Wherever you Go – Go with your Heart. The 2013 Unogwaja Challenge

I was walking into the City Hall about two weeks ago and was really looking forward to listening to an evening of Choral music.  Choirs from UCT and a number of schools were  about to take part in a Choir Evening hosted by Wynberg.  Word in the corridors was that the final massed Choir item, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, would blow us away.

They were right – but I was not thinking of this when my phone rang just before the start of the concert.  It was John McInroy. John was the son of an old school friend.  While a South African hockey player, John had coached our u16A side at the school and gone on to drive the concept of Red Sock Friday Charity.  Some days before, he had invited me to the dinner on the eve of the 2013 Unogwaja Cycle ride. I was keen to attend this function as Premier Helen Zille was to be the guest speaker – and she was always well worth listening to.

John McInroy

Some years before, John had introduced me to the story of Phil Masterton Smith. All current Wynberg boys know his story.  He had left St John’s Orphanage at the age of 18 in 1930 to run the recently inaugurated Comrades Marathon  - the idea of which was also conceived and brought to fruition by another Wynberg Old Boy, Victor Clapham.  Phil had come second to the mighty Wally Hayward in his first marathon, won it at 19 and two years later, not being able to afford the fare up to Natal,  had cycled up to the start in Pietermaritzburg, ran the Comrades Marathon and ended 10th – thereby winning a gold medal.

To this day, he still holds two records – the youngest ever winner of the Comrades Marathon and the closest finish of two seconds.  The first record will be held in perpetuity because there is now an age restriction of twenty years old for participants.

Masterton-Smith going into the record books in 1931 beating Noel Buree to the line. 1st: Masterton-Smith: 7.16.30 2nd: Buree: 7.16.32 

And so the legend of Unogwaja, the Zulu word for ‘hare’ was born.  Apparently it referred to the graceful way that he bounded over the hills.

Phil "Unogwaja" Masterton-Smith
died 5th June 1942
aged 30 years 11 months

One wonders how he would have done after that if he had not opted to travel the world, taking on a variety of jobs.  What a Comrades icon he might have been had he not lost his life nine years later at the Battle of El Alamein, fighting as a soldier in the Natal Carbineers Regiment – the colours that the Unogwaja group have been given permission to wear while running the Comrades.

This story may well have remained a by-line in the history books if two Second World War soldiers had not made a pact to remember their fallen comrades by wearing Red Socks every Friday, once the war was over.  One of them was a Grey Old Boy, who appeared at their Founders’ Day Ceremony at his old school every year wearing red socks.  As a schoolboy, Ian Symons saw this and related the story years later to his hockey team-mate, John MacInroy.  John pulled all the threads of these stories together and now on the eightieth anniversary of Phil Masterton Smith’s cycle and run, twelve gladiators were preparing to repeat his feat.

To put Masterton Smith’s feat into perspective, we must remember that this was eighty years ago. His bicycle would not have had gears; he would have had to carry all his kit; there was no back-up vehicle; the roads were presumably gravel and he would not have been able to afford accommodation en route.

None of this was going through my mind when I made the mistake of taking the call from John in the foyer of the City Hall.  He was at his ingratiating best enquiring after my health, the well-being of my family, the quality of hockey being played at the school – all we left out was a discussion on the state of the nation.  I was waiting with anticipation for the punch line.

Then it came.  Helen Zille -  unsurprisingly knowing her workload -  was otherwise engaged and could  no longer perform the role of Guest Speaker.   Could I do the speaking honours?  Now THAT is a first. I have never been asked to stand in for the Leader of the Opposition before. 

Visions of grandeur flashed through my head.  What next?  Contracts for a national speaking tour?  Standing in for President Zuma?  This, though, could bring its own complications.  Which wife would I take round the country with me on these speaking engagements?  I knew that my first wife, Pippa, hears enough from me as it is and would be extremely reluctant to subject herself to more of my ramblings on speaking tours.

I could just hear her.  ‘Who will walk the dogs while we are away?’

That variation of the old classroom story comes to mind if she were forced to listen to all my speeches.  ‘Will someone wake that person up in the back row?’ I would say. 

‘You wake her,’ shouts out someone in the audience.  ‘You put her to sleep.’

I decided that versatility in my selection of travel partners on speaking tours would be injurious to my health.  Wisely I kept my ideas to myself.

In the meantime, John was waiting on the phone for a reply.  He knew that I would never say no and so my evening of listening to school choirs was ruined as I started running through ideas in my head which I could use in my speech.

Consequently, a week later, I found myself in the Tsogo Sun with a variety of dignitaries, sponsors, twelve cyclists, Comrades officials and the press. I even spotted Proteas cricketer, Robin Peterson, in the audience.  Why wasn’t he asked to give the address?

At the end of the speech, I was presented with a personalised (tight-fitting) Unogwaja cycling shirt.  My wife was smirking at the back of the hall – obviously still awake.  ‘You will never fit into that!’

Later, in the privacy of our hotel room, I tried it on.  She was right.

Never mind.  I don’t have a bike anyway.

Here is an excerpt of my address:

“I am enormously impressed by your commitment, your tenacity and your resolve to undertake a venture such as this.  What you are doing is sending a message to thousands of young people that it is okay to dream big.  Let others lead small lives.  It seems to me that most youngsters today judge their role models by film stars – or over-paid football celebrities. 

‘He gave us horizons to look at,’ said one footballer this week on hearing the news of Sir Alex Ferguson’s impending retirement. By participating in the 2013 Unogwaja Challenge, you too are giving thousands of people horizons to look at.

I love the story of the tortoise resting at the waterhole when an eagle landed next to him. ‘Look at this waterhole and the reeds – this is all there is,’ said the tortoise.  The eagle took the tortoise into his claws and ascended into the sky. The waterhole became smaller and smaller.  He saw animals running over the plains.  He saw mountains disappearing into the curvature of the earth.

When the eagle put him down at the waterhole again, the tortoise couldn’t wait to tell everyone what he had seen.  His friends were dismissive saying; ‘Nonsense.  You were dreaming.  The waterhole and reeds - that is all there are.’

One tortoise quietly said:  ‘Where can I find that eagle?’

I think that John McInroy is your eagle. He is giving you a vision beyond which you have ever dreamed possible.

Now you must do an action similar to the eagle.  You must show others that we must not confuse the waterhole with life.  You must show people horizons.  You have been offered a chance to fly – and it is good to see that you are taking the opportunity with enthusiasm.

In many ways, our society is making our children -  especially boys -  tame lions in a cage.  Yet we all have a fierceness within us and every boy I have ever coached wants to know whether he has what it takes.  You are giving them permission to find out and to do something similar one day.

Every year at our school, we send all our Grades camping for a few days.  They are all given a challenge of some sort -  rivers to paddle, mountains to climb.  It is wonderful to hear them talk afterwards and give the ultimate schoolboy accolade about their experiences which is that they ‘nearly died’ when they swam across some river, or climbed some cliff or just worked their way through bloody blisters because they were pushed to a state where they had to dig deep.  We must never suppress the exuberance in boys. 

Some years ago, I commended a boy from stage for his selection to the Western Province team for biathlon.  I told the school how hard he must have worked and how much he must have sacrificed in time and sweat to have reached this standard in what is really a demanding and arduous sport.  He arrived at my office door afterwards.  ‘I must tell you honestly, Sir,’ he said with delightful schoolboy candour.  ‘I sacrificed nothing.  I enjoyed every moment of my training.’

Now THAT is a case of out of the mouths of babes.

Everyone here who has embarked on this enormous challenge must surely understand and appreciate his sentiment.

It is quite fantastic that there is such an international feel to this group – from Ireland to Portugal; from  America to Africa.  Your ages range from 26 to 38 and you weren’t chosen because of your cycling or running ability.  The Unogwaja Challenge is more than that.  It is about those who have a special spark, an energising vitality which is essential in galvanising a team.  You all have it – otherwise you would not be sitting here now ready to hit the road in a few hours’ time. You are going to need both these attributes over the next few weeks.

I enjoyed John McInroy’s comment about his fellow cyclists.  ‘He / she is a champion,’ he would invariably say about every name.  Now it is time to be a champion team – no longer a team of individual champions. 

After her tragic accident in which she lost her foot, Natalie du Toit was asked why she was continuing her training.  Her reply was:  ‘There is a chance that I won’t make the Olympics, but there is always a chance that I will.  I want to be an athlete who gave it a shot.’

Congratulations on giving this 2013 Unogwaja Challenge your best shot. I congratulate you on being chosen for this life-changing experience.  I commend all of you who are providing the backup on the Support Team.  On behalf of all the charities who are destined to benefit from the sponsorship you have raised, I thank you.

I leave you with the words of Sam speaking to Frodo in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:

‘It is like in the great stories, Mr Frodo.  The ones that really matter.  Full of darkness and danger they were.  And sometimes you do not want to know the end…’

‘Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t.  They kept going.  Because they were holding on to something.’

‘What were they holding on to, Sam?’

‘That there is some good in this world, Mr Frodo, and it is worth fighting for.’

Good luck in your personal fight in the next two weeks. 

Thank you for showing us the horizon.”

After this speech, the following morning at 04:00  I was up in support of the twelve adventurers embarking on their 2013 Unogwaja Challenge. Premier Zille was also there to bid them farewell.  They were accompanied on the first leg to Franschoek by three Wynberg boys – Dylan van Zyl and the two Boulle brothers – as well as the McNaughton House Head, Gordon Taylor and Wynberg hockey coach, Steven West.

Maybe in time, they, too, will join the Unogwaja legend

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