Update

Hi all,

Today saw the touring party knock off another iconic run in the state of California. Every member of the squad participated ( a couple by cycling which still allowed them to be part of it - unfortunate shin splints to J Kenrick and K Esterhuizen ) in a run across the Golden Gate Bridge, to complete a wonderful stay in San Francisco. It should be of no surprise that the boys are extremely tired as we are heading to the conclusion of another packed day.

The daily activities today included; a 10km run from a nearby suburb, down past an picturesque beach before ascending to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge high up on the San Francisco hillside. Upon crossing the bridge we weaved our way down to the sleepy settlement of Salsatilo (much little Akaroa) where lunch was quickly downed before heading back on a 30min ferry across the harbour. Then it was Round 2 of physical exercise with a training run with the SI Cross Country Squad. Bizarrely a couple of our students found an early exit route after a couple of miles and ended up back track side at Saint Ignatius (a stretch session which included a series of ab workouts then took place, while the girls track team ran intervals- as staff we found the whole scenario a bit of a set up, although your sons claimed they were simply 'cross training'). Then it was time to chill out, throw around a gridiron ball, play some table tennis and generally hang out on the SI High School campus. Obviously a pizza dinner was required and as always was delivered before showers. A presentation of cross country hats from the 7th formers to the junior boys followed (each senior student spoke about a collection of the junior boys with the staff throwing in funny stories, nicknames, sincere words of congratulations, observations, etc). Finally, the day concluded with a couple of games of mafia (I'm sure the boys will explain this game upon arriving home). Lights out arrived at 10:15pm much to everyone's applause- Coach Jordan's disappointment however was very evident when he shed tears about the fact his first slumber party had ended on the floor of the Saint Ignatius chapel.

Points of note:
1. M Haycock, was officially first across the line on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, followed closely by J Grieve (both were possessed by some higher power today).
2. Coaches Gordon, Jordan and Jones were all in impeccable form this morning when they took to the icy San Fran Harbour water for the traditional ocean dip and swim (quoted as being a mere 4km swim according to the champion Coach Gordon)
3. S Perera left the US safely today but not before he stood with Coach Skeen roadside for 1hr 55mins waiting for a taxi- who said this was a service orientated society?
4. R Lockhart turned 16 today in NZ whilst still 15 in the US. R Martin tried to explain how the international date line works, however poor young Roddy got the wrong meaning of 'date line' in his thinking
5. F Boswell and T Batts were the facilitators of a game called mafia prior to lights out. The game itself got so scary that Coach Skeen had to make S Baek a hot chocolate before he could go to bed.
6. T Lorimer spent today trying to stretch out his calf muscles after wearing 'five finger' running shoes yesterday. These shoes are advocated by Coach Gordon who has already confused the likes of H Watt who was seen running on his hands due to a misinterpretation of what five fingers actually are.
7. O Clarke purchased a whole pizza for lunch today and went about teasing Coach Gordon about his salad. H Barclay came in as peace maker and ate two thirds of the pizza as commission.
8. Coach Jordan overheard the following comments (all true!) from a young lady watching our boys do the haka at SI; "I don't want to see them dance, I just want to talk to them" followed by "I hope they don't put their shirts back on, they are so hot, especially when they talk". Coach Jordan simply let some of the boys know the following truth "enjoy the attention fellas, when you return to NZ it will be back to the lonely life again!"

So tomorrow it's a 6am wake up call, for a 7am arrival at the airport. A 5.5hr flight will then allow for some rest before arriving in Hawaii at midday local time.

Until then . . .