Saltwood Boxing Day Run website
Saltwood Boxing Day Run South African version 2003
The Boxing Day Run went international in 2003. Brian Spratley, friends and family chose to go to
South Africa to avoid some of the pleasures of the English winter. Before he went he expressed regret at missing the
Saltwood run.
No problem! It was suggested that they ran their own race over a similar distance, in South Africa. Numbers were issued
and they did the
first ever franchised Boxing Day Run - surely a trend! The location of their run was Cape St. Francis on the south
coast of South Africa
Below are the results. One Ken Barker did an amazing time. He had just better test his class against the real thing (a shivering crowd on
the village green) some time in the future!
Pos. Name
Boxing Day Run No. Age Time;Estimated BDR UK position.
- 1st Ken Barker Number 7 Age 43 21:58 50th
- 2nd Nigel Tarry* Number 4 Age 47 28:52 =357th
- 3rd Dylan Hinde Number 8 Age 25 29:39 381st
- 4th Brian Spratley* Number 3 Age 53 30:06 391st
- 5th Ian Roberts* Number 6 Age 12 30:07 392nd
- 6th Anne Hinde Number 5 Age 52 32:35 420th
* have participated in previous Boxing day runs at Saltwood.
Ken Barker is a veteran of the Comrades Marathon
(worth a look at the website of this 89Km race)
As you mope about running in the cold at Saltwood and not feeling at all sympathetic towards the southern
hemisphere competitors, read on.
Weather Conditions:
Very Windy, sunny, 28 deg with occasional rain.
Course: estimate 5.7Km
The first 3Km is road, starting with steep up-hill
section followed by an undulating return leg along the shoreline. Beach
sections start with dune sand followed by 'shelly' and rocky sections. 3
sets of steps totalling 65 steps (wooden flights and logs in dune areas).
1 swamp section (crocodile hazard) of approx 10 metres, with shark
infested waters only 3 metres to one side.
So you must feel some sympathy!? Not only did they endure temperatures of 28 degrees, but did 25 more steps than us.
Furthermore, where we have our "hippo swamp" (with slight exaggeration) they seem to have had the real thing
(and who would prefer a crocodile
to a hippo?) But there again they had performance-enhancing sharks alongside or could this have happened?
?
The email header of the southern hemisphere results -
From: Internet Cafe, St Francis Bay [mailto:webmaster@racomp.co.za]
Sent: 26 December 2003 11:17
To: dailukjai@aol.com
Cc: Brian Spratley
Subject: Boxing Day run completed
The following two photos show the course and the winners. After this are maps to show the location (400 miles east of Cape Town).
Brian Spratley, Ian Roberts, Nigel Tarry, Ken Barker, Dylan Hinde & Anne Hinde
