Multiple Knysna oyster-eating champion hungry
30 June 2008, 09:41
Local police captain Michelle Lesch will be defending her oyster-eating crown for the 10th time when the annual Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival - with a packed programme of sports and entertainment - begins on Friday.
She remembers her 2005 title best, when her photograph appeared in a local paper alongside a report about the newly appointed SAPS Superintendent, Zimkulu Hardy.
"The problem was I was on sick leave at the time, for work-related stress," Lesch said.
Her new boss instituted disciplinary procedures against her.
"My doctor wrote a letter confirming that I was suffering from mental stress, that it was important that I did things I loved, and that eating oysters was my sport," she recalled.
The following year, Hardy was her guest of honour at the competition. And - although she only came second - he was impressed.
"She is a swallower," he told the Cape Times.
The 25th oyster festival is book-ended by two sporting highlights - this weekend's Pick n Pay Weekend Argus Rotary Knysna Cycle Tour mountain bike and road race events, and next Saturday's Pick n Pay Cape Times Knysna Forest Marathon.
During the week there are soccer and bowls tournaments, a night run and night bike race, golf and angling competitions, the Duesouth Xterra and Land Rover Waterfront Rush for the super-fit, and a sports fair for children.
The SA Navy - an integral part of the festival for 20 years - will enter the Knysna Lagoon in two mine hunters at 7.45am on Tuesday, July 8, weather permitting, and leave on the afternoon of Monday, July 14.
Family-orientated events include tobogganing and snow boarding on a ski slope, an international kite festival, a free fall tower and a bungee rocket. The young oyster festival programme will entertain the four- to nine-year-olds.
Gastronomes are well catered for.
The Pick n Pay Oyster & Wine Mardi Gras presented by Tabasco has 40 food and wine exhibitors and will serve nearly 16 000 oysters and 1 000 litres of wine to 700 guests.
There is a Whisky and Jazz Festival, the Wade Bales Wine Festival, the Heineken rock spots and a festival battle of the bands.
All profit-making events have to support a local charity or non-governmental organisation.
Festival co-co-ordinator Nicci Rousseau said last year more than R1-million was raised for charity - and a Local Loerie programme assists previously disadvantaged people to enter festival events.
Oysters will be widely available, fresh or in creative dishes, at 25 restaurants.
On Tuesday, July 8, Knysna Oyster Company employee Eleki Ngcwangu of White Location will defend his title as the fastest oyster shucker (opener) in town.
And on Thursday, July 10, Lesch is hoping to once again demolish about 130 oysters in three heats, while her husband's best friend, Jacques Otto, opens the shells for her.
Lesch has prepared for the competition, not by eating oysters - "I like them but they are so expensive" - but by making sure that this year she is on annual leave.
She remembers her 2005 title best, when her photograph appeared in a local paper alongside a report about the newly appointed SAPS Superintendent, Zimkulu Hardy.
"The problem was I was on sick leave at the time, for work-related stress," Lesch said.
Her new boss instituted disciplinary procedures against her.
"My doctor wrote a letter confirming that I was suffering from mental stress, that it was important that I did things I loved, and that eating oysters was my sport," she recalled.
The following year, Hardy was her guest of honour at the competition. And - although she only came second - he was impressed.
"She is a swallower," he told the Cape Times.
The 25th oyster festival is book-ended by two sporting highlights - this weekend's Pick n Pay Weekend Argus Rotary Knysna Cycle Tour mountain bike and road race events, and next Saturday's Pick n Pay Cape Times Knysna Forest Marathon.
During the week there are soccer and bowls tournaments, a night run and night bike race, golf and angling competitions, the Duesouth Xterra and Land Rover Waterfront Rush for the super-fit, and a sports fair for children.
The SA Navy - an integral part of the festival for 20 years - will enter the Knysna Lagoon in two mine hunters at 7.45am on Tuesday, July 8, weather permitting, and leave on the afternoon of Monday, July 14.
Family-orientated events include tobogganing and snow boarding on a ski slope, an international kite festival, a free fall tower and a bungee rocket. The young oyster festival programme will entertain the four- to nine-year-olds.
Gastronomes are well catered for.
The Pick n Pay Oyster & Wine Mardi Gras presented by Tabasco has 40 food and wine exhibitors and will serve nearly 16 000 oysters and 1 000 litres of wine to 700 guests.
There is a Whisky and Jazz Festival, the Wade Bales Wine Festival, the Heineken rock spots and a festival battle of the bands.
All profit-making events have to support a local charity or non-governmental organisation.
Festival co-co-ordinator Nicci Rousseau said last year more than R1-million was raised for charity - and a Local Loerie programme assists previously disadvantaged people to enter festival events.
Oysters will be widely available, fresh or in creative dishes, at 25 restaurants.
On Tuesday, July 8, Knysna Oyster Company employee Eleki Ngcwangu of White Location will defend his title as the fastest oyster shucker (opener) in town.
And on Thursday, July 10, Lesch is hoping to once again demolish about 130 oysters in three heats, while her husband's best friend, Jacques Otto, opens the shells for her.
Lesch has prepared for the competition, not by eating oysters - "I like them but they are so expensive" - but by making sure that this year she is on annual leave.
- This article was originally published on page 4 of The Cape Times on June 30, 2008
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