Timbavati Archives - The Running Mann

19th October 202220th October 2022

Timbavati Traverse (Fantastic Beasts & where we found them)

Back in the BC (before children) days of disposable income, I was fortunate enough to stay at some of the luxury lodges in the greater Kruger National Park area which included a couple of trips to the Timbavati. In addition to the morning and evening game drives, the lodges offer post-breakfast bush walks. I would always enquire (much to my wife’s embarrassment) about the possibility of a post-breakfast run instead of the more sedate walking option. Lodge staff are trained in exceptional customer service and are used to dealing with stupid questions from demanding guests. However, my question always broke through the poker-faced veneer of the luxury hospitality industry and produced a look of extreme incredulity before composure was regained and a polite, “No chance of that I’m afraid” was received. Continue reading “Timbavati Traverse (Fantastic Beasts & where we found them)”

10th October 202217th October 2022

Tales from the Timbavati Traverse: Johno Meintjes becomes a Real Runner

I was fortunate enough to receive an invite to run the Timbavati Traverse, a 45 kilometres single-day event through the unfenced Timbavati Private Game Reserve. I’ve got a mega-article coming out soon about the event. In an attempt to trim the core article down to epic length, I’ve decided to publish this snippet as a separate story.

The Timbavati Traverse is an event rather than a race. This year the field was expanded from 20 to 60 entrants with a 21km walk and two 45km running busses: bus number one was the fast bus and bus number two was the slow fun bus. I was a happy passenger in bus number two.

Getting the know the rest of bus number two while watching a crash of rhino (photo Chad Cocking Photography).

Continue reading “Tales from the Timbavati Traverse: Johno Meintjes becomes a Real Runner”

16th August 2022

A Behavioural Science Experiment to get Leaders to Complete an Agile Maturity Assessment

When it comes to behavioural science, I am an enthusiastic amateur. I guess the same could be said for my marathon running infatuation which, although prolific with over 250 completed, is still firmly footed in the ‘recreational amateur’ category. My payslip reads ‘Agile Coach’ so I’d like to think that I’ve managed to breach the amateur category in my chosen career (but you might need to check with my colleagues to confirm whether I do indeed qualify as a professional). It’s not often that running, behavioural science and agile coaching intersect but recently they did, so I decided to use the opportunity to run an experiment and this is what happened. Continue reading “A Behavioural Science Experiment to get Leaders to Complete an Agile Maturity Assessment”