1st place – Klaas Meintjies
2nd place – Craig Carter
3rd place – Rob Godlonton
4th place – Thabani Ximba
5th place – Brian Green
6th place – Andrew Murray
7th place – Dedrich Eicker
8th place – Sandile Magwaze
9th place – William Murray
10th place – Tanya McKenzie
11th place – Matthew Howarth
12th place – Chantal Carter

[read more about the 2011 Rattrace on our Blog]

We shall miss them both enormously for many reasons, not least for their overriding passion for Fugitives’ Drift and all it stands for. Rob’s ability to fix anything and his wicked sense of humour will be hard to replace as will Karen’s extraordinary attention to detail and her organizational skills. They have been an invaluable and integral part of this operation for many years and never more so than in the past four years. We shall look back, as I am sure they will, on their long period of service here with great warmth.

At this crucial time in the development of our business, I am therefore very pleased to be able to announce that David’s and my eldest son, Andrew, joined the team at Fugitives’ Drift in July along with his partner Anel de Kock.

Andrew has a B.Comm. degree, is passionate about all things wild and especially about our beloved Fugitives Drift, where he grew up, and its flora and fauna of which he has an intimate knowledge. He is a fluent Zulu speaker, an enthusiastic fisherman and a not-very-enthusiastic horseman!

Andrew spent his childhood sitting at David’s feet and listening to his stories of the Anglo Zulu War and has always shared his father’s enthusiasm for the history of our area and for the Zulu people. Indeed, at the age of nine, Andrew took his first ‘tour’  to the site of the skirmish at Fugitives’ Drift when David had to rush off  unexpectedly to fight an out-of-control veldt fire!

Following a ranger training course at Phinda, Andrew spent 14 months at Kwandwe Game Reserve, near Grahamstown. He loved his time as a guide there and will bring this invaluable experience with him as he returns to the fold at Fugitives’ Drift and follows in his father ‘s impressive footsteps.

Anel is a highly-qualified chef and was Executive Chef at Kwandwe. It will be a huge bonus for us be able to benefit from her many years of experience and an injection of her new ideas and flavours into our cuisine.

These are exciting times for us and we look forward with great confidence as a new generation of Rattrays begins to make its mark on Fugitives’ Drift and to welcoming both new and old guests to the Lodge as we embrace the future with relish, whilst continuing to honour the past with our unparalleled history tours and exemplary hospitality.

Also, a big thank-you to the sponsors of the prizes: accommodation, t-shirts, riding gear and cool-drinks for the race: Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse, Hotel Izulu, Duma Manzi, Three Trees at Spioenkop, SATIB, CCW, Charlie’s Spar and Jowetts Cycles. Your generosity and support is greatly appreciated. 

This year’s fancy dress night race, with a “G” theme, produced some interesting outfits. 

 The following morning gave us ideal weather for the main race – it was an overcast, chilly morning which suited the riders’ gruelling challenge perfectly. However, for some, the weather was a little too chilly!

 But not, it seemed, for others…

 Others had either forgotten – or chose to forget – what happened the last time the Zulus met the British at Isandlwana…..

 After a late start, the cyclists hurled themselves down the 36km route back to Fugitives’ Drift.

 As is becoming routine, Craig Carter won the race again. He was a little off the pace this year – his time was 1 hour 4 minutes. He won two nights at Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse courtesy of Richard and Mouse Poynton. Anyone who would like to challenge Craig’s impressive time is encouraged to book now for next year’s race! 

The first Zulu home – Kulwani Mjali – won a bicycle, presented by Nicky Rattray. Tanya McKensie was the first woman home.

Room 4

Room 5

 Craig Gillies, true to form, was beautifully organised. He arrived in a helicopter; his bicycle kindly transported by Gillies Senior and Evans Carriers. Little wonder Craig had the energy, along with Craig Carter, to pedal all the way up a demanding ascent at the end of both days’ rides. 

Saturday morning saw the cyclists departing at 8.00am with the temperature at 3°C. We all warmed up quickly, particularly Craig Carter who towed his 6 year-old son, Aidan, up all the hills! There were four “casualties” before the 7km mark – some riders opting to return to the Lodge. 

Once the group left the gravel road, the cycling was glorious, passing through farmland. David Creasy, who had come all the way from Nelspruit, had a pin fall out of his suspension. Fortunately, we were able to find the pin, secure it with cable ties and resume cycling. David Evans cycled off alone at this point and put in some serious extra training for Tour de Tuli by taking a long circuitous route back to the refreshment vehicle. Needless to say, we were all very relieved when David finally turned up! 

 All in all, a 43km ride and great fun was had by all.

On Sunday we cycled 25km through the Isibindi Game Reserve, thanks to the kindness of the owner, Dennis Gehren. Wonderful game viewing and some demanding descents through valley thorn-veld. Special thanks to Craig Carter and Francos Reyneke for their help in plotting both our routes.

It must be a testament to the difficulty of the riding the most cyclists chose to return home via the road?! The atmosphere around the dinner table was fantastic with a great deal of banter and recollections of a wonderful weekend together.

A sincere thank you to all involved for a magic experience.

Dear All,

On behalf of the David Rattray Cycle Team, I would like to thank you sincerely for your generous sponsorship. Thanks to your kind donation, the Team raised an incredible R56,000 in private sponsorship and R15,000 from corporate sponsorship.

This is a truly remarkable figure. The money will go a long way to helping the David Rattray Foundation in its efforts to support the schools in the area around Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana.

Despite strong winds on the day of the Argus, the team all finished in good time and enjoyed the day enormously.

We truly appreciate your help and support.

Yours,

The David Rattray Foundation Argus Cycle Team

There are six limited edition prints available – 500 prints of each painting will be produced. All these paintings are featured in David Rattray’s last book A Soldier Artist in Zululand.

William Whitelocke Lloyd was an officer of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment of Foot and saw active service during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

After leaving the army, he served as the official artist for the P&O and Union Castle Lines and serveral books were published of his artwork.

His artwork from the Anglo-Zulu War lay unpublished for more than a century until they were found in an attic in England and shown to David Rattray.

Prints can ordered through Fugitives’ Drift Lodge, as can David’s book.

The race was won by Craig Carter in 1 hour exactly. He was heavily fined afterwards, not only for winning, but also for being so confident of victory that he made a few cell phone calls along the way. He won three nights for two at Umngazi River Bungalows.

Sixteen local Zulus rode this year; unfortunately two suffered mechanical failure. The first Zulu home was Thokozozi Mkhize who came in sixth with an excellent time of 1 hour and 13 minutes. He won this year’s race on the bicycle he won last year; he’s gathering quite a collection!

The board members of the David Rattray Foundation would like to thank all those who took part, as well as SATIB for their generous sponsorship of the event. A huge amount of fun was had by us all, but more importantly, a fantastic sum was raised which will go a long way in supporting the Foundation’s efforts in the area.

The following is from Nicky Rattray:-

Dear All,

Thank you all once again for your support and enthusiasm at the RattRace last weekend. I really appreciate the effort you all make to be here but most importantly, thank you for entering into the spirit of the weekend as you always do. And thank you for paying your fines with such good grace!

We had a few tense moments during during the thunder storm on Friday afternoon, but luckily the weather cleared and the Night Race went ahead as planned; congratulations are in order to all those who dressed up and particularly to Tanya McKensie who won the dress-up contest with her “Dotty” outfit. Responsibility for organising the route again fell to David Evans and Tanya McKensie, without whom this enormously enjoyable race would never take place. Thanks to their yearly efforts, the Night Race has become a permanent fixture in the RattRace weekend.

We raised R42,806 this year. A great acheivement, particularly considering there were slghtly fewer cyclists than last year. Thank you to Andrew Murray for his bid to retain possesion of his bicycle (and for not losing his sense of humour!) and to Malcolm McCullogh and Mark Read for their efforts to stop him! Once again, special thanks to Chris Harvie, who berated, cajoled, joked and fined his way out of favour with everyone; he achieved this without complaint and we are, as ever, enormoulsy grateful.

I would also like to thank this year’s sponsors of the prizes, t-shirts, beaded bikes and water: SATIB, Umngazi River Bungalows, Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse, Hotel Izulu, Al and Lynley Clarke, Charlie’s Spar and Jowetts Cycles.

The date for next year’s RattRace is the weekend of the 24th September.

We will be giving preference to all those who took part this year, so if you would like to book for 2010, please contact me at nicky@fugitivesdrift.com before the end of November. It should also be noted that all those who took part in 2008 and were not present in 2009 will be receiving a hefty fine; the same rules apply next year!

With kindest regards,

Nicky

On presenting the honorary degree, vice-chancellor Professor Dasarath Chetty said David Rattray had been a brilliant and extraordinary orator who shared his deep love and passion for the environment, Zulu culture and the country through his work. “The University of KwaZulu Natal is privileged and takes immense pride in honouring this unique individual, whose work symbolised the very essence of African scholarship.”

David’s mother, Gillian Rattray, his wife Nicky and three sons Andrew, Douglas and Peter were also present at the ceremony. Nicky said she was “extremely proud that the university saw fit to honour David in this way.”