PE Church of Christ participation in the Ironman South Africa 2007

Sunday 18 March 2007 will be an extraordinary day for the Port Elizabeth Church of Christ because their "pastor" Rod Fick participated along with Jabu Mpengesi, a member of the church in the Spec-Savers Ironman South African 2007, which includes a 3,8km swim, 180km cycle and 42,2km run, to be completed within 17 hours. An article, posted on March 17th in the Weekend Post newspaper provides all the details. How about it? ICOC churches can generate some positive news, but more so, is it not remarkable for "pastors" in the ICOC churches to take Sundays off for sport? Just too show how drastic "kingdom" priorities over the last few years have changed!

From the article:
Inspiring pastor and protege set to pit strengths

At tomorrow's Ironman race one Port Elizabeth man will pit his strength against the pastor who first inspire him to take up the sport.
Jabu Mpengesi was so moved by US pastor Rod Fick's passion for the sport that he tried it out himself, and soon was also hooked.
Fick, a pastor at the Port Elizabeth Church of Christ, last did an Ironman 20 years ago when, by fluke, he landed himself a slot in the much-coveted Ironman Hawaii on the island of Kona - where the current World Ironman Championships are held.
"When I last did an Ironman in 1987, there were only two Ironman races in the world, Kona and Canada," said Fick.
The pastor explained how he met and motivated Mpengesi, who was one of the first development triathletes in Ironman to be nutured bt SA Triathlon Development director Paul Wolff.
After Kona, from 1989 to 1992, he joined the Peace Corp and went to the former Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) to teach people how to farm.
He then returned to the US and became a Christian - and triathlon and Ironman seemed a long way away.
In 1996, he returned to Africa to work at a mission in Johannesburg. Then with his wife Linda, a former Free State radiographer, he settled in Port Elizabeth to lead the church.
"At this stage triathlon was a distant memory for me, although it's funny, when I preach I bring up triathlon quite a lot as an example for perseverance."
The passionate way he spoke about the sport piqued the interest of Mpengesi, a member of his congregation. And in 2002, when a group from the church signed on for the Redhouse River Mile, Mpengesi was there to have a go at the swim.
He was "sold on the sport of triathlon". He borrowed Fick's bike, entered races and started to excel.
As one of few black athletes in sport then, he caught the eye of Wolff, who started to help him with training.
With Mpengesi well on his way, Fick felt the urge to take up triathlon again.
In 2004, he and Mpengesi raced the half-Ironman in Port Elizabeth and were on par until Fick dropped out to go and preside at a friend's wedding.
On Fick's 45th birthday last year, a congregation member challenged him to do the Ironman in 2007. "I thought, why not? It's been 20 years, it's an anniversary."