Words: Lisa de Speville
A person can dislike the cold and drab of Winter or the heat of Summer. But Spring... for weeks I look out for the buds on branches and the appearance of the fresh, FEAT-green leaves on the trees in my neighbourhood.
After running Dawn2Dusk on Saturday, I had a lovely leg-shaking-out walk yesterday and enjoyed the slower pace to breathe in jasmine, watch the two ducklings in my local park and to marvel at the rapid spread of green.
For me, Spring - more than New Year - is a wonderful time for renewal. The energy and vibrancy of this season just makes me want to do more, create more, plan more. Listening to the speakers at FEAT in October is further fuel for this fire.
I've been following Colin & Bianca Cooper's Qhubeka bicycle expeditions for a few years and inspired but their adventures I bought a Qhubeka bike, which I thoroughly enjoy riding. My mom rides it too and she has even lifted me on the bike's rear carrier!
Bernie Theron will be the second MCSA Supertramp Award winner to grace FEAT's stage. He'll be speaking at FEAT Kids in the afternoon and at FEAT the same night about his 27-day trekking adventure in Iceland.
More on Bernie Theron
BERNIE THERON grew up in the flat terrain of Pretoria and over time discovered the idea of adventure through Drakensberg trips and weekends of climbing with family and friends. "When I finished school I headed out in search for my own kind of adventures," he says, "which led me to the Cape Fold Mountains, Iceland, the Alps and beyond."
Bernie won Mountain Club's Supertramp 2014 award and the Nightjar Adventurer of the Year Award 2014/2015. He received these awards for his solo, unsupported trek across Iceland in the winter of 2014. At the time Bernie was 19. "My naivety took me through 27-solitary days of hiking and this trip tested my body, mind and skills to the utmost. It was an interesting journey with a lot of twist and turns, which made me fall even more in love with the idea of solo adventures. This leaves me with only two questions - what is next and when?"
Bernie will do a double FEATure speaking at FEAT Kids and FEAT.
More on Colin and Bianca Cooper
Father-and-daughter pair COLIN & BIANCA COOPER regularly embark on local expeditions, riding their steel-frame, single-speed Qhubeka bikes. For COLIN, work was a means to an end. After 30 years of hard work he retired at 50. "This has meant," he says, "that since retirement day over 10 years ago, there has not been enough time in the day to do everything I want to do." After three decades of long-distance running, Colin's bones were no longer up to it. He started cycling and for three years he has only been riding his Qhubeka bicycle on which he has logged 30,000 kilometres.
Forced by her parents to spend as much time on outdoor activities as possible, BIANCA has developed a strong ability to be able to look after herself in tough circumstances. She works extraordinary hours as an Emergency Unit Doctor and Regional Manager for ER Consulting.
Bianca only started cycling seriously about five years ago and when not riding her bike she can be found riding her horse, Franc. Like her dad, Bianca appreciates REAL beer, red wine, cheese, peanut butter and proper bread.
FEAT is taking place on THURSDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2015, Linder Auditorium, Parktown JHB
