Cycling SA forges into new territory
The bride and groom said and did what was asked of them; it was magical, it was beautiful, it was something I’ll never forget.
Later, we partied and danced with Lomu and his friends. We had a jolly good time. It was insane. I loved every minute of it.
So, how you ask, did I end up at the social event of 1996 and the wedding of the year?
Well, Rutter and I became friends in 1994 while studying at the University of the Free State. While our courses were different, we took several subjects together and it wasn’t long before we were a big group of friends who did a lot of partying, socialising and a little studying together. We were a tight-knit group.
Fast forward to 1995 and the Rugby World Cup and a week spent in Bloemfontein by the hot favourites, the All Blacks, at the beginning of June.
Lomu was a star, the most-talked about player of the 1995 tournament, but he wasn’t yet the global superstar he’d become – that would happen later following his barn-storming performance against England in the semi-finals. He was rested for the All Blacks’ final pool game against Japan on June 4 and it was during this week that Rutter and Lomu met, I found out later.
One night a few days after the New Zealand team had left Bloemfontein, as they looked ahead to the quarter-finals, we were having drinks at a popular local bar and I noticed Rutter was wearing an All Blacks puffer jacket. It was the real thing and it was way too big for her. I was immediately curious and interested.
There was an air of mystery to her that night; as if she wasn’t there. Her mind (and heart) was somewhere far away from Bloemfontein. No amount of begging and pleading about the official owner of the jacket was forthcoming. She didn’t say a word. She just smiled.
I didn’t see Rutter again during the World Cup, but before the Springboks beat Lomu and his All Black team in the final at Ellis Park a few weeks later, I’d found out from one of her girl friends whose jacket she had taken ownership of.
It didn’t take long for the news of a romance between Lomu and Rutter to hit the papers.
If I remember correctly Rutter dropped out of varsity and went to New Zealand to be with Lomu. And one day just over a year later, around September of 1996, I was handed a big white envelope with my name on it by a mutual friend. Inside was the invitation to a wedding, at St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Barkley Road, Kimberley for Saturday, 9 November.
And that’s how I ended up boogying with Lomu at his wedding to my friend, Rutter.
CISKA Du Plessis-Austin is ready to drive Cycling South Africa to new heights with a host of task teams in tow to lay the foundation on which the federation can serve its community with impact.
The newly elected president Austin is well equipped to head up national cycling given her multi-faceted academic qualifications and experience in various positions in the lower rungs of the admin ladder.
“I feel that those at the top, and part of the executives, should be equipped to make the right decisions. My involvement in road, track, MTB and para-cycling gives me a better understanding of how things are happening on the ground, and how best to apply my experience going forward,” said Austin
Austin has looked into the problem areas in cycling.
“Cycling SA has functioned without a structured long-term plan which has left the organisation isolated and with no corporate relations in place,” said Austin.
“The club network has not been part of the integral structures of the federation, so I’m looking to include them from an administration and capacity building perspective.
“We will support them with expertise and resources so that administrators, club competition co-ordinators, coaches, new young talent and general social interaction can operate optimally.
“National cycling has tried to create an appetite for their assets over the past decade, but I believe we have positioned it too costly in the market.
“Again, with no corporate partners, we rely on the current financial model which is membership driven and relies heavily on participation levies. Research shows that this has rapidly declined year on year and is not sustainable.
“Working with government should be a bigger priority as cycling varies from commuting, to mass participation, to being competitive on the world’s sporting stage. We need to align better whilst also transforming the way we do things.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown sport around the world a curveball. National cycling has been hit equally hard.
“Essentially with no mass participation events taking place since the middle of March, it has cut off a major part of our revenue streams. We have had to take drastic measures to reduce costs until such a time that the economy re-stabilises.”