In This Issue

Falcon Weekly News

Week 8  Second Term 2006

Staggering Zim $190 million dollars given out in prizes.

Oates house won the House Home event and scooped $20 million

59 Teams and
120 Individual Cyclists participated. 
Falcon had 58 teams in the event.
1 Tandem bike took part.

Tour De Falcon Results and Special Report

Old Boys Weekend & Craft Fair
- Record Number of stalls and food outlets
- Excellent support for the First XV Rugby Team

Woodsmoke Club Scale the Drakensberg
- Wil Randle who accompanied the boys filed this report

Mock Exams begin
O, AS and A level exams started on 6th July

Craven Week
-Reg and Martha Querl accompany 4 boys to the tournament

 Left: Beneath the overcast grey skies of Bulawayo, cyclists race towards Esigodini at the start of the annual 56 km Ascot to Falcon cycle race.

About 200 individual cyclists and 59 teams participated in the race.  There was one tandem bike in the race. Altogether about 450 cyclists took part in the race.  Falcon College entered a total of 41 teams..
The weather was chilly and overcast in the morning but it started to clear up later in the day..  The dreaded cold and drizzly weather that always seems to visit us every Old Boys' weekend did threaten us on Saturday, but spared us for the Sunday of the race.

All age groups were represented, as well as all types of bicycles....................

Left: Rick Kriel and Dave Power doubled up in a tandem bicycle.  The two completed the race in a time of 2 hours 8 mins and 46 seconds. Right: Young Lucy Randle cycles ahead of her mother Brigitte Randle.

The youngest team (Brazil) comprised M Bourne, L. McAdam, T Cox and M Noach. Team Brazil will represent Zimbabwe in BMX Racing in August.  The team joined the Tour de Falcon to get some exposure and gain some experience.  The team collected a total of $4 million in prizes.

A large number of spectators and supporters witnessed the race and gathered in front of the Bushtick for drinks and snacks while awaiting the presentations. 

Some Falcon boys watch the race from a vantage point 
in Esigodini

and they could not have missed cyclist No. 200..............................

Left: Cyclist number 200 was Andy Laing, Chairman of the Board of Governors (Left) who cycled the 56 km in a creditable time of 2 hours 7 minutes 23 seconds.

Right: Cyclists race past the 45 km peg in Esigodini

The First Finisher

Left: the First Finisher, Nqobizitha Tshabalala crossed the finishing line in a time of  1 hour 31 mins 17 seconds.
Average speed = 36.9 km/h

Oates house was the best House Team and won $20 million.  Hervey and George Grey were second and third respectively, and won $7 million and $3 million dollars. 

After the race.......................

Left: Part of the large crowd relaxing at the main field after the race.  

Right:  Cyclist 200 , Andy Laing, thanking the organizers, participants and spectators for the great day just before the presentations.  On the right are three of the team Brazil, the youngest team to be entered for the race.

For more about Tour de Falcon follow the link below:

Tour De Falcon Results and Special Report

Old Boys Weekend
Despite drizzly cold weather on Saturday morning several Old Boys attended the Old Boys weekend at the College. Old boys were able to support their former school at the two soccer matches First XI versus Petra and First XI versus CBC.  The team won 6-1 versus Petra and lost 1-2 to CBC.

In the afternoon the Old Boys watched the thrilling First XV rugby match against CBC.  

Left: Old Boy Danny Tanser with fiancé pose for a photograph at the Bushtick.  

Danny is well-known for his highly successful leadership courses for Falcon students.

Left: Old Boys form the front of the human tunnel for the First XV team and
Right:  Grant Simpson leads his team into the Main Field for the match against CBC past the human tunnel.

Right: It's all smiles a s a group of Old Boys pose for a picture.  They were evidently happy to be back at their former school.

Left: Very much to the delight of the Old Boys Barry Stewart prepares to take a penalty.

Right: A group of Old Boys cheering the Falcon First XV team in the match against CBC. Falcon won 25-17.

Craft Fair
-Bigger than ever before

A large number of stalls were erected this year and business was brisk during the Old Boys Weekend and particularly on the Sunday of the Tour de Falcon.  There was a large range of goods on offer and a record number of food outlets.  The candy floss stall was easily the most popular with the children attending the Tour de Falcon cycle race.

Left: The Craft Fair was a hive of activity during the Old Boys/Tour De Falcon weekend.

Right: A Wide range of goods were on sale at the Fair.  The Candy floss stall was popular with the children and the boys of Falcon.

Left: Mrs Joan Bancroft selling Quiet Waters shirts, caps and souvenirs at  the Craft Fair

Woodsmoke Club return after a 'chilling' experience at the Drakensberg
The mercury dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius on the escarpment

Report  by Wil Randle

The Woodsmoke Team to the Drakensberg
Above the Clouds

Mount Mulange in Malawi was the mountain range visited by the boys of the Woodsmoke club last year.  This year over half term and a day or so on either side, 13 Falcon boys, Mr. Randle and Mr. Derek Lenton, a parent, drove down to the Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg mountains.  The first 3 nights were spent in the Mahal campsite followed by 2 nights on top of the escarpment.  The weather was perfect but very cold, plummeting to around minus 10 degrees Celsius on the escarpment.                                                                 

The first two days involved 2 light weight walks of about 20 km up the Tugela and Mahal rivers.  The views of the famous amphitheatre were wonderful.  The pools in the river were chilly but still tempted a number of insane swimmers/dippers.

On the fourth day the team had to drive around the range in order to ascend the escarpment via the steep and exciting chain ladder.  This was made more challenging by the carriage of about 25 kg of food and camping kit and the potential for a long fatal fall!  Again the views were magnificent and the weather good.  On the top, camp was established amongst the rough grass near the frozen Tugela river.   Once the sun went down the air temperature dropped instantly.  It was as if one was stepping into a deep freeze.  For many the new experience of skating on ice and finding patches of snow was a great excitement.  However. it was not long before cooking hot brews and converting 2 man tents into 3 man tents became the priority.

Top left : The Base Camp near the frozen Tugela river.

Right: Spectacular sunrises were seen from the base Camp.

 
Left: Panoramic view of the amphitheatre

Right: Mr. Lenton, a parent who accompanied the Woodsmoke team demonstrates his climbing skills up the famous chain ladder.

The following morning the team felt they were on top of the world.  Cloud had appeared below.  Apart from the escarpment which was bathed in sunshine, the whole of Natal and the Orange Free State were a sea of clouds and remained that way all day.  During the day the group walked some way along the escarpment seeing baboons, grey rhebok, various birds of prey, a trout trapped under ice and strange mice which establish complex 'road' systems and burrows through the grassland.  The team crossed briefly into Lesotho and ascended the highest peak in the area, Mount aux Source.  The group also continued their antics playing on the ice and in the patches of snow.

Left: View from above the clouds

Right:  Eskimos sleeping on Snow?  Boys Relax on the snow - a chilling experience indeed!

On the seventh day the group descended the way they came up, but not before insane Hervey team members broke through the ice of the Tugela and went for a dip.  They can be named Dan Coulson and Dougal Carruthers.  The better made 2 holes and swam from one to the other.  Mr. Randle had no intention of rescuing him!  By 11:30 am the group hit the road arriving in the evening at Pietersburg for the night.  The next day Falcon was reached and a very successful trip was completed.

Mock Exams Begin

The Turner Hall is busy at this time of the year as students sit for the O, AS and Advanced Level Mock Examinations.  The mock exams are conducted in strict accordance with Cambridge International Examinations Regulation.. Mock examinations will be in progress until Friday 14 July when students take a break for the third fixture-free weekend.

Left: Exam time in the Turner Hall.

Craven Week - S.A. Interprovincial Rugby Festival
Tour is between 10th - 16th July
Reg and Martha Querl are accompanying 4 Falcon boys; Barry Stewart, Grant Simpson, Ben Grobler and Gregory Gavazzi who are representing Zimbabwe at the South African Interprovincial Schools Rugby tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa. The annual tournament, which lasts one week is known as the Craven Week.