BruceTP

With all the 2c worths, I could become rich... Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I shall concede: Any country with a common border with South Africa shall be considered local. That means: Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana are all local. Local is lekka!

I am glad you asked that question. I consider SADC as the name implies, a Community. Therefore it would be local. We are just part of the whole community. There again, there are 15 member countries in SADC including The Seychelles, United Republic of Tanzania and Madagascar which, should a TB travel to one of those countries are they not far enough away to be considered international? Here is the compromise I would like to propose : Sub-equatorial, continental African countries be considered as local.

All captured as well as an additional three!

10 days down 390 to go and the provisional results have been published. They are most probably out of date already because as I write I am receiving logs of TB placements. Be that as it may, this is a snapshot in time and already we have six TBs international. Well done! Short of going into each and every cache that the TB has visited, I have no way of knowing whether the visit was an FTF or not. If you know that you took a TB to an FTF, and it is not reflected in the score, please drop me a not and update me please, so that I can amend the scores accordingly. Keep the TBs moving. PS. Who has hijacked my one and is holding onto it? (Only joking... but if you do have it, please get it moving.)

The total is now up to 81 and another chance for the Free State Cheetah's to enter the race: GC2K25M Brekvis in Cheetahland An Event cache by Team Ginger Event Date: Friday, 10 December 2010

Just when you thought you had caught up with everything, still more TBs are entered. The total now stands at 78. WOW!

St Michaels United Church?

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. I had thought of a self regulating system whereby people update me on a change of score, typically when it is moved or placed. I shall have to see how I get on. As for automation, the GPX files are no longer available as they were in the previous race. Points for discovery? What does the community feel? 1 Point per discovery? I am willing to add it as an additional item in the rules. With a day to go to the Cape Town event, the total race stands at 72. Is there going to be the same rush at the event like there was in Gauteng with cachers only bringing their TBs to the race on event day? I shall wait and see with eager anticipation. I want to thank everybody out there who has entered a TB. It is going to fun tracking them all and noting their progress or lack thereof depending on whether your TB lands in a little known cache on top of an inaccessible mountain or whether placed in a busy urban cache! It is all part of the fun - Enter and enjoy it.

If you cannot make it to an event, send your TB with someone who is coming. I look forward to meeting Undercover Ginger.

I must say, if you get the opportunity it will be well worthwhile. At the recent three Pretoria events over the weekend of the CITO we were not only privileged to have our current reviewer ROTSIP but our beloved erstwhile reviewer Fish Eagle and their respective wives join us. The insight gained from chatting to them informally was invaluable. Being able to discuss the do's and don't's of cache planting and hearing the rationale for some of the rules was most insightful. I certainly learned a great deal from the experience. I am sure you would too.

Can you believe it? We are alredy into December 2010! That means that the provisional results for November have been published. Further logs may still come in to affect the scores, but please check that your details are correct, especially the mission and goal. Please report any discrepancies to me and I shall correct them. After entering the spreadsheet I could hardly see straight - partly due to the lateness of the hour and also it is a manual action and I have to go into each and every listing to compile the scores. Well done to JMPZA's Racing Subaru for being the first FTF recipient. Both Shark Racer - 2011 Great SA TB Race and B and C Inc's Trokkie are in the lead with 63 points. Remember, there are still five more events to launch your TBs. Keep them coming.

That sounds like a great idea. I may well take you up on your offer. I am looking forward to meeting some more Cape Cachers.

If it not published - what is the point because there will be no benefit as you won't be able to log them? If the caches are of suitable quality, why should they not last longer for other people to enjoy?

For all the Lowvelders out there: Here is your chance to enter The Great 2011 SA TB Race. GC2JPZV Celebrating 2010 in the Lowveld An Event cache by Bouts777 Event Date: Saturday, 11 December 2010 Get your TBs and start racing.

What a good excuse to organise another event! Get some cachers together after work one day, have a chat, exchange some caching stories while quaffing some fine wine and launch your TB from there! If there are any Gautengers who can't make tomorrow's event there is the "QC X - December 2010 - Mall @ Reds" event (GC2J7QK) on the 15th of December.

Indeed, MnCo, the race is on. It is 400 days to the end. The first event tomorrow seems that it is going to be great fun with close to 50 people coming thus far. I am sure more will pitch on the day and no doubt the number of TBs will increase. This means that we will have exceeded last year's entrant total. Wow! I am certainly going to need an independent adjudicator to keep me on my toes keeping track of all of them. Thanks to MnCo for your contribution in setting up the other race tracking. I may not be able to update my scoreboard as frequently as those sites, so just bear with me. May I therefore wish each and every entrant Godspeed and safe travel. To both TB and cacher alike have fun and may the best TB and team win.

OK - To be more accurate : Of the 24 Gauteng starters - 2 from the UK, 2 from Qatar and 3 from UAE.

With just one day to go to the official launch of the TB Race I am delighted with the response: 23 Entrants from Gauteng 18 from the Western Cape 2 from KZN I am sure the numbers will grow at the events when people bring more. This race is going to be quite something....

Where is your entry?

Indeed, Welcome! That brings the total entrants thus far to 27. Keep them coming.

With less than a week to go to the official launch of the Great SA 2011 TB Race we have 25 confirmed entrants rearing to go. I am looking forward to seeing more TBs listing this week...

Indeed, Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne was the last survivor of the battle of Rorkes Drift. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, second only to the Victoria Cross of which eleven were awarded in this battle alone. He was actually offered promotion of a commission but refused for reasons I do not understand. This is how he described it in a radio interview: "Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead and the men received the thanks of Parliament, the Officers being promoted to the rank of Major. I was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal with an annuity of £10 - the same awarded to the Victoria Cross - and awarded a Commission, but as I was the youngest of eight sons, and the family exchequer was empty, I had to refuse it that time." He was commissioned in 1890. He later became Lieutenant-Colonel by the end of WW1 and was also made an OBE. He passed away on VE Day (8 May 1945) aged 91. Frank Bourne was played by Nigel Green in Stanley Baker's 1964 film "Zulu".

I shall nudge them to give an update of the progress made thus far. They are doing all the back-breaking work on it. They have approached me to be part of the LOC and it seems a formidable task! More volunteers needed. They are currently negotiating a venue with sufficient conference facilities to host concurrent mini-events and presentations. You also have to guarantee a minimum amount of accessible accommodation available. Then there is the funding aspect, as you can't charge directly for attending but can be funded through sales of "Mega" merchandise: coins / clothing etc. In short - We shall keep you all posted...

Chelmsford was the cause of the whole conflict as he had stirred up tensions in the region and spoiling for a fight, issued an ultimatum to the Zulu King Cetshwayo. He invaded Zululand without authorisation from the British government and suffered the annihilation of his central column at the battle of Isandlwana.

In that case, get out into the fresh air and take a stroll to your local reference library and explore a real book! Who knows, there may even be a cache along the way to find? There is nothing to beat the hard copy.