Durban - The Rugby World Cup trophy for bravery should go to South African Ron Rutland. Since last year, the adventurer from KwaZulu-Natal has traversed mountains, braved floods, earthquakes and scorching heat as he cycled across continents to raise money for ChildFund Rugby, with the Rugby World Cup whistle nestled at the bottom of his backpack.
Armed with his bicycle and a rugby ball, he has cycled across continents, spreading the magical unity of sport despite a “major health wobble” which could’ve derailed his philanthropic adventure.
He says the whistle received a lot of “airtime” in New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, the first four countries on his trip which have big and enthusiastic rugby communities and are participating in the World Cup in France this year.
“It was lovely pulling it out in front of rugby unions, clubs and schools and just seeing people’s faces light up, realising that in some small way they are witnessing a little bit of rugby history.”
In countries where rugby is not a popular or mainstream sport, it remained “relatively hidden and out of sight” for many months.
“There, I just relied on pulling out the rugby ball which people had never seen. There’s just something about pulling out a ball, something about sport, that brings people together. Standing in a square in a small little town in Peru or Bolivia or Paraguay and you pull out a rugby ball… the kids start throwing the ball around and, sometimes, the adults get involved, and in some small way there was a way to spread the rugby gospel,” said Rutland.
Today (Saturday) marks 245 days since he jumped on his bike and started the second leg of his round-the-world cycle tour to France to deliver the World Cup whistle.
Rutland, who cycled into North Carolina this week, has been on the road for more than a year and has completed 200 000km on his bicycle.
He started in Japan in March last year, when he picked up the whistle. He then cycled to New Zealand for the 2021 Rugby World Cup for women which was held at the end of last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. After that tournament, he flew from New Zealand to Santiago, Chile.
His bike took him from Chile to Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru. And that’s when things went south.
As an earthquake and severe flooding flattened homes, claimed lives and damaged infrastructure in the northern parts of Peru on the Ecuadorian border, Rutland was caught in a duel with the elements which made it dangerous and impossible to cycle from there. It delayed his journey.
“I didn’t want to be an added burden to rescue workers or become one of the victims,” he said.
Forced to change his planned route, he made up for lost time by flying from Peru to Panama.
“It wasn’t the end to the South American leg that I was hoping for but all part of the adventure.”
Soon, his plans would change again. On the road for so long, cycling hard every day, often drenched and in freezing conditions while sleeping in a different place every night, sometimes in a tent in the open and at other times on the stoep of a home or business, he picked up a bug in Costa Rica which he couldn’t shake off.
“For the first time in all my journey I fell so far behind and just became really weak. The heat was absolutely unbearable and I had a really big wobble. I just basically got to a point where I couldn’t carry on. And I knew I needed an extended period of time off.”
But the clock was ticking, the World Cup drawing closer and he needed to get the whistle to France.
Rutland says he took a difficult but pragmatic decision to fly from Costa Rica to Mexico City, which meant he leapfrogged a good 2 000km or so. It also meant he couldn’t cycle through Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador but the month-long rest in Mexico City helped him recover his strength. He gorged on fruit and vegetables, binged on vitamins and supplements and rested from the bike to get his strength back.
From Mexico, he cycled north into Texas in the US which he reached at the start of June. He has been to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina. The best part of being in the US was being able to hear and speak English again and having deep meaningful conversations with people, he said.
“Despite being in South and Central America for so long, my Spanish never really improved beyond 10 or 20 words, and as much as I enjoyed all the new cultures while viewing the most incredible landscapes, the interactions I had with people were, unfortunately, relatively shallow.”
For the next few weeks, he will cycle through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and, finally, New York.
Follow Rutland’s journey with the World Cup whistle and donate to ChildFund Rugby through www.ronrutland.com or @RonRutland on Twitter.
The Independent on Saturday