POST MORTEM: The Milkwood 2008

Race Report: Graeme Trautmann

Following rather last minute arrangement plans, rushed meetings, miscommunication and poaching of team members, Milkwood 2008 turned out to be an unqualified success.

Thanks, backslaps, oh-wow stories, hangovers and criticisms will flow for some weeks hereafter but it is a feather in the proverbial collective HaHa cap that we managed to pull this off every year. Race day 2008 is no exception and the fact that we managed to do this sans major cash sponsorship is a masterstroke of some proportion.

The helpers know who they are and I promise you, so do the team leaders! Carl, though, must take credit for show adversity in the face of peril for continuing to remain calm during what seem to most of us to be wicked crises.

The weather Gods, too, cannot escape recognition for handing us three classic Milkwood days in a row for what has become a sought after half marathon on the Western Cape calendar. I had especially been expecting a "snorter” after seeing the forecast for last Sunday. It conjured up images of 2004 where torrential rain and severe wind had us thinking that this race was not something we’d like to continue organising!

More official commentary on the race, finish and prize giving will appear once we have had a chance to discuss all areas of the day, received our report from WPA and reviewed gains and losses.

From me, though, thanks to all my helpers for turning up and putting on a great show. The marshals are the ones in the greater public eye and we have nothing but good reports regarding appearance, conduct and competence. I have already received feedback, personally, from friends and strangers alike commending the organisers on a well directed, tight and together crew running things on the day. The lucky draw prizes were an exciting addition to the epilogue of the day for competitors and this is something that deserves a repeat for 2009.

The skaap was again a gourmand’s delight, the bar was just world class and for the first year in the race’s history I was in possession of the keys to the gates leading out of the resort to the North! Yeeeeehaaaa!

Watch this space for more.

The Milkwood's youngest marshall, posted at Scarborough