great trek toque

2023 Great Trek presented by BlueShore Financial

The Great Trek presented by BlueShore Financial is Saturday, October 28!

21.1KM, 10KM, 5KM + Hat Trick Combo

Save your spot. Register Now!

Join the Great Trek presented by BlueShore Financial on Saturday, October 28, for a jaunt through Musqueam territory. Have fun or clock a PB for the calendar year. The Great Trek presented by BlueShore Financial features races for everyone with a Half Marathon, 10KM, 5KM and 36.1KM Hat-Trick. However, the Half Marathon is already sold-out. Join the 10KM or 5KM.

Your race includes:

• Race Bib with Timing Chip
• Race Medal included
• Combo Medal and Race Wrap with the Hat-trick
• Great Trek Toque. Limited Quantity. Register early
• $25 off at Forerunners, minimum $75 spend
• 16oz sleeve of Stanley Park Beer if of age
• Drinks, food, sushi or chili
• Gear check and pacers provided by RUNVAN®
• Race results, leaderboard, and more!

Limited quantity is available for the toque. Register early to secure yours, or go 'green' to skip the race giveaway item of a toque and save on your race registration fees. Medals will still be available for all finishers including those who go 'green'.

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Race Details

• Information subject to change. ALWAYS check with event contacts or websites to verify details.
• Please be sure to read  Road Race Etiquette Guidelines  and share with other series participants.

. Steveston Icebreaker (8k)

Sunday January 14, 2024, 9:00 am

Imperial Landing, Steveston, Richmond

Jared Hulme [email protected]

$40 by Nov 30, $50 by Jan 12, $60 at packet pick up;

Inside post-race expo with snacks, drinks, pizza and draw prizes headline the indoor post-race festivities. Run through historic Steveston with scenic views of the harbour alongside the beautiful Fraser Arm river bank on this flat and fast course. Also had a 1k kid run and is a fundraiser for KidSport.

https://icebreaker8k.ca/

. BMO Saint Patrick’s Day (5k)

Saturday March 16, 2024, 9:30 am

Stanley Park Pavilion, Vancouver

Karen Warrendorf [email protected]

$45 by Jan. 31, $50 by Feb. 29, $55 by Mar. 11; BC Athletics members deduct $3.

The race has a fast and scenic loop of Stanley Park Seawall. All with an Irish theme; post-race party with great food, green beer, DJ and lots of FUN and prizes. Cash prizing including course record bonus. In support of Canadian Diabetes. Prize for best green costume. Also part of the BC Super Series

http://www.stpatricks5k.com/

. Vancouver Sun Run (10k)

Sunday April 21, 2024, 9:00 am

BC Place, Vancouver

Tim Hopkins [email protected]

The Vancouver Sun Run has been Canada’s largest 10k road race since its inception in 1985, and is currently the third-largest timed 10k in North America. Lots of post-race food options, kids race, team competition, race t-shirt and more.

https://www.vancouversunrun.com/

. BMO Vancouver Marathon (21.1k)

Sunday May 5, 2024, 7:00 am

Queen Elizabeth Park – Midlothian Avenue, Vancouver

Eric Chene [email protected] 604-872-2928

$119.00 16yrs+. Exclusive technical race shirt, finisher medal, on-course services, timed results, more!

After record numbers in 2023, this is a race you do not want to miss.  The annual event brings together runners from all over the world and is Vancouver largest half marthon. Entry includes race shirt, finisher’s medal, $25 gift card, free gear check, expo, post-race hot food and entertainment.

https://bmovanmarathon.ca/

. The Longest Day (5k)

Friday June 14, 2024, 6:45 pm

Thunderbird Stadium, UBC, Vancouver

Graeme Fell [email protected] 604-266-8879

$40 by April 15, $45 by May 31, $50 by June 14; 18yrs under deduct $10, 55yrs+ deduct $5.

One Vancouver’s only evening race and best post-race eats, this is event worth the price of admission; 10k distance (7:00) and Subway Kids Mile (6:30) also offered — not part of series. Post-race BBQ/party with music, hot dogs, burgers, veggie burgers, fruit, veggies, desserts and drinks, other goodies and a beer garden. In support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

https://www.thunderbirdstrack.org/longest-day-event-info

. Vancouver Half Marathon (21.1k)

Sunday June 23, 2024, 7:30 am

UBC to Kitsilano, Vancouver

Ryan Chilibeck [email protected]

$85 (21K) and $50 (5K) until April 18.

Scenic downhill course starting at UBC, down through Spanish Banks, and finishing in Kitsilano. Generous cash prizing up for grabs; custom finisher medals & great runner swag. There is a 5k and kids races also offered (not part of the series) & other virtual options. Also part of the Athletics Canada Road Race Label series and BC Super Series .

https://canadarunningseries.com/vancouver-half/

. VFAC Summerfast (10k)

Saturday July 6, 2024, 7:30 am

Ceperley Picnic Area at Second Beach, Stanley Park, Vancouver

Kyle Kimura [email protected]

$35 by March 14, $45 by June 5, and $55 by July 2.

Scenic and fast, flat course through Stanley Park and around the seawall. Post-race brunch featuring delicious home-baked goods, fresh fruit and Starbucks coffee. Great draw prizes. Cash prizing to top men and women (open and masters) as well as course record bonus. Fundraiser for Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club.

http://www.summerfast.ca/

. Run Surrey Run (5k)

Sunday September 8, 2024, 9:00 am

Holland Park, Surrey

Gurjinder Bhurji [email protected]

One of the Lower Mainland’s newest races and the only road race in Surrey, mark this event on your 2024 calendar as one not to miss. The fast and scenic course goes through the heart of Surrey’s downtown sector, by City Hall and around the beautiful Holland Park. The race also offers a 10km and t-shirt option. More info to come.

https://www.runsurreyrun.com/

. Under Armour Eastside (10k)

Sunday September 22, 2024, 8:30 am

Cordova St at Abbott Street, Vancouver

Ryan Chillibeck [email protected]

$50 by April 19, $60 by August 1

Start/finish on Cordova St at Abbott, beside the Woodward’s Development. Out and back through the eastside of Vancouver, touring Gastown while supporting great Eastside Charities. Canadian, BC, Open and Masters prize money. A top class showing of Canada’s elite runners, part of the Canada Running Series. Also part of the  Canada Running Series  and  BC Super Series .

https://canadarunningseries.com/vancouver-eastside-10k/

. Great Trek (10k)

Saturday October 26, 2024, 8:30 am

University of British Columbia , Vancouver

Eric Chene [email protected]

$55.00 13yrs+. Great Trek Toque included.

The Great Trek runs through and around the historic University of British Columbia. With scenic views, post-race hot food, and an indoor awards ceremony, this is the perfect race to end your season. There is also 5k and half marathon but they are not a part of the series. Entry includes finisher’s medal, $25 gift card, free gear check, expo, post-race hot food and entertainment.

https://www.greattrek.ca/

• Society and Politics
• Art and Culture
• Biographies
• Publications

Great Trek 1835-1846

The Great Trek was a movement of Dutch-speaking colonists up into the interior of southern Africa in search of land where they could establish their own homeland, independent of British rule. The determination and courage of these pioneers has become the single most important element in the folk memory of Afrikaner Nationalism. However, far from being the peaceful and God-fearing process which many would like to believe it was, the Great Trek caused a tremendous upheaval in the interior for at least half a century.

The Voortrekkers

The Great Trek was a landmark in an era of expansionism and bloodshed, of land seizure and labour coercion. Taking the form of a mass migration into the interior of southern Africa, this was a search by dissatisfied Dutch-speaking colonists for a promised land where they would be 'free and independent people' in a 'free and independent state'.

The men, women and children who set out from the eastern frontier towns of Grahamstown, Uitenhage and Graaff-Reinet represented only a fraction of the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the colony, and yet their determination and courage has become the single most important element in the folk memory of Afrikaner nationalism. However, far from being the peaceful and God-fearing process which many would like to believe it was, the Great Trek caused a tremendous social upheaval in the interior of southern Africa, rupturing the lives of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people. But this time the reports that reached the chiefs of the Sotho clans on the northern bank were more alarming: the white men were coming in their hundreds.

Threatened by the 'liberalism' of the new colonial administration, insecure about conflict on the eastern frontier and 'squeezed out' by their own burgeoning population, the Voortrekkers hoped to restore economic, cultural and political unity independent of British power. The only way they saw open to them was to leave the colony. In the decade following 1835, thousands migrated into the interior, organised in a number of trek parties under various leaders. Many of the Voortrekkers were trekboers (semi-nomadic pastoral farmers) and their mode of life made it relatively easy for them to pack their worldly possessions in ox-wagons and leave the colony forever.

After crossing the Orange River the trekkers were still not totally out of reach of the Cape judiciary - in terms of the Cape of Good Hope Punishment Act (1836), they were liable for all crimes committed south of 25 deg latitude (which falls just below the present-day Warmbaths in northern Transvaal).

The trekkers had a strong Calvinist faith. But when the time came for them to leave they found that no Dutch Reformed Church minister from the Cape was prepared to accompany the expedition, for the church synod opposed the emigration, saying it would lead to 'godlessness and a decline of civilisation'. So the trekkers were forced to rely on the ministrations of the American Daniel Lindley, the Wesleyan missionary James Archbell, and a non-ordained minister, Erasmus Smit.

The trekkers, dressed in traditional dopper coats (short coats buttoned from top to bottom), kappies (bonnets) and hand-made riempieskoene (leather thong shoes), set out in wagons which they called kakebeenwoens (literally, jawbone wagons, because the shape and sides of a typical trek wagon resembled the jawbone of an animal).

These wagons could carry a startling weight of household goods, clothes, bedding, furniture, agricultural implements, fruit trees and weapons. They were ingeniously designed and surprisingly light, so as not to strain the oxen, and to make it easier to negotiate the veld, narrow ravines and steep precipices which lay ahead. Travelling down the 3500 metre slope of the Drakensberg, no brake shoe or changing of wheels could have saved a wagon from hurtling down the mountain were it not for a simple and creative solution: the hindwheels of wagons were removed and heavy branches were tied securely underneath. So the axles were protected, and a new form of brake was invented.

The interior represented for the trekkers a foreboding enigma. The barren Kalahari Desert to the west of the highveld, and the tsetse fly belt which stretched from the Limpopo River south-eastwards, could not have been a very inviting prospect. Little did they realise that neither man nor animal would escape the fatal malarial mosquito. Yet the Voortrekkers ploughed on through treacherous terrain, eliminating all obstacles in their path, and intent on gaining access to ports beyond the sphere of British control, such as Delagoa Bay, Inhambane and Sofala. In order for their new settlement to be viable, it was crucial that they make independent links with the economies of Europe.

Trek and the 'empty lands'

The Empty Land Myth The Empty or Vacant Land Theory is a theory was propagated by European settlers in nineteenth century South Africa to support their claims to land. Today this theory is described as a myth, the Empty Land Myth, because there is no historical or archaeological evidence to support this theory. Despite evidence to the contrary a number of parties in South Africa, particularly right-wing nationalists of European descent, maintain that the theory still holds true in order to support their claims to land-ownership in the country.  Read article

Reconnaissance expeditions in 1834 and 1835 reported that Natal south of the Thukela and the central highveld on either side of the Vaal River, were fertile and largely uninhabited, much of the interior having been unsettled by the ravages of the Mfecane (or Difaqane as it is called in Sotho). The truth of these reports - many of them from missionaries - has long been a source of argument among historians, and recent research indicates that the so-called 'depopulation theory' is unreliable - the devastation and carnage by African warriors is exaggerated with every account, the number of Mfecane casualties ranging between half a million and 5-million.

This kind of historical inaccuracy strengthens the trekkers' claim that the land which they occupied was 'uninhabited and belonged to no-one', that the survivors of the Mfecane were conveniently spread out in a horseshoe shape around empty land. Probably in an attempt to justify their land seizure, the trekkers also claimed to have actually saved the smaller clans in the interior from annihilation, and defeated the 'barbarous' Ndebele and Zulu warriors.

Africans did indeed move temporarily into other areas, but were soon to reoccupy their land, only to find themselves ousted by Boer intruders. For example, in Natal the African population, estimated at 11000 in 1838, was increased by 'several thousand refugees' after Dingane's defeat at the hands of his half-brother Mpande two years later. In 1843, when the Republic of Natalia was annexed by the British, the official African population was put at 'between 80 000 and 10 0000 people'. But even this may have been an underestimation.

Trekker communities and technology

Military prowess was of paramount importance to the trekker expedition. It had to be, for they were invading and conquering lands to which African societies themselves lay claim. Bound by a common purpose, the trekkers were a people's army in the true sense of the word, with the whole family being drawn into military defence and attack. For instance, the loading of the sanna (the name they gave to the muzzle-loading rifles they used) was a complicated procedure and so the Boers used more than one gun at a time - while aiming and firing at the enemy with one, their wives and children would be loading another.

Armed with rifles on their backs and a kruithoring (powder horn) and bandolier (a bullet container made of hartebeest, kudu or ox-hide) strapped to their belts, formidable groups of trekkers would ride into battle. Bullets were often sawn nearly through to make them split and fly in different directions, and buckshot was prepared by casting lead into reeds and then chopping it up. Part of every man's gear was his knife, with a blade about 20 centimetres in length. When approaching the battlefield, the wagons would be drawn into a circle and the openings between the wheels filled with branches to fire through and hide behind. When they eventually settled down, the structure of many of the houses they built - square, with thick walls and tiny windows - resembled small fortresses.

The distinction between hunting and raiding parties was often blurred in trekker society. Killing and looting were their business, land and labour their spoils. When the trekkers arrived in the Transvaal they experienced an acute labour shortage. They did not work their own fields themselves and instead used Pedi who sold their labour mainly to buy arms and ammunition.

During commando onslaughts, particularly in the eastern Transvaal, thousands of young children were captured to become inboekselings ('indentured people'). These children were indentured to their masters until adulthood (the age of 21 in the case of women and 25 in the case of men), but many remained bound to their masters for much longer. This system was akin to child slavery, and a more vicious application of the apprenticeship laws promulgated at the Cape in 1775 and 1812.

Child slavery was even more prevalent in the northern Soutpansberg area of the Transvaal. It has been suggested that when these northern Boers could no longer secure white ivory for trade at Delagoa Bay, 'black ivory' (a euphemism widely used for African children) began to replace it as a lucrative item of trade. Children were more amenable to new ways of life, and it was hoped that the inboekselings would assimilate Boer cultural patterns and create a 'buffer class' against increasing African resistance.

Dispossession and land seizure

The trekkers' first major confrontation was with Mzilikazi, founder and king of the Ndebele. After leaving the Cape, the trekkers made their first base near Thaba Nchu, the great place of Moroka, the Rolong chief. In 1836 the Ndebele were in the path of a trekker expedition heading northwards and led by Andries Hendrik Potgieter. The Ndebele were attacked by a Boer commando led by Potgieter, but Mzilikazi retaliated and the Boers retreated to their main laager at Vegkop. There in October, in a short and fierce battle which lasted half an hour, 40 trekkers succeeded in beating off an attack by 6000 Ndebele warriors. Both sides suffered heavy losses - 430 Ndebele were killed, and the trekkers lost thousands of sheep and cattle as well as their trek oxen. But a few days later, Moroka and the missionary Archbell rescued them with food and oxen.

Gert Maritz and his party joined these trekkers in Transorangia (later the Orange Free State) and in January 1837, with the help of a small force of Griqua, Kora, Rolong and Tlokwa, they captured Mzilikazi 's stronghold at Mosega and drove the Ndebele further north. The trekkers then concluded treaties of friendship with Moroka and Sekonyela (chief of the Tlokwa).

When Piet Retief and his followers split away and moved eastwards to Natal, both Potgieter and Piet Uys remained determined to break the Ndebele. At the end of 1837, 135 trekkers besieged Mzilikazi 's forces in the Marico valley, and Mzilikazi fled across the Limpopo River to present-day Zimbabwe. He died there, to be succeeded by Lobengula, who led a rather precarious life in the area until he was eventually defeated by the forces of the British South Africa Company in the 1890s.

Meanwhile, Retief and his followers continued marching towards Port Natal (later Durban). After Retief's fateful encounter with Dingane, chief of the Zulu, and the ensuing Battle of Blood River, the trekkers declared the short-lived Republic of Natalia (1838). They formed a simple system of goveming, with Pretorius as President, assisted by a volksraad (people's assembly) of 24 members, and local government officials based on the traditional landdrost and heemraden system. In 1841, an adjunct council was established at Potchefstroom, with Potgieter as Chief-Commandant. The trekkers believed that at last they had found a place in the sun....

But the British would not recognise their independence. In December 1838, the Governor, Sir George Napier, a determined military man who had not allowed the loss of his right arm in battle to ruin his career, sent his military secretary, Major Samuel Charters, to occupy Port Natal, which effectively controlled Voortrekker use of the harbour. Three years later, when the Natal Volksraad resolved to drive all Africans not working for the whites southwards beyond the Mtamvuna River (later the border between Natal and the Transkei), Napier again intervened. He was concerned that this would threaten the eastern frontier of the Cape, and so instructed Captain Thomas Charlton Smith to march to Port Natal with 250 men. Smith, who had joined the Royal Navy at the age of nine and was a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo, tried to negotiate with Pretorius, but to no avail.

On the moonlit night of 23 May 1842, Smith attacked the Boer camp at Congella but Pretorius, who had been alerted, fought back. The trekkers proceeded to besiege the British camp. One of their number, Dick King. who became known as the 'saviour of Natal', evaded the siege and rode some 1000 kilometres on horseback to seek reinforcements in Grahamstown. In June a British relief force under Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham Cloete arrived on the scene and Boer resistance was crushed. On 15 July the volksraad at Pietermaritzburg signed the conditions of submission.

Although most trekkers had travelled into Natal or into the far north with the main expeditions, some had remained on the fertile land above the junction of the Caledon and Orange rivers, and gradually began to move north-eastward.

The trekkers' pioneer in this area was Jan de Winnaar, who settled in the Matlakeng area in May-June 1838. As more farmers were moving into the area they tried to colonise the land between the two rivers, even north of the Caledon, claiming that it had been abandoned by the Sotho people. But although some of the independent communities who had lived there had been scattered, others remained in the kloofs and on the hillsides. Moshoeshoe, paramount chief of the Sotho, when hearing of the trekker settlement above the junction, stated that '... the ground on which they were belonged to me, but I had no objections to their flocks grazing there until such time as they were able to proceed further; on condition, however, that they remained in peace with my people and recognised my authority'.

The trekkers proceeded to build huts of clay (instead of reed), and began planting their own food crops (no longer trading with the Sotho). This indicated their resolve to settle down permanently. A French missionary, Eugene Casalis, later remarked that the trekkers had humbly asked for temporary rights while they were still few in number, but that when they felt 'strong enough to throw off the mask' they went back on their initial intention.

In October 1842 Jan Mocke, a fiery republican, and his followers erected a beacon at Alleman's drift on the banks of the Orange River and proclaimed a republic. Officials were appointed to preside over the whole area between the Caledon and Vaal rivers. Riding back from the drift, they informed Chief Lephoi, an independent chief at Bethulie, that the land was now Boer property and that he and his people were subject to Boer laws. They further decided that the crops which had been sown for the season would be reaped by the Boers, and they even uprooted one of the peach trees in the garden of a mission station as indication of their ownership. In the north-east, they began to drive Moshoeshoe's people away from the springs, their only source of water. Moshoeshoe appealed for protection to the Queen of England, but he soon discovered that he would have to organise his own resistance.

Land seizure and dispossession were also prevalent in the eastern Transvaal where Potgieter had founded the towns of Andries-Ohrigstad in 1845 and Soutpansberg (which was later renamed Schoemansdal) in 1848. A power struggle erupted between Potgieter and Pretorius, who had arrived with a new trekker party from Natal and seemed to have a better understanding of the political dynamics of southern Africa. Potgieter, still anxious to legitimise his settlement, concluded a vredenstraktaat (peace treaty) in 1845 with Sekwati, chief of the Pedi, who he claimed had ceded all rights to an undefined stretch of land. The precise terms of the treaty are unknown, but it seems certain that Sekwati never actually sold land to the Boers.

Often in order to ensure their own safety, chiefs would sign arbitrary treaties giving away sections of land to which they in fact had no right. Such was the case with Mswati, chief of the Swazi, who, intent on seeking support against the Zulu, in July 1846 granted all the land bounded by the Oliphants, Crocodile and Elands rivers to the Boers. This angered the Pedi, who pointed out that the land had not even been his to hand over.

There was no uniform legal system or concept of ownership to which all parties interested in the land subscribed. Private land ownership did not exist in these African societies, and for the most part the land which chiefs ceded to the Boers was communally owned. Any document 'signed' by the chiefs, and its implications, could not have been fully understood by them. Misunderstandings worked in the favour of the Boers.

Large tracts of land were purchased for next to nothing. For example, the northern half of Transorangia went to Andries Potgieter in early 1836 for a few cattle and a promise to protect the Taung chief, Makwana, from the Ndebele. The area between the Vet and Vaal rivers extended about 60 000 square kilometres. This means that Potgieter got 2000 square kilometres per head of livestock! Also the 'right of conquest' was extended over areas much larger than those that chiefs actually had authority over. After Mzilikazi 's flight north in November 1837, the trekkers immediately took over all the land between the Vet and Limpopo rivers - although Mzilikazi's area of control covered only the western Transvaal.

But it was only after the Sand River Convention (1852) and the Bloemfontein Convention (1854) that independent Boer republics were formally established north of the Vaal and Orange rivers respectively.

Reader’s Digest. (1988). Illustrated History of South Africa: the real story, New York: Reader’s Digest Association. p. 114-120.

Collections in the Archives

Know something about this topic.

Towards a people's history

Rethinking the Great Trek

By james c. juhnke.

James Juhnke is professor emeritus of history at Bethel College and co-editor of Mennonite Life.

Millennialism

Community building, muslim-christian relations.

Canada’s Fastest Half

What started as a build-up to the BMO Vancouver Marathon, the First Half presented by BlueShore Financial has become a staple event in the city’s vibrant running culture. Canada’s Fastest Half Marathon offers a stunning out-and-back course past Sunset Beach, and along the Seawall towards Stanley Park before returning to the Roundhouse Community Centre in historic Yaletown. After 30 successful years with the Pacific Road Runners, the ‘First Half’ joined the RUNVAN® family in 2019 and continues to be a perfect training race leading up to the city’s only Marathon in May.

This event is known to sell-out quickly and is at capacity once again. Next in-person race: Sunday, February 11, 2024

View course map

View race kit, view photos, scenic course.

A waterfront out-and-back course, the First Half presented by BlueShore Financial is a scenic, 21.1KM route that takes place in Vancouver, BC. Ki cking off near the Roundhouse Community Centre, the First Half continues out past Sunset Beach, along the Seawall, and back towards the historic Yaletown neighbourhood. For the Virtual Races, you’re asked to please find your own pedestrian-friendly race courses and always be alert of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

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Half Marathon, Virtual 10KM and Virtual 5KM for Triple Crown Hybrid

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Package pickup.

February 1 – 28

VIRTUAL RACES

Virtual 10KM and Virtual 5KM for Triple Crown Hybrid

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Event website —, partnered with the best.

• Nov 28, 2014

Updated: Feb 28, 2022

This winter, you can look fashionable, stay warm, and help out a great cause by purchasing a Trek for Teens toque! We are very pleased to announce that we will be selling toques both online and at our events this year. A hat purchased at one of our events or ordered online and picked up at one of our events is $10.00. If ordered online and shipped to a different address, each hat is $10.00 plus an additional shipping fee of $10.00.

ORDER FOR YOUR SCHOOL

If you are a student leader and would like to order hats for your school, contact Trek for Teens' Director of Human Resources, Nicole Bazzocchi , at [email protected] .

ORDER ONLINE

If you would like to purchase a Trek for Teens toque online, click here to be directed to the order form.

WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?

Trek for Teens would like to thank Entripy Custom Clothing for their generous sponsorship of these toques!

For more information about Entripy Custom Clothing head to http://www.entripy.com/

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2022 Holiday Wrap

Our NEW Website has Launched!

Welcome to my crazy idea that is slowly turning into a crazy reality.  For nearly 20 years I've had one big dream to reduce what I own to what can fit in a car and set out on an open-end adventure to explore, meet new people, and find ways to grow.  Trust me, I fully expect a wild ride of both good and bad.  Luckily, I have Ginger now to keep me from being too adventurous.

My weekly schedule is about as stable as Norman Bates, so please be patient for updates!  I'll try my best to add something at least once a week.

I have a drone!

Check out these raw videos of some of my practice runs.  ->

Hover over this box to learn more about my drone & safety.

My UAV/UAS is registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and I am certified through The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST).

I adhere to all USC 44809 rules and fly only when and where it is safe to do so.  I utilize ALOFT before every flight to ensure I am authorized to use the airspace and if needed apply for authorizations through LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability).

I do not fly in airspace restricted by 36 CFR 1.5, unless I have obtained a special permit.  If there is video of a National Monument or other area with active 36 CFR 1.5 restrictions, I have either obtained a special permit OR I have launched, landed, and operated on land and in airspace OUTSIDE the restricted zone.

Sylvan Lake - Raw Footage

Hell's Canyon Trail - Raw Footage

Needles Highway - Raw Footage

• Oct 9, 2021

Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park

• Oct 2, 2021

Badlands National Park

• Sep 25, 2021

Mount Rushmore

• Sep 18, 2021

Devil's Tower National Monument

• Sep 3, 2021

Wildlife Loop Road & Sylvan Lake

• Aug 27, 2021

Needles Highway

• Aug 18, 2021

Aug 23 - Sept 20

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What was the Great Trek?

The Great Trek was a perilous exodus of pioneers into the heart of South Africa, looking for a place to call home.

When the British took control of Cape Town and the Cape Colony in the early 1800s, tensions grew between the new colonizers of British stock, and the old colonizers, the Boers, descendants of the original Dutch settlers. From 1835, the Boers would lead numerous expeditions out of the Cape Colony, traversing towards the interior of South Africa. Escaping British rule would come with a host of deadly challenges, and the Boers, seeking their own lands, would find themselves in direct conflict with the people who resided in the interior, most notably the Ndebele and the Zulu.

The “Great Trek” is a story of resentment, displacement, murder, war, and hope, and it forms one of the bloodiest chapters of South Africa’s notoriously violent history.

Origins of the Great Trek

The Cape was first colonized by the Dutch , when they landed there in 1652, and Cape Town quickly grew into a vital refueling station between Europe and the East Indies. The colony prospered and grew, with Dutch settlers taking up both urban and rural posts. In 1795, Britain invaded and took control of the Cape Colony, as it was Dutch possession, and Holland was under the control of the French Revolutionary government . After the war, the colony was handed back to Holland (the Batavian Republic) which in 1806, fell under French rule again. The British responded by annexing the Cape completely.

Under British rule, the colony underwent major administrative changes. The language of administration became English, and liberal changes were made which designated non-white servants as citizens. Britain, at the time, was adamantly anti-slavery, and was enacting laws to end it.

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Tensions grew between the British and the Boers (farmers). In 1815, a Boer was arrested for assaulting one of his servants. Many other Boers rose up in rebellion in solidarity, culminating in five being hanged for insurrection. In 1834, legislation passed that all slaves were to be freed. The vast majority of Boer farmers owned slaves, and although they were offered compensation, travel to Britain was required to receive it which was impossible for many. Eventually, the Boers had had enough of British rule and decided to leave the Cape Colony in search of self-governance and new lands to farm. The Great Trek was about to begin.

The Trek Begins

Not all Afrikaners endorsed the Great Trek. In fact, only a fifth of the Cape’s Dutch-speaking people decided to take part. Most of the urbanized Dutch were actually content with British rule. Nevertheless, many Boers decided to leave. Thousands of Boers loaded up their wagons and proceeded to venture into the interior and towards peril.

The first wave of voortrekkers (pioneers) met with disaster. After setting out in September 1835, they crossed the Vaal River in January, 1836, and decided to split up, following differences between their leaders. Hans van Rensburg led a party of 49 settlers who trekked north into what is now Mozambique. His party was slain by an impi (force of warriors) of Soshangane. For van Rensburg and his party, the Great Trek was over. Only two children survived who were saved by a Zulu warrior. The other party of settlers, led by Louis Tregardt, settled near Delagoa Bay in southern Mozambique, where most of them perished from fever.

A third group led by Hendrik Potgieter, consisting of about 200 people, also ran into serious trouble. In August 1836, a Matabele patrol attacked Potgieter’s group, killing six men, two women, and six children. King Mzilikazi of the Matabele in what is now Zimbabwe decided to attack the Voortrekkers again, this time sending out an impi of 5,000 men. Local bushmen warned the Voortrekkers of the impi , and Potgieter had two days to prepare. He decided to prepare for battle, although doing so would leave all the Voortrekker’s cattle vulnerable.

The Voortrekkers arranged the wagons into a laager (defensive circle) and placed thorn branches underneath the wagons and in the gaps. Another defensive square of four wagons was placed inside the laager and covered with animal skins. Here, the women and children would be safe from spears thrown into the camp. The defenders numbered just 33 men and seven boys, each armed with two muzzle-loader rifles. They were outnumbered 150 to one.

As the battle commenced, the Voortrekkers rode out on horseback to harry the impi . This proved largely ineffective, and they withdrew to the laager. The attack on the laager only lasted for about half an hour, in which time, two Voortrekkers lost their lives, and about 400 Matabele warriors were killed or wounded. The Matabele were far more interested in taking the cattle and eventually made off with 50,000 sheep and goats and 5,000 cattle. Despite surviving through the day, the Battle of Vegkop was not a happy victory for the Voortrekkers. Three months later, with the help of the Tswana people, a Voortrekker-led raid managed to take back 6,500 cattle, which included some of the cattle plundered at Vegkop.

The following months saw revenge attacks led by the Voortrekkers. About 15 Matabele settlements were destroyed, and 1,000 warriors lost their lives. The Matabele abandoned the region. The Great Trek would continue with several other parties pioneering the way into the South African hinterland.

The Battle of Blood River

In February 1838, the Voortrekkers led by Piet Retief met with absolute disaster. Retief and his delegation were invited to the Zulu King Dingane ’s kraal (village) to negotiate a land treaty; however, Dingane betrayed the Voortrekkers. He had them all taken out to a hill outside the village and clubbed to death. Piet Retief was killed last so that he could watch his delegation being killed. In total, about 100 were murdered, and their bodies were left for the vultures and other scavengers.

Following this betrayal, King Dingane directed further attacks on unsuspecting Voortrekker settlements. This included the Weenen Massacre, in which 534 men, women, and children were slaughtered. This number includes KhoiKhoi and Basuto tribe members who accompanied them. Against a hostile Zulu nation, the Great Trek was doomed to fail.

The Voortrekkers decided to lead a punitive expedition, and under the guidance of Andries Pretorius, 464 men, along with 200 servants and two small cannons, prepared to engage the Zulu. After several weeks of trekking, Pretorius set up his laager along the Ncome River, purposefully avoiding geographic traps that would have led to a disaster in battle. His site offered protection on two sides by the Ncome River to the rear and a deep ditch on the left flank. The approach was treeless and offered no protection from any advancing attackers. On the morning of December 16, the Voortrekkers were greeted by the sight of six regiments of Zulu impis , numbering approximately 20,000 men.

For two hours, the Zulus attacked the laager in four waves, and each time they were repulsed with great casualties. The Voortrekkers used grapeshot in their muskets and their two cannons in order to maximize damage to the Zulus. After two hours, Pretorius ordered his men to ride out and attempt to break up the Zulu formations. The Zulus held for a while, but high casualties eventually forced them to scatter. With their army breaking, the Voortrekkers chased down and killed the fleeing Zulus for three hours. By the end of the battle, 3,000 Zulu lay dead (although historians dispute this number). By contrast, the Voortrekkers suffered only three injuries, including Andries Pretorius taking an assegai (Zulu spear) to the hand.

December 16 has been observed as a public holiday in the Boer Republics and South Africa ever since. It was known as The Day of the Covenant, The Day of the Vow, or Dingane’s Day. In 1995, after the fall of apartheid , the day was rebranded as “Day of Reconciliation.” Today the site on the west side of the Ncome River is home to the Blood River Monument and Museum Complex, while on the east side of the river stands the Ncome River Monument and Museum Complex dedicated to the Zulu people. The former has gone through many variations, with the latest version of the monument being 64 wagons cast in bronze. When it was unveiled in 1998, The then Minister of Home Affairs and Zulu tribal leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi , apologized on behalf of the Zulu people for the murder of Piet Retief and his party during the Great Trek, while he also stressed the suffering of Zulus during apartheid.

The Zulu defeat added to further divisions in the Zulu Kingdom, which was plunged into a civil war between Dingane and his brother Mpande. Mpande, supported by the Voortrekkers, won the civil war in January 1840. This led to a significant decrease in threats to the Voortrekkers. Andries Pretorius and his Voortrekkers were able to recover Piet Retief’s body, along with his retinue, and give them burials. On Retief’s body was found the original treaty offering the trekkers land, and Pretorius was able to successfully negotiate with the Zulu over the establishment of a territory for the Voortrekkers. The Republic of Natalia was established in 1839, south of the Zulu Kingdom. However, the new republic was short-lived and was annexed by the British in 1843.

Nevertheless, the Great Trek could continue, and thus the waves of Voortrekkers continued. In the 1850s, two substantial Boer republics were established: The Republic of the Transvaal and the Republic of the Orange Free State . These republics would later come into conflict with the expanding British Empire.

The Great Trek as a Cultural Symbol

In the 1940s, Afrikaner nationalists used the Great Trek as a symbol to unite the Afrikaans people and promote cultural unity among them. This move was primarily responsible for the National Party winning the 1948 election and, later on, imposing apartheid on the country.

South Africa is a highly diverse country, and while the Great Trek remains a symbol of Afrikaner culture and history, it is also seen as an important part of South African history with lessons to learn from for all South Africans.

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A Jaunt Through Musqueam Territory

The Great Trek presented by BlueShore Financial has been a staple race in the Vancouver running community for years – formerly known as the Fall Classic. In partnership with the University of British Columbia, the Great Trek pays homage the Great Trek of 1922, where students marched to their current campus for  the Great Trek Student Relay created by UBC Recreation Intramurals in partnership with RUNVAN®. This relay is open to UBC students only and is comprised of a team of five people each running approximately 5KM in a relay style race against various faculties, residences, and clubs across campus. Come out with four friends or classmates and run for fun or run to win! Don’t miss the start of a new UBC tradition and a great event to remember while at UBC. The Relay is scheduled to start at 1pm.

Next in-person event: Saturday, October 28, 2023

View course map

View race kit, view photos, relay course.

On Musqueam territory, the Great Trek presented by BlueShore Financial features gorgeous running routes under colourful fall foliage, and a tour through the beautiful university campus. This is your chance to clock your personal best for the year on a double loop route that runs around UBC campus down Old Marine and SW Marine Drive.

Join in – Now!

In-Person Package Pickup

PACKAGE PICKUP

Forerunners Main St 3889 Main St, Vancouver, BC

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 10am to 6:30pm, race week only. Note: Times are subject to change.

OCTOBER 28, 2023

Relay : 1pm noon.

Please respect the safety protocols administered by staff and volunteers. Thank you.

Registration Includes:

• New RUNVAN Toque
• Race Bib with Timing Chip
• Complimentary refreshments
• Measured and mark courses
• Race Medal included
• Bonus Medal if you complete the Hat-trick
• Post-race celebrations with lively entertainment
• $25 off at Forerunners (minimum $75 spend)
• Opportunity to donate and fundraise for charity
• Race Results, leaderboards and more!

Race Details

Start & finish.

*The Great Trek Relay is open to current UBC students only. All participants must enter a valid UBC student number during registration and present their UBC Student ID at Package Pickup.

About The Relay

Registering your team.

• The Team Captain is responsible for registering the entire team. The information for each Relay member requested at time of registration is below:
• Name, gender, birthdate, age and email address
• Street address, city, province, country
• Each Relay team member will wear their ‘Leg’ bib – A, B, C or D – on the front of their shirt and a timing bib during their Relay Leg attached to the provided race belt.
• Your ‘baton’ bib will be a timing chip worn on the belt around your waist that will be passed between team members at the end of each Leg. Each runner will run a 2.5KM loop and pass the ‘baton’ to the next runner in the designated exchange zone.
• If you are unable to complete your Relay Leg due to injury or other reasons, please inform a race official. We will find your team members and notify them to continue racing, but without a timing belt.
• If your timing belt is lost or a member is unable to complete their leg, your team will not receive an official time, but your team can still complete the race.
• Individual Relay members may pick up the race package for the team. Please bring your picture ID, student number and Relay bib number to Package Pickup. Bib numbers will be assigned closer to race weekend. Please collect your race kits during the hours of   Package Pickup .

Team captains will register all members and pay for the entire team. If you are the Team captain and want to collect payment from teammates, please coordinate that exchange on your own behalf. Once registration is successful, an email will be sent to each Relay member and the subsequent e-waiver must be signed.

Start & Finish Line

The Start and Finish Line is located near the UBC Student Union Building at 6133 University Blvd.

Things to remember:

• Please arrive at least one hour before the race starts if you want to use the free gear check
• Washrooms are available near the Start Line. There are no washrooms available on course
• Beverage, food, and entertainment is provided at the Finish Line

A jaunt through Musqueam territory

Race details —.