A spotlight has been thrown on the Drakensberg Grand Traverse recently with the up-coming record attempt by trail runner Ryan Sandes with current record holder, Ryno Griesel. They’ve spent days out there scouting and planning and preparing. On 23 March they begin their record attempt.
Photo: Kelvin Trautman/ Red Bull Content Pool
Drakensberg Grand Traverse is an unmarked route of approximately 220km. It runs North to South and starts from the Sentinal car park and ends at the Bushman’s Nek border post. Various checkpoints/summits have to be visited along the way. These include The Chain Ladders, Mont-aux-Sources summit (3282m), Cleft Peak summit (3277m), Champagne Castle summit (3377m), Mafadi summit (3451m), Giant’s Castle summit (3314m) and Thabana Ntlenyana summit (3482m).
Thomathu Pass must be used to descend to Bushman’s Nek. The only other rules are that attempts must be entirely self-supported (i.e. no seconds, food caches or resupplies) and entirely on foot. GPS is allowed.
At the inaugural FEAT event in October 2010 Cobus van Zyl took to the FEAT stage to talk about setting a new record, with Ryno, of 60 hours, 29 minutes, 30 seconds (men’s pair; April 2010). [The solo record still stands at 61hours, 24minutes, 11seconds – it was set in December 2008 by Andrew Porter.]
In his talk, Cobus said that in the right conditions and with athletes in optimal condition taking the perfect routes, that a 40-hour time was possible. Cobus, together with Stephan Griesel and Gert Forster, is overseeing safety and logistics for the pair while they’re out there.
Are Ryan and Ryno these athletes? Are the conditions over the selected period (23-27 March 2014) going to be ideal? One certainty is that from their time spent in the mountains that they have plotted the best route possible.
“Over the years the DGT record attempts have moved from the mind-set of traditional hiking, to fast and lighter hiking and later to adventure racing. Each of these shifts has led to new platforms of possibility,” explains Ryno.
“To my knowledge, our project will be the first time that anyone will approach the DGT with a running mentality. This, by default, brings bigger possible reward, but with more significant risks being taken. There is less sleep planned so we are running on the proverbial knife’s edge. Combined with the responsibility of trying to keep up with my international running-role-model whilst navigating, makes this a challenge I will take on with a healthy level of respect and fear. It will be an all or nothing attempt.”
“I am really excited to be running the Drakensberg Grand Traverse with Ryno and it is going to be one of the biggest adventures of my life,” says Ryan.
“The route is extremely challenging and the slow nature of the terrain makes the Traverse that much harder. I always want to see how far I can push my own boundaries and for me this is going to be the ultimate test. There are so many variables like the weather, terrain, altitude etc. so it will be very interesting and exciting to see what happens. Mentally I know this is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done!”
For at least 90% of the route Ryan and Ryno will be making their own trail whilst running at a sustained average altitude of 3000-metres above sea level on a maximum of two to three hours sleep.
This Red Bull-sponsored project is one to follow this weekend.
For live tracking and updates visit www.redbull.co.za/draktraverse
For regular updates on the project on Twitter follow via @RedBullZA, @RyanSandes and @Ryno_Griesel. Alternatively, track the hashtag #DrakTraverse across all social channels.