We were by far the youngest team to line up at the start of the Ystervark en Lekker club race. This being our first ‘Dark Zone’ race we did not know what to expect. We did however hope to at least finish. Although we were nervous before the start, we were actually
‘really excited to be taking part in a senior level race, ‘old school’ style. I must add that it is very different to the ‘new school’ style of racing that we have been accustomed to.
The start was very exciting with a mad dash to fetch our passports; this unusual start split the field apart. We chased the red flashing lights in the distance and eventually caught up with a few teams at the first transition. After experiencing a serious case of déjà vu, going in a complete circle and landing up in the exact same place twice, we managed to find our way out of the maze of rivers in the first section of the race. The rest of the cycle to T2 was straight forward and very fast, the only dangers were the ruts in the road, invisible in the dark.
The first extreme challenge presented its self in the form of ‘the hike’. CP7, which also acted as CP10 was a spanner in the works as it seriously disorientated us. However we decided to punch it as CP7 as it appeared to be in generally the correct place and move on with the race. CP8 on top of the koppie was tricky to find because after CP7 we headed straight up (a slight navigation error). The flashing light was a life saver though, helping us realise our mistake very quickly. I think that we found the slowest moving, thickest patch of bush in the entire area and decided to use that route to get from CP8 to the ‘special task’. The water jump, 7m, if I am not mistaken was daunting at first but ended up refreshing us for the return hike, which proved to be just as tricky due to our inexperience. As the sun was busy rising we were getting ready to mount our bikes and continue to the second, longer, hike.
The short mtb-xc course was a really different addition, but reminded us of our lack of technical skills. The coffee and snacks were also very welcoming at this point in the race (TA3). Feeling quite drained we decided to take the hike within our stride. The grass was also a major deciding factor as it shredded our legs to pieces, yes grass!
We pushed hard on the last cycle as we had found some energy and were desperate to finish. We finished in 12 hours 46 minutes, of non-stop racing. This was a great learning experience for us and acted as a good foundation for senior level races.
Many thanks to the organisers for an awesome race and for having the courage to let a “youth” team race. Thanks to Clinton for showing faith in us. We will definitely be there for any future events.
Team Tshanduko | Author: Ryan Garrett | Ystervark en Lekker, Pretoria. 12 & 13 March 2010
