If at prize giving, Darron Raw told us that, he designed the last Swazi to break us, to push us where we have never gone before and to help us to eliminate any boundaries we had in your minds of what we were capable of, then I would have given him a good hand shake and said: ‘Job very well done!’ If however his intention was only for us to have a fun and adventurous race in Swaziland, then I’m truly a little speechless.
The Swazi X 2010 was truly the toughest race I have ever experienced, but then again, it could be that I’m a little soft. To write a report on the entire race would be close to an impossible task for me, but I’ll attempt to document everything that stood out for me.
The start to the race was wonderful and I was really excited. I really enjoyed the first run / hike leg and I felt that we were in for an adventure. The first 90km+ MTB leg also went well and was mostly fun, except for a continual feeling that I was in the middle of nowhere. Luckily our navigator was on top of things. The first paddle almost started very disastrous with our boat flipping right from the start and getting caught sideways in the canal. With other boats bashing into ours and us struggling to get the boat out with the current pushing was quite nerve wracking experience. Fortunately the rest of the canal paddle went fairly well.
Having had our next hike leg map partly destroyed with the canal swim, we decided to stick with Nathan and Lizelle from Kay Motion for the next hike leg. Once we arrived at T3 from the canal paddle Kay Motion were already finished and ready to head out. Thankfully they were very willing for us to stick with them on the leg and we had a 30-sec transition to join them on the hike. On this hike, with Cipralex 1 also joining us, we were a couple of guys sticking together to finish this leg.
The following stages are a bit blurry. By the start of day 2 my feet were blistered badly and I started to struggle on the hike legs, and the bike legs. The river paddle was great. I was in a K2 with Danie, who has three Dusis under the belt. The rapids were exhilarating and fun and fortunately we didn’t swim, except for getting out at the end. Unfortunately our other boat had some struggles in the beginning and there was some swimming going on. We also had to portage once or twice so this slowed us down a little. The hike after the paddle was long and tiring!
It was on reaching T8, before the MTB, that I realised that I have a gem for a wife! She was clearly in a lot of pain but never complained nor even hinted of not going out on the next leg. It was cold and rainy when we reached this transition and we decided to log in an hour and a half of sleep.
With battered feet I sort of enjoyed the 18km hike after the bike, as our team spirit picked up here a bit. It might have been the lack of sleep, but we had some good jokes rolling and everyone had a little smile on their face again. The smiles disappeared once we reached the point where we had to decide if we are going to go for the OP’s. With everything in me I just wanted to get to that transition and I knew Lizelle also needed to get there. But, we decided to make peace with the fact that we are here to do the ‘whole Swazi’ and we went for the OP’s.
Reaching T10 and finding out we had yet another hike before us was not fun. By this time reality also started to sink in that I am NOT going to be in a hot shower and bed by Sunday night. This drained the motivational levels somewhat. To add to this I could see Lizelle was in a lot of pain as her knee started to give in. Fortunately the sun was up, our seconds fed us well and looked after our aches and pains, so with bandaged legs and new hope we were out on the last hike.
The last hike with bouldering section was tough, but beautiful. Here again my wife amazed me when we had to climb the escape route cliff. Despite having slight fear of heights, she remained focus and scrambled up that cliff as if her life depended upon it – which it did.
Reaching the last transition area, this felt like a pretty great place to end the race. Everything in me were saying, surely they’ve cancelled the last leg and everyone is being short coursed to the end. If at this point the race ended, I think I would have had super joy and a great sense of achievement. I would have felt we have worked really hard and we did it!
The last bike leg drained this entirely out for me. The only words coming to mind, to describe this leg is ‘a little inhumane’. Knowing we were not going to finish close to what was the proposed 60 hours and not having a definite cut-off, made it feel like everything was just hanging in mid-air and you just had to survive to see the end.
I think our team dynamics were great and Stephan did an absolutely super job. I don’t want to say too much about Danie for a fear that other teams might pay him great amounts of money to join them. My wife, Lizelle, surprised me over and over and over with her sheer determination and positive attitude. I am a lucky man.
Our seconds were clearly some of the most experienced seconds available. Heidi and Shauni were fantastic! Without them I am very confident we would not have been able to achieve this feat. Thank you very much.
I always have a great appreciation for all the other racers who went through the same adventures, pains and trials as I did. Well done to each and every competitor, no matter where / when your race ended.
Darron, you heard the slack, yet I cannot but thank you for all your efforts in putting a race together. Thank you to Anita and the team of marshals who has done a lot to make it happen.
I’m hoping to wake-up some morning soon, and have it all fall in place.
[Lizelle’s report is on the Team www.AR.co.za blog]
Author: Wiehan van der Merwe | Team Kinetic | Swazi Xtreme PRO, 6-8 August 2010
Wiehan is my brother, I am proud of him, very proud.
That is all, carry on.