Ultra-Fit magazine - Let Gambian George Inspire you too!

I enjoyed this article in last month's Ultra Fit magazine.

The motivation for change must come from within. Studies have shown that internal motivation is far more powerful than external motivation.

The motivation for change must come from within. Studies have shown that internal motivation is far more powerful than external motivation. Telling your kids - rather unpolitically correctly, but stay with me - that they are fat and need to lose weight is a waste of breath. They’ll lose weight when (and if) they are ready. Whilst if you struggle to maintain a fitness or dietary regime past January and into February - let's face it your heart just isn’t in it. The cold, hard truth is that the only person who can motivate you is you! The secret to keeping yourself motivated for week-after-week and year-after-year is turning your motivation into something that is big and real and alive within you.
Gambian George....!

This leads me to Gambian George! I met Gambian George in the Gambia (odd, that!) a few years back when I was on holiday.

George came up to me on the beach and we started talking about training and exercise. His enthusiasm was boundless and every day for about a week he hounded me to come and visit his gym. I was on holiday and enjoying a break from training so politely refused at first but George was persistent. Eventually I capitulated and off we went to his gym. I was expecting an old Universal set-up and a few ropey-looking dumbbells at best but what I saw was something quite inspirational.
Before I tell you about the gym, let me tell you a bit more about George. George was actually from Sierra Leone, one of the volatile countries that boarders the Gambia. He had slipped over the border to escape the mass genocide and mayhem happening in his own country – he literally had to run for his life. The rest of his family were not so lucky and were victims of the common-place atrocities being carried out in the name of the civil war and political freedom. You get the picture – Gambian George had it tough. Homeless and penniless, George sold drinks on the beaches so he could survive from one day to the next.

Back to George’s gym...Gym is actually a bit of a grand term – George had a shack made of corrugated iron and outside that shack was a selection of strength training equipment George had made himself. Much of it consisted of car parts and other items of scrap iron. He would save a little money and get a local engineer to weld the pieces of scrap together to make exercise benches and fixed weight dumbbells. His gym floor was the hard-packed earth.

George learned everything he knew about strength training from two very old and well-read copies of Flex bodybuilding magazine. His equipment designs were based on what was in those mags and so were his workouts. Considering his lack of reliable information, George was remarkably fit and strong. He had no supplements, no fancy machines, a less than optimal diet, no air conditioning (it was 30 degrees centigrade in the middle of winter). He just got on with it – no fuss, no bother. His workouts involved two of my favourite things in exercise – picking up heavy stuff and putting it back down. Brilliant!

Thinking about Gambian George brings me back to many people’s inability to stick with a New Year’s Resolution for more than a couple of weeks. Think of some of the common excuses people use for not exercising or losing weight: 'I don’t have enough time, I feel tired all the time, the classes are too busy, the gym is too warm/too cold, I can’t afford the right workout shoes, it’s hard work'...it’s a long list! Funnily enough, very few will have the excuse “My family were murdered during the civil war and I have next to no money for food let alone a fancy gym membership”. I think George’s potential excuses for not exercising trump any weak-chinned excuse most of us can conjure up – by the power of about 1000.

So, ladies and gentlemen, next time you get the urge to skip a workout and sit on the sofa eating junk food or drinking wine instead of heading off to the gym, spare a thought for George. If, with all the strife in HIS life, he can commit to regular workouts week-after-week, year-after-year, what valid excuse do WE have to bunk off exercise?

I consider Gambian George to be one of my major fitness influences and also a key-player in what helps keep me motivated. I hope his story helps you stay on the fitness path over the coming 12 months.
From all of us at ultra-FIT magazine, Merry Christmas and here’s wishing you a happy, healthy and active weekend.
Patrick Dale
ultra-FIT Contributing Editor

Whilst I agree with what Patrick say’s about only you can motivate yourself but reading something like Gambian George does motivate me however the last 3 months have not gone as well as I would like training ways. I have had one niggling injury or illness after another, 5 months ago I realised that running 5 or 6 times a week was not getting me fit as I still had the belly and was not fit. I started off with a short circuit of 300 res, or should I say that was the plan, I started off with the 25 press ups and as I approached 10 I realised whilst I could probably do 25 but would have to have a rest before carrying on with the rest, which was not how the schedule was supposed to work. I had to reduce the reps drastically and took me 6 weeks before I could do the full routine and time myself I managed just under 6 mins which I was told was between excellent and good so at 52 I was pleased, I did the routine for 3 months then introduced weights and as I had never lifted a weight for a long time I started off lightly. So I have gone from flu, groin strain, right calf tightening, coccyx problem, hernia and told to take 15 days off from training and so have walked between 1 and 2 hours a day (surprising how stiff my legs are just from walking, considering I run between 30 mins and an hour at a time). 2012 will be an interesting time to see how my goal to get fit works out… Watch this space…

Brilliant News

Saving the Amazon, from forest floor up


A front-end loader moves legal timber harvested from a managed forestry area for use in the Concrem Group's wood factory in Paragominas, northern state of Para, Brazil. Paragominas has become a pioneering "Green City," a model of sustainability with a new economic approach that has seen illegal deforestation virtually halted.
Experts say the metamorphosis is the best hope for showing the 25 million people who live in the Amazon that the forest is worth more alive than dead. "Green City" plan aims to halt all illegal deforestation through a mix of enforcement, the creation of the Amazon's only local environmental police force, and promotion of an economy that doesn't rely on clearing jungle. Instead, the focus is on sustainable development, using managed forestry for a wood industry, and introducing modern farming techniques to increase production while using less land.
Just three years ago, the manmade fires here were so fierce smoke would blot out the Amazon sky, turning the days dark. Towering rainforest trees exploded in flames, their canopies cleared to let pasture grow for cattle.
The ash that snowed down onto this jungle town was shin-deep. Dirty layers hid red-hot timber chunks, glowing coals that burned the bare feet of children walking through the cinder drifts.
Paragominas was losing forest faster than nearly any other place in the Amazon.
Today, the town has risen from those ashes to become a pioneering "Green City," a model of sustainability with a new economic approach that has seen illegal deforestation virtually halted. Experts say the metamorphosis is the best hope for showing the 25 million people who live in the Amazon that the forest is worth more alive than dead.
The transformation came after Brazil cracked down on 36 counties responsible for the worst deforestation in the Amazon. A resulting economic embargo left the town with two options. It could fight against change, or it could embrace a new path and promote development with minimal harm to the environment.
Mayor Adnan Demachki is the unlikely environmental warrior driving the change, a plump 46-year-old bespectacled lawyer who grew up here, and was mayor when his town was one of the worst deforesters.
"Our city was on the government's 'black list,'" Demachki said. "There was no way out other than the new path we had chosen."
His "Green City" plan aims to halt all illegal deforestation through a mix of enforcement, the creation of the Amazon's only local environmental police force, and promotion of an economy that doesn't rely on clearing jungle. Instead, the focus is on sustainable development — using managed forestry for a wood industry, and introducing modern farming techniques to increase production while using less land.
In the past year Demachki's success has earned him high praise from environmental authorities that once harshly criticized his town. He's been featured on Brazil's biggest TV news programs and traveled around the country to spread the gospel of his Green City.
"Paragominas is an example of how to successfully overcome deforestation and begin the transition to an economy that conserves the forest," said Mauro Pires, head of the Environment Ministry's department that fights Amazon destruction. "They changed their stance and followed their leaders down an alternative path, one that coexists with the forest."
The Amazon rainforest is arguably the biggest natural defence against global warming, acting as a giant absorber of carbon dioxide.
As its cut, the world not only loses this defence, but the destruction itself adds to the problem. About 75 percent of Brazil's emissions come from rainforest clearing, as vegetation burns and felled trees rot. That releases an estimated 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, making Brazil at least the sixth biggest emitter of the gas.
Nearly 20 percent of Brazil's Amazon has been cleared.
The destruction began in force five decades ago, when Brazil's government gave away free land to those who agreed to clear 50 percent of their plot, and incentives didn't end until the 1990s. Endless waves of migrants followed, carving a livelihood out of the jungle. Wood cutters, ranchers and grain farmers chewed up virgin jungle along the Amazon's southern border, a yawning 2,600-mile upside-down arc stretching between Brazil's western and eastern borders, the distance between New York and San Francisco.
The global economy's growing demand for hardwood timber, soy and beef pushed deforestation into overdrive, hitting a peak in 1995 when 11,220 square miles (29,060 square kilometres) were razed. The vast majority of the deforestation was against the law. But less than 5 percent of the land is deeded, and enforcing environmental laws is difficult when authorities cannot prove who owns it.

Its massive expanses and wild nature make it impossible to uniformly enforce environmental laws. Under pressure from the nation's agricultural lobby, Brazil's Senate passed a bill last week that would loosen those laws. The bill is expected to pass both houses within weeks.
The Paragominas experiment is significant, experts say, because it shows it's possible to convince people at the local level that saving the forest is in their best interest.
In 2008, the Brazilian government for the first time set a concrete goal to decelerate rain forest destruction, aiming to reduce it to 1,900 square miles (5,000 square kilometers) by 2017. Armed field agents targeted Paragominas and others on a blacklist of 36 counties, handing out massive fines, confiscating cattle herds and shutting sawmills.
In Paragominas, home to about 100,000 people, federal agents closed nearly 300 illegal sawmills. The town lost 2,300 jobs within a year and the federal government cut off agricultural credits.
Paragominas leaders knew they had to change. So they took an unheard-of leap of faith in the Amazon: They asked the very environmental groups that had been castigating them to help them go green.
The strategy was both revolutionary and simple.
In a reversal of the slash-and-burn mentality that had long ruled the Amazon, landowners would turn to basic conservation and agricultural methods that had been used in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. They would rotate crops to keep land fertile, avoid overgrazing pasture, stop cutting native jungle and instead plant trees to use for wood products.
In short, people were forced to follow environmental laws to produce beef, grains and wood products instead of relying on illegal deforestation.
By doing so, the economic model shifts — from illegal to legal. The fate of the Amazon rests on the difference between the two.
Demachki turned to the president of the local rural producers union to help sell the switch. Mauro Lucio Costa holds a post that across the Amazon is almost uniformly filled by people who view environmentalists as the sworn enemy, with the federal government not much better.
It didn't take much persuading.
Costa is a big man with a big presence, in his signature sand-coloured cowboy hat and oversized belt buckle. He has a booming voice and the rough hands of a man who has run cattle his whole life, like his father and grandfather before him.
Costa knew that ranching was responsible for more rain forest destruction than any other activity. As pasture degrades, ranchers create new grazing land by clearing forest and throwing out grass seed. He also knew the most important way to change the game was to stop demonizing ranchers and make them part of the solution.
"To talk of the Amazon without remembering those of us living here is to speak of utopia. It's fantasy," Costa said. "You want sustainability, you speak of untouched forest, but if you do so without giving people a livelihood, you have no chance at succeeding."
Together, the men reassured the farmers and ranchers in the vast county that the Green City project would allow them to thrive without cutting down more forest.
The first step was the signing of their Green City pact with leaders from all segments of society, formally agreeing to support the goal of eradicating illegal deforestation.
The leaders then sought a partnership with the U.S.-based environmental group, The Nature Conservancy, which had the expertise and know-how to execute the plan.
The Conservancy staff used satellite imagery to delineate the county's farms and get landowners legally deeded. They told landowners what percent of their land still had standing forest and how much they needed to replant. They taught ranchers and farmers best practices to draw more from the land.
It was the enforcement piece that nearly derailed the Green City plan.
On a Sunday morning in 2008, just four months into the new experiment, a mob gathered outside the environmental agents' office, where 15 trucks holding massive towers of illegally cut trees were lined outside, confiscated hours before. Fueled by rage and sugarcane liquor, the crowd torched the office and broke into the trucks to hot-wire and reclaim them.
The mob then moved toward Hotel Indiana, bent on lynching the federal agents behind the crackdown and its aftermath: the lost sawmills, the lost timber, the lost jobs.
"It was our lowest moment," Demachki said. "It seemed as if citizens wanted to go backward, to retreat from our project."
Police eventually broke up the mob and the mayor spent hours on the phone, calling the city leaders who had signed the Green City pledge, demanding they meet him at City Hall the next morning.
There, he held up two sheets of paper.
One was an apology addressed to the Brazilian nation that he would personally deliver to the Environment Ministry in the capital of Brasilia if all those gathered signed it, redoubling the promise to push ahead as the only Amazon city to meet its goal of zero rain forest destruction by 2014.
If they wouldn't sign it, he offered another option: his resignation, which would end the project and any chance that it might spread.
They voted for the Amazon.
Four days later, Brazil's environment minister flew to the town at Demachki's invitation and personally shut down two illegal sawmills whose owners were spotted at the arson. After that, getting buy-in from Paragominas residents was easier.
Costa, Demachki's partner in the Green City plan, is philosophical about the rebellion.
"The Amazon is a paradise for those who live in New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo. But it's a hell for those who live within it," he said. "It's hard to say to a poor man living in the Amazon, 'That tree is beautiful, it's a wonder of nature' and then have him go home to children crying because they're hungry."
Desperation leaves people susceptible to illegal woodcutters who will pay for a poor man's tree. Knowing that, Demachki added yet another enforcement arm to his arsenal of tools: the Amazon's first environmental police.
These days, Imazon, an environmental watchdog agency, uses satellite images to spot any new deforestation and passes the information over to the town's new environmental cops, headed by Felipe Zagalo. He investigates the claim, hands out fines and reports it to federal officials. The fact he's a longtime resident of Paragominas and knows the people he is confronting makes his job easier.
"More often than not, when I confront a landowner about an infraction, I'm met with an apology," Zagalo said. "They know what they've done is wrong. They also know there is no place to hide anymore."
Paulo Amaral, a senior researcher at Imazon who has studied the Amazon for 20 years, is convinced the tide is turning. This week, the Brazilian government announced that the latest annual deforestation statistics were the lowest since they began tracking them in 1988.
"This is the best model we've found yet, making the fight against deforestation a local issue," he said. "It's the lasting answer for stopping the destruction."
Paragominas was the first city to be removed from the federal government's blacklist of deforesting counties. In March, Paragominas became the model for a statewide Green City program, with about 90 counties signed up so far.
Jungle destruction in Paragominas hit 64 square miles (165 square kilometers)in 2008, according to Imazon. That fell to 1.2 square miles (3 square kilometers) last year, an unprecedented drop that helped the city win the Chico Mendes prize, Brazil's most prestigious environmental award.
The town has recouped all the jobs it lost and added new ones, in large part by promoting a wood industry that relies on managed forestry.
The question these days is whether the project can be replicated. Some think Paragominas is an anomaly, a place that saw the perfect combination of extreme pressure from the federal government and local leaders willing to make a radical change.
Amaral hopes the results in Paragominas can convince others that working with environmental groups is the best way forward.
"We can now show people that this model works in the real world. Before, it was just theoretical," he said. "Other cities in Para are seeing that Paragominas is benefiting from battling deforestation, that they are thriving by working within the law."

Inspiring runner refuses to stop short of state final finish line

Of all the inspiring moments of determination you see in the remaining months of 2011, it's unlikely any can top the heroics turned in by one high school senior Monday at an unusually humid cross country race in Louisiana.

By Cameron Smith

Watch this video:
http://news.yahoo.com/video/neworleanswwltvchannel4-15751007/st-paul-s-student-doesn-t-quit-crawls-to-finish-line-27273616.html

As reported by WWL-TV and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, among other sources, Covington (La.) St. Paul's School senior cross country star Christian Bergeron's body failed during the final yards of the Louisiana Class 5A boys cross country championship race on Monday. Yet, while the runner collapsed again and again over the final 25 yards of the race, his spirit never wavered, with the teenager eventually dragging himself across the finish line on his hands and knees to complete the final cross country race of his high school career, as you can see above.
As soon as Bergeron crossed the finish line, he collapsed into the arms of his older brother, Joey Bergeron, who was on hand to watch his sibling's final race.
"I was trying to move my legs, but it just wasn't working," Bergeron told WWL-TV. "I tried standing and they just buckled underneath me, so that's when I resorted to crawling. I don't remember hearing anything. When I crossed the line, I saw my brother, and he picked me up and brought me to the bench."
Determining exactly how many times Bergeron collapsed in the closing yards is a difficult task, since he appeared to resurrect himself more than once only to fall over backwards. Still, none of those setbacks stopped the runner from finishing the race, even if he did lose about 30 seconds from his projected finish time, dropping him from 13th place to 39th in the process.

Those results were hardly anyone's focus after the teenager finally made it across the line. Rather, they were concerned with his welfare, with his mother, who happens to be a nurse, rushing down to the track and transporting her son to a nearby hospital in a golf cart.
According to the Times-Picayune, the race has never staffed an EMT in past years, but the unseasonable heat and humidity -- Natchitoches, La., where the race was held, had a heat index above 80 degrees on Monday -- made for dangerous race conditions for teens more accustomed to racing in weather nearly 20 degrees cooler by this point in the season.
"There's no paramedics, no ambulance, nothing," Joey Bergeron told the Times-Picayune. "It's hot, and kids are lying around everywhere suffering."
Yet, despite all that suffering, Bergeron never wavered in his commitment to finishing the race for his team. In that, his teammates here hardly surprised, as St. Paul's sophomore Zachary Albright told the Times-Picayune:
"Christian's all heart," he said. "He would do anything for this team. He looked like he was OK right before the race, but we were all dying out there."

Runners disqualified - No Justice 1

A friend of mine sent me this story:

Florida runners donate medals, trophy to disqualified foes

By Cameron Smith

In one of the more generous incidents in recent prep sports memory, a Florida girls cross country team voluntarily gave up their runners-up medals and trophy to a school which they felt deserved them more, and they did so entirely of their own volition, without any influence of a coach or other adult.
On Monday, Prep Rally wrote about the Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage School girls cross country team, which was knocked out of what was eventually determined to be a second place finish at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2A state cross country meet because of a bizarre mix up with the timing chips on the shoes of two team members.
Those mismatched timing chips -- which are used to ensure that a runner follows the correct course and crosses the finish line and all check points -- dropped American Heritage down to a fifth place finish, even though the team felt it should have finished much higher. As it turns out, the American Heritage runners weren't alone in that sentiment, with the school that did finish in second place going to extreme lengths to let their opponents know that how they felt about American Heritage's performance.
As reported by Jacksonville's FirstCoastNews.com, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Bolles School girls cross country team, which was bumped up from third place to second in the Class 2A meet by the American Heritage disqualifications, voluntarily decided to give their runners-up medals and trophy to the team they felt should rightfully have finished there.
According to Bolles senior runner Micayla Costa, there was no debate among the Bolles team about what to do because they all knew that the American Heritage runners deserved the honor more than they did. In fact, the team had already gathered and decided to hand over their medals and trophy before Bolles cross country coach Tony Ryan could speak to them about it.
"We huddled up in a group to talk about it," Costa told FirstCoastNews. "The team decided not to keep the trophy, the medals and the runner-up title."
That meant a quick turnaround from the medal stand, where the Bolles girls had stood on the runners-up platform next to newly crowned 2A champion Miami (Fla.) Carrollton School, to a nearby huddle where the American Heritage squad was still in a state of shock over its sudden fall.
Without letting them know what they planned to do, the Bolles team members walked over to American Heritage runners and presented them with the second place medals. As one might expect, the reaction was emotional.
"I took off my medal and I gave it to [an American Heritage runner]," Bolles sophomore Lily Arnold told FirstCoastNews. "And once I put it around her neck, she started to cry."
While American Heritage's runners were the most obvious beneficiaries of the Bolles squad's immense generosity, runners from the Jacksonville school insist that they took as much away from the experience as they would have from a state title. That's saying something for a school which has a multitude of cross country and track titles to its name.
"This was worth so much more than a state championship," Arnold told FirstCoastNews.

How many more?

Brazil Chief Killed in Land Dispute

Gunmen killed a chief of the Kaiowa-Guarani Indian tribe in western Brazil on Friday, apparently over a land dispute, according to Funai, the federal indigenous affairs agency. An agency spokesman said more than 40 “hooded and heavily armed” gunmen raided the village of Tekoha Guaiviry in Mato Grosso do Sul State and shot Chief Nisio Gomes. A Funai spokeswoman said it appeared the gunmen had been hired by ranchers seeking to expel the tribe from land claimed by both sides. Renato Santana, a spokesman for the Indian Missionary Council, backed by the Roman Catholic Church, said Mr. Gomes was “summarily executed” in front of his son. “Everything indicates that ranchers, who want the land to raise cattle and plant sugarcane, hired the gunmen to get rid of Gomes, who was an outspoken defender of Indian rights,” he said.

This had no coverage in many countries in the western world and yet if 40 people turned up with guns to someone's house in the UK the press would have a field day.

I am consistently appalled when I see the damage we as human beings do to ourselves through Drink, drugs and tobacco.

The dangers of Methamphetamine show a picture of a woman in 1998 before she got addicted and 4 years later WOW.
I read this report recently and wonder why any woman would want to do this much damage to themselves?
Methamphetamine is a very addictive stimulant that is closely related to amphetamine. It robs the body of calcium and appears to have a neurotoxic effect, damaging brain cells that contain dopamine and serotonin, another neurotransmitter.
It is a white, odorless, bitter-tasting powder taken orally or by snorting or injecting, or a rock 'crystal' that is heated and smoked.
Methamphetamine increases wakefulness and physical activity, produces rapid heart rate, irregular heartbeat, and increased blood pressure and body temperature. Long-term use can lead to mood disturbances, violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, paranoia, insomnia, and severe dental problems. It is highly addictive, personality altering and can cause violent, bizarre behaviour.
Prolonged meth use can result in symptoms like those of Parkinson's disease and type-two schizophrenia. Meth causes increased heart rate and blood pressure and can cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, producing strokes. Other effects of meth include respiratory problems, irregular heartbeat and extreme anorexia.
In 2009, 1.2 million Americans age 12 and older had abused methamphetamine at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.
Over the years a number of pictures have been released to show the effects meth has on people (as above) to try and deter people from ever taking the drug.

Amazon rainforest named as one of seven nature wonders

The Amazon rainforest has been named one of the "New 7 Wonders of Nature of the World", according to the Swiss group that organized the competition.

The New7Wonders Foundation named Halong Bay in Vietnam; Iguazu Falls in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay; Jeju Island in Korea; Komodo island in Indonesia; Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Philippines; and Table Mountain in South Africa as the other six.

The winners emerged after months of voting. Originally some 447 were candidates for the title.

The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest and provides critical services for mankind: 70 percent of South America's GDP is produced in the region fed by Amazon rainfall. Another one of the "New 7 Wonders of Nature of the World" is also powered by the Amazon rainforest: Iguazu Falls.


Despite the Amazon's importance, its forests continue to fall. While Brazil has made great progress in reducing deforestation in recent years, scientists fear that climate change, combined with continuing forest loss, could put much of the Amazon at risk, leaving it at greater risk of fire and drought. Already some of the forecasts are looking prescient: in the past five years the Amazon experienced the two worst droughts over recorded.

It is not what you say it is the way that you say it

Racism in sport

There is a lot of press coverage being given to the alleged recent racial comments made by two footballers playing in the premiership, the first one was when Patrice Evra the Manchester United player accused Liverpool’s Luis Suárez of repeatedly calling him a N***** and secondly John Terry England and Chelsea captain alleged to have called QPR’s Anton Ferdinand a Black C*** but claiming he called him a Blind C*** how crazy that the focus is on the one first word and not the second.
What a fickle race of people we are. So many football fans blinded by support for their team and players and having no interest in learning the truth.

I remember my ex-wife used to say to me she was always getting into trouble for saying things, people used to say to her ‘It’s not what you said it is the way you said it’ I believe this is crucial in these circumstances. I do find it hard to come to terms with players receiving the huge salaries they do and letting opposing players get to them by name calling. I believe that just as in a civilised society everything should be done to stamp out racism, but let us not go over the top.
I am Welsh, British, short, some people would say old, have a spare tyre and could probably list dozens of names I have been called in the past some very hurtful and some very true, however as much as I despise racism and I do passionately as I always preach I have met good and bad everywhere and whilst some race, creeds and nationalities do have certain characteristics we are all individual’s and I repeat you will find good and bad everywhere. I have actually been the victim of racism not just as a Brit or a Taffy (a name I was called and proud to be in the army and elsewhere) during my time in the army I was close friends with one of only 3 black men in the regiment and as the others had almost 20 years’ service each never associated with the ‘boys for the craic’, however my mucka Glen ‘Chalky’ Smith not only a big guy but a hard man so fortunately did not receive as much abuse as if he had been a 9 stone weakling however I was actually targeted as I was his friend and the 9 stone weakling.

I was astounded as being blessed to be brought up in a small village in Wales I had never even saw a black person until I was 8 or 9 and that was just a young girl visiting for a week and I could count the number of black people I spoke to on both hands before I joined the army, however the racism I had previously been totally exposed to was reserved for the Irish as long as I could remember I heard all the jokes about the Irish being stupid etc. so was astounded to realise how racist a lot of the Irish lads were.

I remember back in 2011 and the UK suffered race riots I was a travelling salesman and our company did a lot of business with the Asian community and in fact many appointments had to be cancelled because of the riots, one Saturday there had been riots during the week in Oldham I was sent there and a day I will never forget I went to my first appointment at 12.30 sold a kitchen in 30 minutes and the lady of the house said have you got time to go to my sister she wants one too, half an hour later another sale and then she said can you go to see my uncle, so I picked up my bag and strolled down the street not bothering to go back for the car and within an hour and a half I had sold 3 kitchens which was the number of appointments we usually had for the whole day never mind sales. However when I finished and started the long walk back to the car a large number of Asian lads had formed themselves in groups and were just hanging around with nothing to do, that was not the longest walk I have ever made but it certainly felt like it, so many of those guys stared at me with pure hatred, just because of the colour of my skin.

Not long after that I was down in the West Midlands and another Asian area and as I said above we used to have 3 appointments a day, 12.00, 15.00 and 18.00 however sometimes the ‘sits’ as we called them could drag on longer or we would have a NCI ‘no customer in’ (however most reps used to take a leaf out of John Terry’s book and change the word customer. On this particular day my afternoon sit was a NCI so off I went to the next one to first of all find it (this was the days of A-Z well before SatNav) and secondly in the hope the 18.00 would be in and available and I could get an early night, no such luck so I did the next best thing and found a quite spot and had 40 winks, after an hour or so I noticed the car behind me was surrounded by a group of about a dozen men and a few harsh appeared to be being exchanged the next thing it was my turn and as one banged on the window I took the usual precautions, doors were already locked and I did not wind down the windows and the guy asked ‘What you doing here’ I explained what was doing he said ‘Well you better go’ ‘What’ I said ‘You better leave we have had some trouble with a white man attacking young girls so go’ it took a minute for it to register and then the red mist came down as I said at the start of the article call me what you want and if it is true so what however I expect most men would rather be called anything but a paedophile, I swear I was on my way out the car for ‘biffters’ until common sense took over and I realised the futility of trying to take on a dozen men especially as I realised some had baseball bats so I did what I was told. I have to say it was a horrible experience being accused just because of the colour of my skin. This never put me off going in to the Asian community I can count on the number of one hands I was offered food by the English, Welsh and Irish, (The Scottish are a different breed unless they had cake or biscuits you never got offered a brew) however many Asians cooked food whilst I was in their home, a tradition very much appreciated by yours truly as being on the road for so long the belly often used to rumble.

2 Minute Silence

It is politicians that send men and now women to war I hope for the day when mankind can live in peace, although sadly do not expect it to be in my lifetime. I have friends from all over the world and met and liked Germans whilst serving there in the 1970’s with the Royal Irish Rangers and did battle exercises with the French, the American’s and Canadians to name but a few. I have as a kitchen salesman gone in to the homes of Jews, Asians, Blacks and of course Brits and some made me feel very welcome some made me feel like an alian but what I have learned is that even within my own family I will never agree with everything they do but even with someone I would consider a natural enemy we have things in common and with a bit of effort can get along, we all need to learn to compromise and then maybe, just maybe we can all learn to live together.

Lest we forget

I saw this posted on Facebook - This is my Grandfather Pop Smiley he fought in World War 1 and 2. He never spoke about his experiences until just before his death. He said although he had been badly traumatised, wounded twice, saw his mates die and done things he never wanted to discuss...he would do it all again in the name of freedom.....thanks Pop.

We shall never forget the sacrifices you and your comrades made we shall always wear the poppy with pride...lest we forget.

RIP Pop Smiley.

Thousands turn out for funeral of Jimmy Savile as golden coffin is taken on a whirlwind tour of the town

Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG (31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011)
I had the privilege of running in the same marathon as Sir Jimmy Savile a few times back in the 80’s and was saddened to hear of his death last week but the memories will live on forever.
Sir Jimmy Savile's coffin was carried into church by Royal Marines today as thousands of mourners lined the streets to give the entertainer an extraordinary final send-off.
'His life story was an epic of giving - giving of time, giving of talent, giving of treasure'.
Many celebrities turned out including Frank Bruno and DJs Tony Prince and Mike Read
Frank Bruno said Jimmy Savile was 'one in a million'. The entertainer died two days short of his 85th birthday last month.
Speaking after the funeral, Mr Bruno said: 'He was a very special man. If he was here he would be taking over, saying: "Now then. Now then."
DJ Mike Read said: 'It was amazing. What a turn out all over the city. It was a wonderful service - just great - and all done in the best spirit.
'We saw tears, a lot of memories, and people from all walks of life. How can you encapsulate the life of someone like Jim into two hours? You can't. But it was brilliant.
'Jim tried his best. He lived life to the full.'
As the hearse approached, people working in the shops and offices around Leeds infirmary came out to line the streets.
The cortege stopped briefly in front of a Union flag flying at half-mast.
Hospital staff lined the street side garden each side of the flagpole and watched in silence as the line of black cars passed.
Minutes before, the cortege stopped outside Sir Jimmy's mother's old house in the Woodhouse area of the city.
People lining the streets broke into spontaneous applause as the hearse carrying the coffin slowly approached the cathedral.
The hearse was adorned with a wreath of white roses on its roof.
The crowd then maintained a respectful silence as relatives of the broadcasting veteran left the seven funeral cars.
But they again burst into applause as seven Royal Marines marched forward to carry Sir Jimmy's coffin into the cathedral.
Later Sir Jimmy will be buried with a Royal Marines medal and Green Beret and a Help for Heroes wristband and will be wearing his own clothes.
Speaking outside the cathedral, DJ Mike Read said: 'Today should be a celebration. He'd have loved it, a showman to the end.He said: 'He made people feel good.'
One wreath spelt out the numbers 208 in yellow and white flowers - the frequency for Radio Luxembourg, where Sir Jimmy once worked.
Other bouquets had been sent from cruise company Cunard, with which the DJ had links, the BBC, the Lord Mayor of Leeds, and members of the official fan club.
The congregation sang the hymn Jerusalem as his coffin was led out of the church.
On a dreary, drizzly day in his beloved home city of Leeds, relatives, friends and admirers joined complete strangers to file by and pay their respects.
The last time the nation did this so publicly it was for the Queen Mother. Here in the heart of urban Yorkshire, Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG, appears to have been held in no less esteem.
This was the opening act of a three-day send-off for the veteran entertainer, a prolific charity fundraiser hailed as a man of the people, albeit a rather unorthodox one.
Well-wishers lay flowers and left messages in books of condolence as they trickled past the closed casket at the rate of ten a minute.
An estimated 5,000 came and went during the day – so many that the visiting deadline was extended.
You had only to look at the mix to understand how many different walks of life Sir Jimmy touched. There was a tramp, an airline pilot, a nun in a wheelchair alongside an Afghanistan veteran walking on carbon fibre legs; and a woman who came to apologise for treading on Savile's toe once during a charity marathon.
Later came mothers in pushchairs, a heavily tattooed punk rocker plus a member of a 1960s pop group so obscure that even the man in the casket might have had trouble recalling them. And, of course, a Jim'll Fix It badge holder, a lucky winner among the 20,000 a week who wrote in for Jim to fix it for them.
I am not surprised to learn:
SAVILLE CASH TO FUND NEW HEART INSTITUTE AT HOSPITAL HE SUPPORTED

FROM COAL MINER TO TOP OF THE POPS: THE LIFE OF SIR JIMMY
Sir Jimmy – James Wilson Savile – was born in Leeds on Halloween 1926.
He left school at 14 and when war broke out he enlisted as a coal miner for the war effort.
An underground explosion damaged his spine so badly that he had to give up mining.
Instead he became a local entertainer, organising what he described as Britain’s first disco in 1948.
His work in the dance-halls was eventually spotted and he was asked to move on to radio where he rapidly acquired national fame, first with Radio Luxembourg and then BBC Radio 1.
He later competed as a semi-professional sportsman, taking part in the 1951 Tour of Britain cycle race and a professional wrestler.
He fought 107 bouts but won just seven, insisting it was never fixed.
In 1964, Sir Jimmy presented the very first edition of Top Of The Pops.
In the 70s, he started a 20-year run as host of Jim'll Fix It, working miracles for more than 1,500 children.
He raised staggering amounts for charity - his accountant lost track after £40million.

Love and Respect you Jim
RIP

25 years the Gaffer

25 years ago on 6th November 1986 Alex Ferguson (later to become Sir Alex Ferguson ) took over as the boss of Manchester United Football Club and on his retirement could possibly be in my opinion the first ex-football manager to become a lord.
Aberdeen’s loss was United Gain
The announcement on Sunday that the north stand be named after the greatest football manager is another example of how much he is worshipped at Old Trafford.
What an exceptional and inspirational mentor he has been to me in my struggle to prepare for this marathon I am planning next year and also as I struggle with my colleagues to bring PRT and Maglev trains to the world market.
When I remember the fantastic players who have and come to this great club and the difficult decisions he has had to make, not always getting them right but in the long run 30 trophies and championships have been collected (please long may they remain so) and the glory continues. When one looks at the continued success and records broken many people have thought because of his age he will retire but as the great man says he has a great job he loves and so whilst he has his health and the trophy’s continue to be collected why stop.
Two of my favourite SAF quotes:
"Nothing [Eric] Cantona did in matches meant more than the way he opened my eyes to the indispensability of practice."
"David Beckham is Britain’s finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practises with a relentless application that the vast majority of less-gifted players wouldn’t contemplate."

Wow what a world we live in

Hospital discards premature boy baby as dead girl baby in toilet.


In the same district in China as the appalling case of the 2 years old knocked over twice and ignored by a large number of people walking past comes this one:
Liu Dongmei gave birth to a premature baby at a hospital in Foshan of Guangdong province, whom nurses told the family was a girl and had died, and had placed the infant into a plastic bag thrown into the toilet/bathroom. 30 minutes later her sister arrived and asked to see the body to discover it had been put into a plastic bag and dumped in a toilet and that it was a baby boy.

Foshan city Nanhai district Red Cross Society Hospital, Liu Dongmei gave birth to a baby with the help of two nurses. The nurses told the family that it was a baby girl and was already dead when born. Relatives who quickly arrived over half an hour later requested to see [the baby], only to discover that the “dead baby” was actually still moving, and was a baby boy. That day, after the family discovered that the baby was still alive.

However what about this guy.

Nicholas James Vujicic a 28 year old was born with with Tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. He struggled as a child, eventually came to terms with his disability and started his own non-profit organization Life Without Limbs – at age seventeen. Vujicic is a preacher and presents motivational speeches worldwide, on life with a disability, hope, and finding meaning in life. Check out the video.

Why should we bother?

I sometimes wonder why I bother to try and help stop de-forestation and train for this run through the Amazon what a crazy sad world we live in these 3 things caught and annoyed me recently:

1 Outcry in China over hit-and-run toddler left in street
Chinese media and internet users have voiced shock at a hit-and-run incident involving a two-year-old child left injured in the road as passers-by ignored her.
The toddler was hit by a van on in the city of Foshan.
After the van sped off, several pedestrians and vehicles passed the girl without stopping. Several minutes later she was hit by another vehicle.
A rubbish collector finally helped her, but she is said to be seriously hurt.
The incident was captured on surveillance cameras and aired on local media.
'Lacking conscience'
The footage showed the van hitting the little girl, pausing briefly while she was under the vehicle and then driving off, running over her legs.
It then showed about a dozen passers-by, including cyclists, a motorcyclist and a woman and child, noticing the little girl lying injured in the street but walking on.
“Start Quote
There's been so many cases where people have been treated unjustly after doing good things”
Comment on microblogging site Weibo
After she was hit by the second vehicle, a rubbish collector spotted the little girl and moved her to the kerb, then began looking for her mother.
The child, Yue Yue, was taken to hospital for emergency surgery but pronounced brain dead on Sunday, the China Daily reported.
The newspaper said she had wandered off while her mother went to collect some laundry.
The drivers of both vehicles have now been arrested, the newspaper said, but the incident has also triggered outcry among Chinese citizens.
It provoked a storm of comment on microblogging site Weibo.
"Even pigs and dogs are better than they are!" said one angry contributor about the passers-by.
"In China, there's no bottom line for human ethics anymore! China is 'smashing' new records again and again!" commented another.
Others were more reflective. "Now people ignore everything other than money. This society is lacking people with a conscience badly."
Scam fears
Some said they understood the dilemma for the passers-by - that if they helped out they might incur costs or be blamed for the accident.
The China Daily reported incidents in January in which elderly men who fell in the street were left alone because people did not want to get involved.
It cited an earlier case in which a man, Peng Yu, who helped an injured elderly lady to hospital was then found by a court to be liable for some of her medical costs.
Another case - in which an elderly woman believed to have fallen in the road accused a man, Xu Yunhe, who stopped to help her, of hitting her with his car - also attracted considerable attention.
"There's been so many cases where people have been treated unjustly after doing good things," one comment said.
"I am not as rich as Xu Yunhe and Peng Yu are, we are all poor grassroots people," said another. "If we get caught in a scam, this is it. All we can do is to dial 120 (the emergency number)."
2
Chef 'serves own father-in-law to customers'
Victim's remains allegedly cooked in giant pastries in Russian restaurant
A Moscow chef killed his father-in-law and then allegedly served him to customers at his restaurant.
According to police, the 54-year-old chef worked at an unnamed establishment well-known for its chebureki, or large meat-filled pastries: items that could easily disguise the odd hunk of flesh or human limb.
The chef reportedly killed his 82-year-old father-in-law during a drunken brawl. But police are refusing to either confirm or deny a claim by tabloid newspaper Life News that the chef then ran the dead man's body through a meat grinder, used the resultant slurry to fill his chebureki, and then served the pastries to customers for three days before being caught and sent to a psychiatric institution.
What makes this story even more remarkable, observes Elder, is the way Russians are treating it with such nonchalence. "These [sorts of] tales would fill most readers with horror but in Russia they are so commonplace as to barely inspire a raised eyebrow. What's more, the system is such that whistleblowers are actively discouraged from speaking out."

3
Westboro Baptist Church Continues Their Assault on Steve Jobs
Still tweeting from their iPhones...

If you aren’t familiar with Westboro Baptist Church, they are a fringe organization from Topeka, Kansas that travel around the country protesting high profile funerals of fallen American soldiers and celebrities.
The membership is small – 71 members as reported in 2007 – but they are widely known due to their unorthodox and outspoken positions on homosexuality and calls for God to destroy America.
You might know them as the “God Hates Fags” people (that’s the title of their official website), and you might have seen them at funerals and other events holding signs that read, “You’re Going to Hell,” “God Hates America,” “America is Doomed,” and “Thank God For Fallen Soldiers.” I don’t really want to try to summarize their beliefs in a succinct statement, but if I had to, I would say that they espouse that our culture is wicked, and God hates it, and that his punishment for homosexuality and other “Godlessness” is Hell.
Members of the group have even said that their goal with all the protests is to spread “God’s hate.”
Lovely. I’m sure you can see why they are quite the controversial group.
In 2009, they protested the funeral of Michael Jackson. In 2010, they picketed the funeral of Ronnie James Dio. By their count, they have conducted over 30,000 pickets all across the country.
Right after Jobs’ death on Wednesday evening, Westboro top member Margie Phelps tweeted the fact that they planned on protesting his funeral. Here’s what that tweet looked like:

If you look carefully, you’ll see that the tweet to announce Jobs’ funeral protest was sent via iPhone. Of course, this is some pretty incredible irony and quite a healthy dose of hypocrisy thrown in the mix.
When the fact that Phelps had tweeted her anti-Jobs tweet via iPhone spread around the internet, Phelps addressed it on Twitter:
@MargieJPhelps
MargiePhelpshttp://t.co/4Khk7ygv via @manstuffjoe
Rebels mad cuz I used iPhone to tell you Steve Jobs is in hell.God created iPhone for that purpose! 1 day ago via web • powered by @socialditto
After you read that, once the stupid stops burning, check out how other members of Westboro have been addressing the Steve Jobs thing over the past couple of days:
@WBCSteve
sʇǝʌǝ pɹɐıu#SteveJobs was an idolatrous fool and he split hell wide open! You got an app for that? Westboro Baptist Church will picket his funeral. 5 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone • powered by @socialditto
@WBCPhotos
Grace Eliza PhelpsVia @FieldRR “@WBCPhotos you going to take photos at Steve Jobs funeral protest? Then upload pics & tweet from your Mac?” That’s the plan! 18 hours ago via Tweetbot for iPhone • powered by @socialditto
@jaelphelps
Jael PhelpsWestboro Baptist Church thanks God for the cancer that ate Steve Jobs like a moth! “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment” (Isa51:8) 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone • powered by @socialditto
Before you ask, yes, those were all tweeted from an iPhone.
When we first told you about the Margie Phelps tweet via iPhone story, we received a great amount of comments expressing not only disapproval of Westboro, but disbelief at how they would be allowed to do this. The answer is pretty simple – the Supreme Court of the United States has upheld their right to protest. An 8-1 decision in a case involving Westboro and the picketing of a military funeral said that their speech was protected under the First Amendment. They can’t be denied that right because their speech is unpopular and outrageous.
Dissenters of that opinion said that the families of the fallen soldiers in these cases are being attacked by Westboro, verbally, in order to draw attention. They claim that free speech rights are not a license for vicious verbal attacks.
On their blog, Westboro has a post saying “Thank GOD! Steve Jobs is Dead.” They then modify a biblical passage to suit their needs and proclaim that Jobs played a part in gay marriage, which will bring civilization down –
Genesis 6:4 There were giants (in business/industry) in the earth in those days…the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Those captains of business/industry in Noah’s day did what Jobs and his cohorts do TODAY: turn the country over to the fags!
Fag marriage will bring your destruction! Jobs is responsible!
Of course this is nonsensical bullshit. Most of us can agree on that. And yes, some say that talking about Westboro only legitimizes their ridiculous message.
While it’s true that “media whores” isn’t a strong enough description of WBC, and they feast on the attention, they obviously have an impact on the national dialogue. Just look at all the internet chatter concerning their Steve Jobs statements over the last 2 days.
For such a small group, they have been able to affect the lives of many military families and draw the attention of millions of people. Should their ability to picket the funerals of fallen soldiers and celebs like Steve Jobs be limited? Can free speech go too far, and if so, does their speech apply? Or is there something quintessentially American in the fact that they are allowed to demonstrate, no matter how vile the material happens to be
Westside Baptist is not a Christian organization. Christianity believes in the Bible which in the words of Jesus indicates “Judge not lest ye be judged” and “Judge ye righteousness alone”.

Deforestation campaigning led to deportation from Indonesia

One thing I cannot stand in life is hypocrisy and even worse when big companies can through money around like it is confetti trying to convince the public or governments of something that is actually not true.

Andy Tait a senior campaigns adviser at Greenpeace wrote this article for the Guardian newspaper on Monday 24 October 2011 15.05 BST

It's no coincidence that my expulsion came after witnessing the huge tracts of rainforest cleared by Asia Pulp and Paper.
Last week, I was in Indonesia. I'd travelled there to work with colleagues in Jakarta and Sumatra on our continuing campaign to end the devastation of the country's magnificent rainforests.
But after an extremely intense few days, I left the country prematurely on Wednesday evening. I had been due to stay longer and had a business visa to allow me to do so, but we were receiving advice that if I stayed it was likely to bring more risk to my colleagues working there.
I feel very sad about leaving, not least because the last parting gesture from a group of officials at the airport was to place a large red deportation stamp in my passport. I was not even informed I was being deported. I was stopped while queuing at immigration to leave the country, interviewed for an hour and then rushed at the last moment onto a plane to Singapore. My passport, with its prominent new stamp, was handed to me as I entered the plane. I don't yet know when – or if – I will be allowed back into a country that I have enjoyed visiting so much for nearly a decade.
So, why was I deported? Currently, I work on the campaign to reform the practices of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), an Indonesian company which, as our growing dossier of evidence shows, is still destroying huge tracts of rainforest. I work with our international team across a range of countries to find ways to encourage APP to change and to expose its extraordinary greenwash. I am also in regular contact with some of the major international businesses that have recently suspended contracts with APP. Before this I had been working with my Indonesian colleagues who negotiated with Golden Agri Resources (GAR), which – like APP – is part of the Sinar Mas group. Earlier this year, GAR introduced a new forest conservation policy and this new approach is regarded as the most progressive in the palm oil industry. If fully implemented, it could have hugely positive impacts across the whole sector.
Our work against APP has focused upon asking it to follow GAR's lead on sustainability, something that it is resisting ever more strongly. The weekend before last, as part of this work, I was due to take part in a trip to visit the forests of South Sumatra, to see the forest clearance for myself.
And then things became a little surreal. I was tailed from my hotel in Jakarta that morning by two men, all the way to the airport. There I was stopped and shown a letter, apparently authorising my deportation. The only problem was it wasn't for me – the wrong middle name, wrong date of birth, wrong passport number and no photograph. After much back and forth with my colleagues, the men left. I was allowed to depart for the trip and while a number of "administrative hurdles" were placed in our way en route, we were able to see some of the areas of deforestation caused by APP suppliers.
These are areas the company claims are degraded and therefore suitable for clearing and replacing with plantations. But as soon as you see it for yourself, it's obvious it's not degraded. Our experience is that they are continuing to clear huge swaths of natural forest, much of it on areas of deep peat, and much of it in areas mapped as habitat for the endangered Sumatran tiger.
The more attention the issue gets, the more efforts the company throws at countering it. In Indonesia, this centres on trying to discredit the investigations of organisations like Greenpeace. Now some authorities are stepping in to try and stop those investigations from being conducted. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that, a few short hours after the airport incident, it was reported in the Indonesian media that I was travelling on false documents in the country. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that my boss John Sauven, who had been due to accompany me on the same trip, hadn't even been allowed into the country despite having a valid visa. I'm not a great believer in coincidence.
Around the world, the campaign is more obvious. It comes through a co-ordinated multimillion dollar global PR campaign including a series of TV adverts that have been on heavy rotation on outlets like CNN and Sky.
There is also a newspaper advert that states that, in order to see APP's commitment to conservation, you just need to follow their tracks. Well, last weekend my Indonesian colleagues and I did just that. The tracks that we saw the company leaving are those left by the miles and miles of canals which have been cut through the vast peatlands in order to drain them. Those canals are followed by the tracks of caterpillar diggers bulldozing their way through hectare after hectare of natural forest, clearing and stacking the timber before it's transported to APP mills. The tracks left by APP are the tracks of the destruction on an industrial scale of Sumatra's rainforests.
This house of cards the company has built has already started to fall down. Mattel was the latest in a long line of major international brands to suspend contracts with APP. Others will surely follow. And eventually APP will have to reform. The question for now is how long will it take, and what will be left of the few remaining large areas of rainforest in Sumatra when they do?
I hope to be allowed back to Indonesia again to support the fantastic work that my colleagues there are doing on this campaign. They are on the go 24-7, under extraordinary pressure and stress. Their work supports the commitments of Indonesia's president who has pledged to stop the deforestation. It's clear that if that commitment is to turn into reality, the campaign against APP must succeed, and soon.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/24/deforestation-deportation-indonesia?newsfeed=true

Drunk driver kills five runners in S Africa

Terribly sad news I have just read on MSN.

An allegedly drunk driver has killed five athletes training for a marathon in South Africa

South Africa's transport minister has called for murder charges against an allegedly drunk driver accused of killing five runners who were training for a marathon.

A sixth runner preparing for next month's Soweto Marathon was badly injured in Saturday's accident in Johannesburg.

In a statement, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said: "Following allegations that the driver of the vehicle was drunk, the driver should be charged with murder."

Gideon Sam, head of South Africa's Olympic committee, says South African sport "is rocked by these tragic deaths".

Earlier this year, the Olympics committee noted in a statement, South Africa's leading road cyclist, Carla Swart, died after being hit by a truck while she was training.

RIP so sad to hear the news.

Training here in NE Brasil I am seriously hampered by the bad roads, sun and n street lightning. If I have not finished my run by 09.00 I am in serious danger of getting sun burnt and the only safe window in the afternoon is between 16.30 and 18.00 after that it is too dark and dangerous, the street lights are very poor if any at all.

This part of Brasil for sure has a bully boy attitude nobody follows the highway code lorry drivers think they are king of the road and so it goes on down to the cyclist turning and expecting pedestrians to halt even though they have the right of way. Add the animals wondering all over the road, I kid you not, horses, donkeys, cattle, pigs, the odd goat or sheep and chickens I have often said there is a computer game just waiting to be created on getting from A to B in Piaui.

Congratulations to100 year old marathon man

Fauja Singh, 100, receives a finishing medal after crossing the line in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in Toronto
The world's oldest marathon runner, 100-year-old Briton Fauja Singh, has achieved another feat - completing the Scotiabank Toronto Marathon in Canada.
Mr Singh finished the race in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds.
Twenty-six miles is a hugely draining test for anyone and after almost 22 miles it looked like the centenarian might have to stop. But he battled on for another two hours to reach the finishing line in 3,850th place - ahead of five other runners.
Mr Singh, who only started running 11 years ago after the deaths of his wife and son, trains every day, running 10 miles.
He attributes his success to ginger curry, cups of tea and "being happy".
He holds the world record for the men's over-90 category after completing the 2003 Toronto marathon in five hours and 40 minutes.
He has previously said: "The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free.
"If there's something you can't change then why worry about it? Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running."
Born in India on April 1 1911, Mr Singh was a farmer in the Punjab when he first developed a love for running, but he only took the sport seriously when he moved to the UK 50 years later.

Grizzly Adam cuts back on chips, chocolate and beer and is now sizing up a World Cup final

Adam Jones is closing in on the most implausible of collision courses with the All Blacks coach who repeatedly dismissed him as too fat for Test rugby.
Wales’ sixth week of their wonderful odyssey leaves the original Hair Bear one more win away from the World Cup final and a likely confrontation with the New Zealand pack drilled by Steve Hansen, the man Jones blamed for ‘wrecking’ his early days.
Now the indispensable cornerstone of the Welsh scrum, Jones’ unbending role as arguably the most automatic of choices is in stark contrast to the misery of his World Cup debut, in Brisbane eight years ago.
Against England in the quarter-final, he suffered the humiliation of being substituted after just half an hour.
Hansen, then running the team after Graham Henry’s forced resignation the previous year, was adamant about Jones being a 30-minute player, overweight and under-prepared.
‘He didn’t think I could last any longer,’ Jones said in the aftermath of his second World Cup quarter-final against Ireland, when he went the full distance without any thought of being withdrawn.
‘Being taken off that early used to wreck me a bit. He never spoke to me about it, but I suppose it helped me in the long run because it gave me a thick skin.’
Jones made his debut off the bench against England eight years ago, when Sir Clive Woodward sent his reserve XV to Cardiff for a pre-World Cup friendly which Wales lost 43-9.
When Hansen decided that Jones had run out of steam against England’s first team in Australia less than three months later, he was replaced by the one other Welsh forward who will be running out against France in Saturday’s semi-final, Gethin Jenkins.
The lowest point of Jones’ early days arrived later that season in the early stages of a Six Nations match against Ireland at Lansdowne Road.
Hansen, who had been a detective in Christchurch before going into coaching full time, issued a damning verdict: ‘He is not very agile, not very mobile and soon runs out of energy.’
After a second unfulfilled World Cup in France, where Wales failed to survive the pool stage, Warren Gatland began his regime by giving Jones a stark choice — lose weight or lose your place.
He changed his diet and reduced his bulk to the right side of 20 stone, a downsizing based on reducing his huge intake of chips, chocolate and beer. Some 18 months later, the 30-minute man had become an everlasting part of the famed Lions’ Test front row, establishing himself as the best tighthead in Britain and Ireland.
Now that Jones is at his best fighting weight, a touch under 19 stone, nobody dares question his durability.
At 30, the Osprey from Abercrave in the Swansea valley has become a fully paid-up member of the alcohol-free zone as driven by the younger players.
‘Hardly any of the boys drink,’ he said. ‘None of the younger ones drink, which is a big thing. So the rest of us think, “We’d better not drink either”. There’s such a wide age range. Most of the boys would like a pint but we all realise how much is at stake. We will hope to save it for after the final.’
Jones, the third senior member of the Wales first team behind fellow prop Jenkins and the ageless Shane Williams, responds with typical candour to the question of whether he ever thought he would be where he is today, in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
‘No, I don’t suppose I did,’ he said. ‘But there has been a belief in the squad which has been getting stronger for some time. You have these young boys who are so fit and so professional.
‘People like me have to keep up with them, otherwise you fall by the wayside. ‘We’re ticking over nicely, the boys are on a roll and you don’t get the chance to play a World Cup semi-final every week.’
No amount of defeats in recent years have ever affected Jones’ status as one of the first, if not the first name on the team sheet.

Exercising or training?

A good question and article from Gavin Walsh who runs Bootcamps in the UK.
Do you consider what you do as exercise or training?
How do I see the difference between the two?
Exercise: activities performed for general health and well-being and quite likely weight control. Performed with limited focus on outcome goals. Exercise sessions may involve process goals i.e. working out for a specific time or performing a certain number of repetitions, but with little or no emphasis placed on long-term progression. Group exercise classes fall into this category, as does running for health without any intention of ever racing. So too does general strength training without following a clearly defined programme. In short I believe exercise tends not to elicit notable fitness improvements once basic adaptation has occurred as little thought is placed on progression. Quite often, the main goal of exercise is simply increased calorific expenditure to make up for a sub-standard diet.
Training: working out with a specific outcome goal in mind, for example training for a race, to increase strength to a specified level or improve sports-specific conditioning. Training is often the preserve of athletes (in the widest sense) and involves periods of higher intensity work followed by periods of rest and recovery. The long-term exercise manipulation of training variables results in steady and predictable improvements in fitness and associated performance and each workout and training week includes short-term goals which build toward an ultimate goal.
So what? (!)
In very simple terms, exercise is like heading on a journey without any directions. You might arrive at somewhere interesting if you are lucky but chances are you’ll just end up going around and round in circles until you run out of fuel or, worse still, just get bored and decide to go back home.
Training, on the other hand is like a well-planned expedition. There are maps, an itinerary, back-up plans, detailed logistics and an ultimate destination.
Needless to say, the second scenario makes much better use of resources and time than the first and will get you fitter.
Train, don’t exercise
It is my opinion that if more people trained as opposed to exercised, average fitness levels would be higher, exercise drop-out levels would be lower, gym members would be leaner and stronger, more people would stick to and achieve their fitness resolutions and the world would be at peace and global warming would be a thing of the past. Well I may be stretching it with the last couple of points but I really do believe that training for something tangible is better than exercising 'just for the hell of it'. That's why ultra-FIT is packed full of training articles that will progress your fitness. For example, I've been writing a series on maximising upper body strength for example that adapts a three phased approach and three blocks of training.
But I’m not an athlete
Don’t tell anyone but nor am I – at least not any more. The nearest I get to real-life competition now is ten-pin bowling(!) but that doesn’t stop me thinking and training like an athlete. I have short, medium and long-term goals that my training is designed to take me toward. These goals change from time to time depending on my current fitness interests but whenever I step into the gym or head out for a workout, I know exactly what I’m going to do and more importantly, why. This keeps me focused, motivated and, above all, ensures my fitness improves week by week. Some of my training goals have included rowing 5km in under 18 minutes, performing 200 burpees in less than 20 minutes, deadlifting double my bodyweight, overhead pressing my bodyweight, performing 20 dead-hang chin ups and squatting 1.5 times my bodyweight. Needless to say I have never attempted to achieve all these things at the same time and some are still works in progress but the point is, by having goals, every time you work out, you do so with purpose.


Homework

So, here is your task for the weekend (!) - take a piece of paper and decide on some training goals. Write them down and stick them somewhere prominent like the fridge door or inside your gym locker. It could be a specific amount of weight/fat loss you’d like to achieve, a distance you’d like to be able to run, a race you’d like to complete or a strength standard you’d like to reach. Decide on a realistic time frame. The loftier the goal, the longer you will need. If your goal is very high, break it down into a series of micro goals that you can tick off on your way to the 'big one'.
Next, do your research and find out the best training methods to help you reach your goals and then design a series of workouts. Come up with a series of four to six week training blocks which are progressive and build up in volume and intensity (the articles in ultra-FIT will help you do this - after all we aspire to be your 24/7 Personal Trainer!).
Finally, make sure that your daily behaviour supports the goal you have set for yourself. Remember that an unhealthy diet, too little sleep and too much stress will undermine your progress, whereas eating properly and getting enough sleep and other R&R will increase your chances of success.
So, by Monday, you may well be taking your first step towards a fitter, stronger, more focused and better you. And don’t forget, we at ultra-Fit are here to support and guide you each step of the way!

JOHN DEEGAN 2011 winner of Tom Venuto Fat Loss challenge

John Deegan weighed 348 pounds on Wednesday May 25th, 2011 at the start of his challenge. To take his before and after pictures, he needed canes to help his posture for the standing-up photos.
In his first journal post he said,
“I’ve been saying someday I will be slim all my life. I am now 60 years old. Not too many years left for excuses. And now… I need a hip replacement. However, the doctors will not operate on me until I lose 48 pounds (he wants me at 300). So, I have tentatively set my operation date one week after this contest ends…”
He then continued in Captain Picardesque style…
“MAKE IT SO!”
98 days later, 87% of the other contestants had dropped out… Many of them – almost all of them – were 100% fully mobile and able-bodied… Many of the dropouts were half of this man’s age…
But this man FINISHED THE CHALLENGE… and posted his results:
Before: 348 pounds
After: 314 pounds
Before: waist: 60 inches
After: waist: 54 inches
In his next to last post before reporting his challenge results, he reported the news:
“The doctor has now scheduled me for hip replacement! What a way to celebrate finishing the challenge!” …
“You know, sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and can’t believe I am 61. Inside I feel like a 30-year-old. I’ve wanted to get in shape my whole life and now I am FINALLY doing it!”

JOHN’S WINNING BURN THE FAT CHALLENGE ESSAY
“During this challenge, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that you are never too old to make important changes to your body. Even if you are handicapped with two bad hips, two canes, with bone on bone arthritis, you can still make significant changes if you are motivated.
The key to my transformation was in a large part due to my desire to have my hips replaced. My doctor said he wouldn’t operate on me unless I reached 300 pounds. So, that became my goal. I succeeded by figuring out how to deal with my desire for night time snacking. I found some sugar-free gum drops and this was my treat at night. I found that the longer I was away from starchy carbs, the less I missed them.
I used to think I was at total effect in my desire to lose weight. I have tried a thousand times and never gotten this far. Whenever I was tempted to overeat, I just told myself, “John, in 61 years you have eaten almost everything. This time is for you. You have tasted everything. You are not missing a thing.”
It was difficult going to the gym. People would look at me stumbling along with my two canes and you could just read their minds: “What is HE doing in the weightlifting area?” Well, I hired a gym instructor for a few lessons to teach me how to do some weightlifting being seated. There is a TON of things that a fat, handicapped person can do. After a while, people started showing me respect for being so dedicated to my task at hand. I started going six days a week, sometimes twice a day.
One of the big things I learned is the natural deliciousness of raw food. You don’t NEED to eat sweets. There are substitutes. My biggest win was finding a diet that I could live with for the rest of my life. As time moved on, I could now taste the natural sweetness in vegetables. I started thinking, “Hey, I can live with this.” And that’s the key finding a solution that works every day.
You know, I have lost six inches from my waist during this 98 day challenge. That is SIGNIFICANT. especially for someone my age. My metabolism does not respond as someone who is younger does. I am very proud of my progress.
I feel like a winner mainly because after 61 years of life, I am still trying to get healthy and look good. Many people give up at a much earlier age. I pushed through a lot of pain, bone on bone arthritis of both hip joints, and stumbled along with two canes. If I could do this anyone can. That’s what makes me a winner and that is why I deserve to be the champion.
This is only the beginning. Just WAIT until I can move around like the rest of you!”
Well Done John and keep up the good work.

New world record

Haile Gebrselassie loses his world record after dropping out of the Berlin Marathon and Kenya's Patrick Makau smashed the world record as he successfully defended his Berlin marathon title.
Makau clocked a brilliant time of two hours three minutes 38 seconds, 21 seconds faster than the time set by Gebrselassie over the same course back in 2008.

Britain's Scott Overall on his marathon debut was a credible 5th and inside the Olympic qualifying time. Overall he clocked 2hrs 10mins 55secs, well inside the Olympic qualifying time of 2:12.00.
He said: 'I couldn't believe it. When I got to 40k thought I had got the time wrong, so I was cruising on the home straight, and when I saw the clock said 2:10 I was very surprised.

Paula Radcliffe had mixed feelings despite achieving the Olympic qualification time after coming third in the Berlin Marathon.
The 37-year-old crossed the line in two hours 23 minutes 46 seconds, behind Kenya's Florence Kiplagat and Irina Mikitenko of Germany.
It was the former world record holder's first marathon since coming fourth in New York in November 2009. She was disappointed not to win but was glad to finish the race after her recent troubles. I need to get away and get fit and healthy.
'After the training this summer it has been very up and down. If I look at it this way I should be happy but I'm not - I wanted to win.'