Team KREATURE.co.za Adventure Racing

At the recent Entabeni Big 5 Marathon held in Limpopo on the 28th June, Elsie crossed the finish line of this gruelling 42 km race as the 2nd lady.

The route runs through the pristine game reserve in the Waterberg District and as the name suggest its run in Big 5 territory with rangers out to “marshal” the more dangerous animals. The race itself is organised by a Danish travel company and attracts a large overseas contigent.

On the 12th July, Ian and Tony travelled down to the remote North Eastern Cape town of Rhodes for the 20th edition of the Rhodes Trail Run (formerly known as the Rhodes Ultra Marathon). Entry to this race is purely by invitation and people have been known to be on the waiting list for upwards of 7 years. Fortunately, substitutions are relatively freely available. 326 people started the race at 07:00 that saw temperatures hover around the - 14 degree mark.

Ian, having decided to rather take it easier this year finished an impressive 7th, whilst Tony ran at a more sedate pace and crossed the line in 40th.

According to the inhabitants of Rhodes it was too cold to actually snow however water pipes froze solid during the nights and only defrosted around lunch-time. Although there wasn't any snow in the town itself, there was plenty on the race route and in the valleys and mountains where the race traversed.

(photo's courtesy of Pat Kelly)

Our first race under the new sponsorship started off in an explosive manner when literally 2 minutes after we had pulled onto the N1 and in the height of rush-hour traffic heading towards the N4, the bolts holding our trailers wheel to the hub “fell” out causing the wheel to bounce merrily along the N1 heading in a northerly direction. Fortunately through some superior driving skills all was not lost and a quick scout retrieved our by now damaged tyre and a quick trip into Centurion secured new wheel bolts and a replacement tyre.

This year’s SX was somewhat different than the norm in that as many of the Optional Points (OP) had to be collected in addition to the compulsory CP’s giving an almost Rogaine type feel to the whole event. Whoever collected the most OP’s within the allotted 54 hours would end up winning the race. Our team strategy was to collect as many of the OP’s (approx 60-70%) as we possibly could without having to materially deviate from our chosen route.

The first leg of a race, as is normally the case, proves somewhat of a challenge to the multitude of racers who run around in various directions, with teams passing and re-passing each other at frequent intervals. Fortunately things settled down and before long most were headed in the right direction. We skipped an OP on the first hike and after having swum through a fast flowing river picked up our bikes from the golf course and settled into a nice rhythm on the 1^st bike leg.

After dropping our bikes off we began the 2^nd hike and quickly powered up one of the many hills/mountains that dominate Swaziland topography. Unfortunately we made a navigational error and when almost at the top of a hill (and being convinced that we were on the right path having just passed the cameramen) we spotted the Boulder garden with midgets scampering up and over the house sized boulders. Re-tracing our steps, we soon began the climb up and over the boulders and all the CP’s and the FP were found. Continuing our hike towards T4, all us were under the impression that T4 had the 6 o’clock cut-off and we would comfortably make it. Within sight of T4 we soon realized that we still had another bike and hike leg before we would reach T6 but the damage had been caused and we were now a couple of hours behind our target time.

At T4 we transitioned once again onto our bikes for a cycle that included some lovely fast downhills towards T5 which had been described as being on the South side of a dam. We never did see the dam but did see a rather muddy road with a number of seconding vehicles one of which was bogged down. The 3^rd hike of the day proved relatively straightforward as we made our way towards T6 having missed the 6 o’clock cut-off and now being perilously close to the checkout time of 10 o’clock. Unfortunately we missed the checkout time by 20 minutes and Anita refused us permission to continue onto the night hike section where CP’s 14 & 15 had to be collected as well as a number of OP’s.

Just as we were about to unpack a tent, Darron drove in and having being told of our predicament by Anita, gave us permission to continue onto the tough night section. Having had a hot meal and re-stocked bags with liquids and food, we left transition at 11 with the aim of collecting CP’s 14 & 15 in reverse. This proved rather more slower than anticipated as ever mindful of the 6 o’clock start on the next day and realizing that we had to hike approximately 33km’s in under 7 hours we debated amongst ourselves whether we would risk missing out on the 06:00 start and the 14:00 cutoff for the ropes section the next day. So with heavy hearts and being 1.5 hours out of transition we turned around and headed back to T6 realizing that the unclipped CP’s would eliminate us as being official. All of the OP’s that we had collected during the course of the day had now become the noose that hung us. In retrospect it was the correct decision to make and became apparent later on during the course of the second day.

Having had a couple of hour’s sleep it was up for a 6 o’clock start for the 3^rd bike leg. Once again this leg was fast and we dropped our bikes off at the school for the beginning of the 5^th hike and one that would include the rope section. Our aim here was to hike down into the valley, cross the river and hike up the mountain bringing us to within site of the CP that had the rope section without collecting the OP en-route. However, the path leading down towards the river led us away from our previously planned route and after crossing the river we now decided on collecting the OP as the easiest route to the CP. We arrived at the rope section with plenty of time to spare and where a number of Sport teams were preparing to abseil. We made our way up the rock from where we would traverse to the abseil rock but had to cross a 1.5 metre gap that probably had a drop of around 10 metres. This proved straightforward for everyone bar Tony who was left on his own trying to cross the said gap. Fortunately Darron was there taking some photos and proved a very sturdy and able bridge. Arriving at the traverse, Team Dewpoint were ahead of us and we managed to take in the awesome scenery whilst awaiting our turn. After collecting the CP’s and the OP’s at the rope section it was back to the hike where we made our way towards T8 to collect our bikes for the ensuing bike leg. Again there was a 6 o’clock cutoff at T9 and this we made with some time to spare.

At T9 we had a nice warm meal and again set out on our bikes before the 7 o’clock departure time. This leg proved nice and fast and once again we transitioned onto our feet for a night hike. At this stage a number of teams were in close vicinity and we spent most of that hike in the company of Jeep Voetsak and Kinetic. After searching for what appeared an eon, we eventually found the Chiefs hut, clipped the CP and made our way to T11 which was a bike leg taking us into the overnight transition at T12. At this stage the mist had descended with a cold biting wind and all the teams were feeling the effect of the previous day’s exertions as well as lack of sleep, none more so than Ian whose sleepmonsters were appearing in the shape of Hovercraft. The fact that we all made it into transition with an hour to spare, without mishap or serious navigational issues bears testimony to the mental strength and fortitude of sleep deprived adventure racers.

We had an hour’s well deserved sleep and after grabbing a bite to eat, left on the last leg of the race albeit 45 minutes later than the rest. Just as we are about to leave, Jacques mentions something about a large crocodile that was seen close to the kloof jump which left Ian slightly gobsmacked; “You can forget to tell us about food, but how can you forget to tell us about a Crocodile?”. Our plan was to get as close to town as possible in the shortest space of time and then start collecting the OP’s. What we hadn’t bargained on was, firstly, a piece of barbed wire catching Tim and almost detaching his arm from the rest of his body which necessitated Tony’s vast 1^st Aid skills and secondly the size of the river which needed crossing with our bikes. After collecting the final CP at the school we decided on a more direct route back towards the finish and followed the railway line back into town arriving at the finish at 10:50.

We’d like to thank Darron, Anita and the whole of the Swazi crew for a superb and interesting race and our sincere thanks to Jacques for the excellent seconding. Thanks must also go to Gideon and Christelle of Kreature.co.za for the sponsorship and the faith in our ability to have some fun whilst pursuing our favourite pastime.