Something for everyone at FEAT

Although FEAT, an evening of talks celebrating South African adventurers, focuses on adventure and expedition-themed presentations, other topics aligned to sport and outdoor pursuits are also featured. At FEAT on Saturday, a number of the talks are not straight-up expedition related; they discuss barefoot running, freediving, spending 25 days on an uninhabited island and tall ship sailing.

“These aligned topics are really interesting,” says Lisa de Speville, an adventure racer and the director of FEAT. “They’re sporty and outdoorsy and the talks provide insight into unfamiliar, but interesting topics. I’m not planning to take up competitive freediving or sailing right now, but I do find these pursuits fascinating.”

The presentation by Benita de Witt, on barefoot running, will appeal to the wider running community, especially trail and mountain runners. When the book ‘Born to Run’ by Christopher McDougall came out in 2009, barefoot running became the next best thing.

De Witt is a sports physiotherapist; and she has dedicated her life to finding the best way to save athletes from chronic injuries. She has worked extensively with athletes for 28 years and has been focused on barefoot running for the last three years. “After ‘Born to Run’ came out everyone thought barefoot running would solve their injury problems,” she says. “Barefoot running only works for bodies that are aligned and where the fascia has been released. If your body is not aligned, barefoot running will not solve the problem; it would actually cause more injuries,” adds Benita. She discusses the ins-and-outs and biomechanics of barefoot running in her FEAT talk.

In alphabetical order the speakers at FEAT on Saturday are: Allyson Towle with Marc Booysen, Braam Malherbe, Benita de Witt, Hanli Prinsloo, Johnny Cronje, Monde Sitole, Nick Bennett, Peter van Kets and Tatum Prins. Their talks cover variety of topics across the disciplines of mountaineering, barefoot running, long-distance running, unicycling adventures, Survivor-style island living, tall-ship sailing, freediving, adventure racing and ocean rowing.

FEAT, the ultimate armchair adventure experience, will be held in Cape Town on Saturday, 12 February 2011, at the Artscape Theatre on the Foreshore. Tickets are available through Computicket.

FEAT is made possible by its sponsors – Black Diamond, Buff, CAPESTORM and Hi-Tec – and media partners, www.AR.co.za and Go Multi Magazine. For more information, visit the FEAT website at www.featsa.co.za and FEAT page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/featsa. Photos and videos of talks, from the inaugural FEAT event held in Jo’burg in October 2010, can be viewed online.