Who turns down the opportunity to go to Cape Town, the mother city? To be part of the worlds most beautiful race.

I was privileged to be included in the KPMG team to go to the Two Oceans Marathon. It was just over a week after my marathon in Japan so I wasn’t quite sure how my body would react. KPMG was amazing, they gave me the opportunity to still be able to travel to CT and decide closer to the race. My heart was in it, I was desperate to race and I held on to the hope that I would be racing.

The Old mutual TWO OCEANS marathon is my all time favourite half marathon, I love everything about this race, the vibe, the atmosphere, the people.

After having physio and doing a couple of light runs I remembered what a marathon takes out of you. Sadly my body just wasn’t going to be ready to race so soon after racing an international marathon, my ITB was niggling and I didn’t want to risk being injured so I decided it would be in my best interest to pull out the race. It was such a hard decision to make and I really didn’t want to let anyone down especially KPMG, but sometimes as an athlete it’s so important to do “the right thing”. There is such a long year ahead of racing with Rio on the horizon, it just wasn’t worth it.

“The sky is the limit, never doubt yourself, stay focused, never let anything slow or stop you from conquering your goals and making dreams happen!”

This was the first time Ive ever been at a race and experienced things from the “other” side of the fence. Usually I am the athlete and you don’t really see all that goes on behind the scenes, all that has to be organised and done to make everything run smoothly. I was absolutely BLOWN away by KPMG. Dana Coetzee, our club manager and Pierre Jacobs the Marketing director worked timelessly around the clock making sure every minor detail was ticked. To be very honest Ive never been in a club with so much drive, passion and complete focused on us, the athletes. They do everything 200 percent and after just having been in Japan I can say that this club is a cut above the rest, they are in line with the international level and I’m so proud to be a KPMG elite.

It was really wonderful to be in Cape Town, at the expo at the CTICC and to catch up with some of the people who are part of my journey and who help make my dreams a reality. I felt really spoilt and loved my time there with them all.

 Fun question and answer at the expo with my adidas team

TomTom, Sziols and 32Gi – always a treat touching base there.

On the Thursday night we went to a fun Modern athlete and KPMG pasta party and to my shock we were called on stage again for another question and answer. They certainly do know how to throw in the extra special touch and make their athletes feel loved.

The day before the race there was a technical meeting, wow this blew me away, I’ve only ever seen this done internationally. Huge shout out to KPMG, I know the athletes appreciate all you do and they certainly did us proud at the race.

FINALLY ! RACE DAY ARRIVED. It was so wonderful and extremely nail biting to be on the sidelines cheering on my team mates. Each one of them made me and I know KPMG so proud. To mention a few, Caroline taking another incredible win in the Ultra was breathtaking. This woman is amazing to watch, well done Caroline. Four time Olympian, Colleen de Rouck running her debut ultra and placing 5th and beating all the men in her age group, what a world class athlete. Christine Kalmer, Keneilwe Sesing, Myrette Brink and our star junior, Robyn Kaltenbrunn had amazing races in the half marathon, I must admit I was so envious of them racing but really loved being there to support. The weather was perfect for running and the girls shone so bright. There were many other KPMG athletes who also performed and made us all proud, well done to you all.

     Thank you Pierre, Dana and everyone at KPMG for all you do for us and for letting me be there. I absolutely loved being part of it all, even if I was very heart sore not to race. Ill be back next year. Watch the space.