The Killers @ Full Moon

Dear Kinetic

Thank you for hosting a superb adventure race, our team enjoyed the challenge, along with the excellent organisation throughout the event.

Luke and Stu were keen to get their first 100km AR on the go. Our race goal was to race within our limits and to make sure we were enjoying it (this was testing, but we did), and to paddle flat out.

At the race briefing we sipped our tea and chowed down some Verlorenkloof carrot cake, while we licked our lips at the prospect of a real river paddle (almost). Stu and I sealed the maps while Luke and Amy prepared the kit, we were all ready to go until I realized my cycling shoes were still in Jozi. Luckily, Christiaan from Cyanosis had a pair of pedals with cages to lend me, this saved me some pain, thanks.

The race started fast, with a short cycle and run, we hit the start of the paddle halfway down the pack. Stu and Amy led the way with their significant (light)weight advantage easily sliding over all the rocks while Luke and I jumped in and out, jostling for position with some of the other teams. We got onto the dam feeling excited that we had almost caught the Red Ants, but reminded ourselves that we were still only on the flat part of the race.

We ran the next short 6km hike leg into transition, and prepared ourselves for a bit of climbing, a gentle slope according to Stephan. The mountain could see us coming and stood prepared, as we were not. We hit the slopes at a casual pace with a push here and there. We made it to the top while the red moon was rising. Not sure if this was meant to comfort us, because it didn’t, and we pushed on to the Machado Stud farm transition for a cup of hot chocolate.

OP4…… Once it was found we really enjoyed this leg, hiking along chatting between the four of us.

On the previous legs we dreamt of cycle leg 3 having perfectly manicured jeep track descents and being downhill all the way to the finish, sadly it was not to be, as we ended up stopping for a short rest half way down the crocodile river gorge, I’m glad we didn’t do that in reverse. With sore butts we made our way into transition, tired but keen to get going again.

Walking down the road to CP7 at the graveyard, we shared a few snacks and a little nervous banter before hitting the climbs again. And they were steep. Who built a kraal up there?? was all we could ponder! Our concentration dropped as we hiked along the ridge, and 3 or 4 teams passed us before the abseil adding some stoppage time to our race. Only then did when get a chance to see the beauty of the environment that we were racing in as the sun came up.

We strolled in to the finish, happy to be home and proud of our achievements. That soup at the end was awesome.

Thanks, once again. See you for the next one.
Robert
The Killers

Author: Robert Crichton | Team: The Killers – Amy, Luke, Rob, Stu | Full Moon – Verlorenkloof, 13 August 2011