White Tiger vs. Lions Head

We took on the challenge of joining Irshaad "White Tiger" Sayed on a hike (well, we hiked, he ran) up Lions Head for Charity. This was kind of a big deal for me as it was my first hike, up any mountain, ever. The Cape Town crowd definitely pulled through and showed tremendous amounts of support for the White Tiger on his quest to quench Africa.

We caught up with Sayed after the challenge to get the finer details.

 

 

Arriving at the beginning of the trail at 9am, Sayed's father had mentioned that he'd already completed 2 ascents. We saw Sayed after ascent number 4 had been completed, and upon asking how he managed to still look as fresh as he did when he began the challenge, Sayed responded: "The poker face works wonders. I use it when I'm fighting and I used it while I ran. People consistently telling you that you still look good and fresh makes you feel good and fresh. It's all mental."

Sayed managed to hit his goal of 6 successful ascents, surpassing his goal of 10 wells, with a total of 15 wells. "That's 15 x R9500 and that 15 wells x 100 people per village" says Sayed, jokingly adding "Math isn't my strong point :-)".

We asked Sayed to talk us through his first and last ascent, very well aware of the change in environment from ascent 1 to ascent 6. Sayed responded saying:

"My 1st ascent I did alone. It's was a nice morning and it was a good start to the long day ahead. For my last ascent, my family came up with me and we took a nice slow hike as my grandfather came along, which was extremely meaningful. It was a great day spent with family and friends."

 

Sayed concludes: "I would like to thank all my family and friends for their help, without them it wouldn't have been possible. I would also like to thank all the CT fans for their overwhelming support. I really appreciate it.

To keep up to date, check out his website at: Irshaad Sayed.