Two Stanford Lake College students took part in grueling challenges two weeks ago, testing both their physical and mental endurance and stamina, and all in the name of charity.
Herman Fourie and Jarryd Gosling (both Grade 11) embarked on two very different but very extreme cycling challenges, and all without flouting lockdown rules.
Using a virtual cycling app called Zwift, Herman entered the app’s hall of fame by “virtually Everesting” or “vEveresting”, completing the equivalent elevation gain of Mount Everest! vEveresting is when a cyclist finds a climb and keeps riding it virtually until they have climbed the height of Mount Everest.
Herman cycled the Alpe du Zwift a total of nine times, reaching a total elevation gain of 9380 metres (Mount Everest is 8848 metres) and all without leaving his house! The Alpe du Zwift is a massive climb that is modelled after the iconic Alpe d’Huez – a true legend amongst road cyclists and probably the most famous cycle climb in the world. Zwift created this route using GPS data to perfectly match the incline and distance of the storied climb with its 21 hairpin turns.
Herman realised that his mammoth challenge could be a good opportunity to raise money for a worthy cause and so set about getting sponsorship, raising money for food parcels for the less fortunate. “The Stanford community came together and within the space of 48 hours, a sum of over R6 000 was reached! Sponsorships are still coming in, so the exact amount it yet to be calculated. The next step is to put the food parcels together, which will then be distributed among those in need, in the rural communities close to Stanford Lake College,” said Beth Coetzee of Stanford College.
Whilst Herman’s cycling trainer wanted Herman to complete the Alpe du Zwift only five times, Herman knew he wanted to get into the vEverest hall of fame. And even after he reached the equivalent elevation of Everest after 8.5 summits of Alpe du Zwift, he pushed that bit harder and summited nine times, all within the space of 12 hours and 40 minutes. The challenge was conducted on Herman’s turbo trainer that was set to maximum difficulty in order to make it more realistic.
When asked about how he got through the challenge, he said the hardest part was before he even got on his bike. “I had no idea what the challenge would entail. Giving up was never an option. Before I started, I prepared myself mentally for the challenge, and throughout the ride I had so much motivation to finish from my friends, family and with people joining sections of the ride, that also helped a lot.”
Herman says he struggled on the second to last summit. “My legs started feeling funny, that was about 190kms in and 05:30. But that is when a friend, Gordon Noel (and soon to be Stanfordian) joined in. This got the whole family excited and took my mind off any form of pain as I could already see all the Stanfordian values in Gordon.”
Inspired by Herman, Jarryd Gosling decided to set himself his own challenge. Testing his grit, determination and commitment, Jarryd chose to take on a non-stop 24-hour cycling challenge in his own back garden. He started at 16:00 on Friday afternoon and only stopped for meals and comfort breaks. During these breaks, he paused his watch and did not finish cycling until his watch said a full 24 hours was complete. In total, Jarryd completed 351 kilometres, cycling laps of his back garden.
“The Stanford Lake College community is extremely proud of both of these students. They are both the epitome of true Stanfordians and have motivated so many more pupils to climb their own mountains, whatever they may be,” said Coetzee.
