This past weekend, Team Cyanosis entered a male pair team into the Kinetic Double Moon Adventure Race. Racing as Team First Ascent Cyanosis, the team blitzed the course around the hillier parts of the Free State, including the towns of Bethlehem, Fouriesburg and Clarens. 250km and 26 hours later, they became the first team to cross the finish line. The race was superbly well organised by Kinetic, and served as top-class training for South Africa’s big one, the 500km Expedition Africa race to be held in May in the Western Cape.
Here follows Nicholas and Nathan’s account of the race….
Day 1: 05h00 – 06h00
The ‘gun’ went and the teams were off. Seven check points, on foot, any order, navigation in the dark. At least teams were fresh after a good nights sleep in tented accommodation provided by the race organisers, Stephan and Heidi of Kinetic. We even had a chocolate for each racer placed carefully on our mattress…. sigh. Back to the action. Nathan Thompson had once again joined Team Cyanosis, who has far too many team members currently trotting around the far-flung reaches of the globe. Nathan and I (Nicholas) were racing as a male pair, having tried in vain to field a full mixed team of four. No luck, so now all we had to do was race each other into the ground and see who cracked first.
We streaked off to find what we termed an ‘easy’ control. We’d tackle the harder ones when the sun rose. No luck. My Suunto compass is brought into play. After a couple minutes of searching with Kelvin and ‘Lightee’ from Team Salomon, we realised we were still too short. Sucess a few minutes later. Off to the next one. The sun rose and Teams First Ascent Cyanosis and Salomon kept up the pace, ticking off the check points one by one.
Day 1: 06h00 – 07h00
15 km and a hill or two later, the two teams run into the first transition. Two minutes later we were on the water, paddling a sit-on-top kayak around a small dam in the mist. Team Salomon, being somewhat famous for their paddling ability, claw back the 1 minute deficit and open another 1.
06h58 – Nathan takes an unexpected swim whilst portaging the boat over a low-level bridge… he he. Team Assitport will encounter the same swim 48 hours later in their Land Cruiser… he he he. Who said Land Cruisers could go anywhere?
Day 1: 07h00 – 08h00
Into transition and a very quick change gives us a gap on Team Salomon as we fly out on our mountain bikes. We even catch race photographer Erik napping. Nathan tries to run him down as a wake-up call… more he he.
Lots of fast district dirt roads means high speed. We find ourselves averaging over 25km/hr. This is BIG training for Expedition Africa.
Day 1: 08h00 – 09h00
Still going fast.
Day 1: 09h00 – 10h00
Ditto. A CP board has been stolen at a railway crossing, so Nathan poses for the photo to prove we were there…
Day 1: 10h00 – 11h00
The 65km bike comes to a close as we enter Fouriesburg. Haven’t seen any other teams behind us. Now for a 20km hike through Meiringskloof and the mountains beyond. It starts with a climb out of the kloof via a chain ladder.
Day 1: 11h00 – 12h00
My word, but it is HOT! We get a bit of respite in a kloofing section where the stream has gone subterranean. Almost a proper 3m wide tunnel. But out on the mountains, it’s too hot to run.
Day 1: 12h00 – 13h00
It’s turning out to be a long hike.
Day 1: 13h00 – 14h00
We climb the third big mountain of the hike, now it’s downhill to the abseil and the end of the leg.
Day 1: 14h00 – 15h00
We arrive at the 50m abseil back into the Meiringskloof. We’ve been following a 4×4 track for the last 20 minutes to get there. Absolutely insane. Insanity increases when we realise that the rope marshals have driven their Nissan 1400 Champ all the way up the track to get here. Beautiful abseil though, and a big relief to be back in the cool of the kloof.
Day 1: 15h00 – 16h00
Transition is a bit slow. Lots of other teams arriving to start their hike into the mountains. It’s reported by one team that it is about 34 degrees out there. At least the biking cools us down with the breeze. There’s a bit of tar road to start off with, which is actually appreciated.
Day 1: 16h00 – 17h00
The bike route takes us along the Caledon River and the Lesotho border. We raced here about 7 years ago in the Old Mill Drift race. Still a stunning place. Despite the proximity to Lesotho, there’s no trouble with local herders as the day is late and everyone has gone home for the evening.
Day 1: 17h00 – 18h00
We arrive at the bottom of a 4×4 pass that will take us out of the Caledon valley. Our estimate is 45 – 60 minutes of uphill.
Day 1: 18h00 – 19h00
We are way off. We’ve just done 6km of hike-a-bike, 90 minutes in total, 700 m of climb. We get to the top with about 10 minutes of daylight left and immediately start the technical downhill, trying to maximise the available light. We get about halfway down before we need to whip out our Petzl headlamps. Much better.
Day 1: 19h00 – 20h00
Bottom of the pass, a bit of tar and we pull into Clarens for a transition. It’s Friday night, so the town is humming. Our noses are assaulted by the cooking of 30 to 40 different restaurants. Our last proper meal was 24 hours ago. We dig really deep, have a quick transition onto foot and head out into the mountain for a 10km loop hike with 3 CPs.
Day 1: 20h00 – 21h00
We find the first CP easily. We find a good hiking trail to the second. Then things aren’t going so well. I find myself stopping regularly in the dark as we climb a ridge to make sure that we are where we think we are. The speed is slow as a result and we waste lots of time. Eventually we get there, I was right all along, but lacked in confidence.
Day 1: 21h00 – 22h00
The 2nd to 3rd CP require a BIG loop along the mountain ridges to avoid dropping back down into a deep valley. A chill wind has picked up, but we’re still fine in our First Ascent shorts and t-shirts. There are some heartbreaking moments as we follow the ridge, looking at an 80m drop into a saddle and immediately an 80m climb up the other side.
Day 1: 22h00 – 23h00
We clamber up to a beacon for the final CP and head for home. Careful navigation needed to avoid getting cliffed-out.
Day 1: 23h00 – 24h00
We roll into transition. It’s a warm house. It’s cold outside. There’s a paddle in a couple of hours time on a cold dam. It doesn’t take much for us to decide to get 45 minutes of sleep before setting out on the cycle to the dam.
Day 2: 00h00 – 01h00
Nathan: “Snore”
Day 2: 01h00 – 02h00
We are slow getting out of transition. The next team still hasn’t arrived for the hike, so we know we have at least an 8-hour lead. This is not an incentive to have a rushed transition. Out on the road though, we are flying once again. As we leave the town of Clarens, we meet Team Jabberwock who are just arriving.
Day 2: 02h00 – 03h00
It seems to be gentle down all the way and we cover 38km in just under 2 hours. We arrive at Saulspoort Dam just outside Bethlehem for the 20km paddle. We wrap up warmly. As I’m in front and will get splashed the whole way, I even put on my rain jacket.
Day 2: 03h00 – 04h00
We have some fun trying to avoid reed bed islands and some shallow mudflats. Nathan gets klapped by a fish that jumps out of the shallow water. He he.
Day 2: 04h00 – 05h00
Beautiful ‘scenery’. Even though it’s dark, we paddle without headlamps on, so that we can see the horizon around us. No problems with the nav as the starlight is reflected off the dam. As we get to the furthest part of the dam and the final CP, we start feeling the late hour. Despite the sleep, we still have a small and quick battle with sleepiness. The speed drops as a result. Nathan keeps me awake by wacking me on the back with his paddle every now and again.
Day 2: 05h00 – 06h00
Dawn. This reinvigorates us. We have a few second takes, as we see sections of the dam for the first time in daylight.
Day 2: 06h00 – 07h00
We’re off the water and have a hurried transition in the chill morning. Just a short 13km cycle to the finish! Once again, we floor it.
Day 2: 07h22
Team First Ascent Cyanosis cross the finish line after 26 hours and 22 minutes of racing. It was a tough but fun race, having a bit of everything in the mix. A big thank you to race organisers Heidi and Stephan for taking the sport in South Africa to a new level. It was great to be able to drag our mattresses into the shades of the poplar trees in the camp site and immediately begin recovering lost sleep. Congrats to all the teams as well who persevered and finished the course and to Nathan… who didn’t crack first.
Team Cyanosis is proud to have the following brands supporting them:
– First Ascent outdoor apparel, Salomon adventure footwear, Petzl headlamps, Foodstate vitamins and supplements, Island Tribe sun lotion.
– Specialized bikes and accessories, Summit Cycles in Midrand, Suunto field compasses and wristop computers, O’Neill wetsuits, BSC compression garments.