couple of laps and no one would be walking today. Anton & Bridget de Waal and Adam Pike did an awesome job organising the event. We had more than enough to drink and eat along the way, medical support, signage, volunteers and everything else one would expect at an event of this kind. As far as I know there were no dramas on the day and everyone had an awesome experience. And the highlight of the day: being chased down the road by a combi load of the cutest kids ever!! The Masikulisane Crèche came along with some of the kids to support us in our endeavour. If ever you need some inspiration to raise money, you should see these kids and their enthusiasm and smiles. Tumbling over each other to get to us, they laughed and cheered as we came past, wanting to hold our hands and high-five us. Why would you not want to help them out?!? For more info on the event, go to: www.charitychallenge.co.za