After your first Comrades Marathon, you become a stronger, braver, more determined person, the ultra-marathon superstar Bruce Fordyce said at the meeting last week. He could say the same after his first talk to Rotary New Dawn in October last year, because Bruce came back stronger, certainly braver and more determined than ever to entertain while sending a powerful message of the vasbyt it takes to be a winner.
"For the real winners there are no finish lines," he quoted the American author and columnist Harvey Mackay.
He pointed to the room and said even in Rotary you need to be a leader; to lead the club, to lead a project, to lead a fundraising effort. Don't wait for it to come to you, go out and grab the opportunities, Bruce said.
It took him five attempts at the Comrades before he won the first of his nine gold medals, he said. Training consisted of typically running 160 to 240 km a week at an average of 3 minutes 30 seconds to 3 minutes 45 seconds a kilometre.
The meeting was held in the evening at the Parkview Golf Club instead of the normal breakfast meeting and turned out to be a very festive, well-attended occasion.
The more than 80 people there will agree that it was a typical New Dawn evening of fellowship and fun, mixed with a successful bout of fundraising through the raffle of Jeni Lobel's Norman Catherine signed and numbered print. Altogether 26 tickets - 15 on Wednesday evening - were sold for R1000 each, meaning R26000 towards the New Dawn bursary fund that will be set up with the Alexandra Education Committee under the watchful eye of Paul Channon, director of the AEC and a club member.
Greta Schuler, all the way from St Louis, Missouri in the USA and in South Africa for a family wedding (she's our daughter-in-law) won the print and was beyond delighted to have done so.
She's already trying to work out the best way to ship it across the ocean.
Carl Chemaly, Jenine Coetzer and Steve du Plessis received honorary membership from President JulianThe evening started of on a festive note when President Julian Nagy announced that the club had decided to bestow honorary membership on three ex-members who have left New Dawn for various reasons. They are Carl Chemaly and the couple Jenine Coetzer and Steve du Plessis.
Steve is a past president of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn and both he and Jenine are Paul Harris Fellows with deep roots in Rotary. We hope to see more of all three of them in the future and all three have pledged their support for New Dawn projects.
Although New Dawn is sad to see them go, this is one way of keeping strong ties alive.
In the spirit of community the journalist, author and entrepreneur and member of the Parkview Residents Association Peter Delmar was given a short slot to tell those present that the PRA had managed to get hold of 500 indigenous white stinkwood trees and were looking for sponsors to help replace the thousands of Parkview trees infected by shot hole borer beetles over the past few years.
Bruce ended off his talk with a powerful performance of a poem he has written incorporating Comrades Marathon lore for the start of this year's race.
Quite a few visitors took the Valentines Day theme to heart, like the group above, here posing with club members Mpho Mogotsi, Mrs Universe Africa 2022 and Mat Pitjeng.
Rotary Moment: After providing massive humanitarian aid to the war torn Ukraine, Rotary responded with speed to the earthquake disaster that struck Turkey and Syria earlier this month, killing tens of thousands of people. Immediate disaster relief to districts and clubs in the affected area to the tune of $125 000 was announced and Rotarians all over the world have been urged to contribute to the Turkey/Syria Disaster Response Fund. All donations to Rotary International from now until the end of March will go to the relief fund.
This Week: The speaker at the normal breakfast meeting this week is Sarah Barret, who will be speaking about the tours of Johannesburg she organises.
A Thought for the Week: The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. - Paul Valery (1871 - 1945)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.