Durban - Thousands of gruelling kilometres under the belt and with calluses on his bum, South African adventurer Ron Rutland is key to the success of this year’s Rugby World Cup tournament in France.
He won’t be running onto the field in the much-anticipated opening match between New Zealand and France, but Rutland has cycled around the world with the tournament’s whistle at the bottom of his bag.
His epic journey to raise funds for ChildFund Rugby started in New Zealand and we caught up with him while he was winding his way through South America.
“I’m currently in southern Bolivia and delighted to report all is on track for a Paris arrival in September,” he told the “Independent on Saturday” this week.
Rutland, from the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, has been doing these epic cycle trips for about a decade.
This time he is accompanied by former Pretoria Boys’ High pupil Adam Nunn. They have already completed 5 000km in South America and were in high spirits.
Last year the two cycled about 16 000km from Japan to New Zealand to deliver the whistle for the Women’s Rugby World Cup ‒ also to raise funds for ChildFund Rugby ‒ then embarked on the second leg of the tour from New Zealand to France.
They left New Zealand for this trip on November 12 after collecting the whistle in Eden Park.
Rutland said they flew to Chile, cycled over the Andes through Argentina, then from Uruguay into Brazil across to Paraguay then Bolivia.
“I’ve done about 5 000km and been on the road about 79 days since leaving New Zealand so far,” he said.
When the “Independent on Saturday” spoke to Rutland earlier this week, they still had about 15 000 km to complete and an estimated 220 days left before reaching France.
Rutland’s main worry at the time was that he had lost his tent poles and would have to improvise until they reached a place where he could get new ones.
“Trying to co-ordinate time zones and good connectivity is sometimes a tougher challenge than cycling up the Andes,” said Rutland after he and Nunn cycled 4km across the world’s longest mountain range.
“The butt is actually doing fantastically well, considering. I think that after more than a year on the road now it’s eventually callused enough that I don’t really feel it that often,” he said.
Recently he and Nunn were joined by two former Michaelhouse pupils, Tim Coxon and Murray Williamson, known as “The 2 Amigos”.
They connected with Rutland in Santiago, Chile, and together they will cycle through 17 countries in seven months to raise R100 000 for ChildFund Rugby, they wrote on the Facebook page of their sponsor, First Ascent.
Rutland said his experiences in South America had changed him for ever because of the support they got from people who stopped them on the road to supply them with water, cold drinks, the odd beer and even accommodation.
He said these were people who would be considered extremely poor, depending on how you determined wealth.
Over the next few months the crew will cycle through South America, Central America and the US before flying to Ireland and cycling through Scotland, Wales and England and on to Paris.
“What’s really special is that for the last three days of the journey from Twickenham Stadium in London to the Stade de France in Paris, we will have 180 people joining us as part of a big fund-raiser for ChildFund Rugby so there will be this big procession, very South African heavy, but also people from around the world,” said Rutland.
From there, the group will cycle about 300km to France and throw in every effort to raise as much money as possible, Rutland said.
“Their reward is that they get to watch the opening ceremony and the opening game of the tournament, which is between France and New Zealand. That’s a pretty big match,” he said.
Rutland, whose website describes him as a “former rugby player and wildly unsuccessful entrepreneur”, can be followed on www.ronrutland.com or @RonRutland on Twitter.
South Africa are the reigning Rugby World Cup champions after they beat England by 32-12 in Japan in 2019. The Springboks hope to clinch their fourth World Cup trophy after successes in 1995, 2007 and 2019.
The Independent on Saturday