Stories from my side are rather slim; but stories from marshals, medics and teams are abundant. I was with the Swedish photographer, Martin, again today and we were determined to find his team Outnorth Adventure. We’ve missed them so many times that today was going to be it. I planned our intercept points last night and routes were highlighted. We just needed them to come in.
So, late morning comes and with an eye on the tracking we set off on foot to catch them coming in a few kilometres from T6. We knew it would be a while and hoped to find some other teams too. We did get to see Bring it on, which was fun. They said that they’d seen Outnorth at CP24 but that Helen Persson was really struggling with totally trashed feet.
A bit further along course director Stephan Muller phones.
“Are you with Martin?”
“Yes.”
“His team has phoned to be fetched. They’re at CP24.”
I’d spent a few hours there yesterday waiting for teams with photographer Bruce Viaene and our other organisation friends Pedro and Vanessa, so I knew exactly where to go.
We began the trek back – that’s when I saw Luna Chicks – and set off to fetch them. One way this trip that takes over an hour.
We found the team near the CP. Helen was unable to walk even to get into the van. Her teammate gave her a piggy-back. It will be some days until she’s walking properly again.
And then we came back to Port Edward.
For me, the fun about being back is to listen to the stories from the marshals and medics. Here are some of them.
Shoe alterations
Here at the finish, Heidi and the marshals have seen some sights.
When teams come in, each team member sits in a chair. Marshals and other teams congratulate them and listen to stories of adventures. There is much laughter.
And then, inevitably, they take off their shoes. Oh my goodness!
Lizelle, a marshal at the finish, was telling me about this tonight when I returned to the Port Edward Holiday Resort. Talking about this she just covered her nose and mouth. Her eyes said it all.
There are many people here with very sore and nasty feet. But it is not all bad news. There are a good number of racers with only very minor blisters. What did they do right and others did wrong? That’s a great topic for an article – and one that comes up again and again.
Racers alter their shoes to deal with swollen and painfully blistered feet. Really bad shoes for sore feet are cycling shoes, which are generally not as forgiving, comfortable nor adjustable as trail shoes.
French cheese
I’ve been told that while this photograph (below) may show a man with a serious situation – one that required him to slice open his cycle shoes to make space for his swollen feet – it does absolutely no justice to the odour.
This French racer from Arverne Outdoor removed his shoes and in the process cleared the room of people. His teammates ordered him outside, so bad was the stench. This is the stuff that legendary stories are made of.
Why pay more?
Magnus Albinsson (Cinnober) arrived at the race without his racing shoes – something to do with gear being sorted and left behind (by mistake) while trying to reduce excess luggage. He bought a budget pair from a low-cost store in Port Edward. They cost only R119 (around $9). He’s the only guy in the team not being treated for blisters and he says he’s going to keep them because they’re “pretty decent shoes”.
I’ll try to get a photograph tomorrow of the shoes. Why spend $80 on shoes when $9 ones will work better? We may have a new South African export here.
Carrying women
“So,” I ask my friend Ian, “have you got any fun stories for me?”
He has been driving trucks of gear and marshalling during the race. Ian has been at the finish for a few days so he has seen a lot.
“Carrying women,” he replies.
“Have you carried many?” I ask, laughing.
“A few.” He can be quite dry humoured.
“There was this one,” he continues. “She couldn’t remember what car she had (a teammate’s car) except that it was white. So I carried her to the parking lot and then we walked around, me still carrying her, while I pressed the button on her car remote until we found the right one.”
I’m laughing. And I laugh heartily again later when I learn from Heidi that it is my friend Jackie Cronk (RaceMiere).
More feet stories
Aderick, another of our medics, has been at various transitions and then here at the finish.
“What have you been seeing?” I ask.
“Not heaving serious, but lots. If I have to calculate in feet terms,” he adds – using ‘feet’ as a unit of measure, “I’ve seen like 700 feet.”
With first treatment at T3 and attending to foot maintenance for most racers at every transition thereafter, the dedicated stomach-of-steel medics have been absolutely phenomenal.
“That Nikki, from Luna Chicks… when I opened up the one big blister…” Marilette makes a face, one that shows a person trying not to retch.
“And last night at T6, I was so nauseous. At one stage I felt like I was going to pass out. I was vomiting last night.”
Just to give you a measure of how strong her constitution really is… she spent years in the army as a medic, dealing with injuries in Afghanistan and other war zones.
“I fell”
Ian, the ‘woman carrier’, was tasked with taking Cinnober‘s Ida Svensson to hospital yesterday (Thursday). She had a broken finger – from early on – and a painful sternum caused by a fall in the kloof.
As Ian doesn’t know her he was just standing off to the side while the nurses attended to her. Every now and again they would look at him, glaring.
“What did you tell them?” he asked when she returned to him.
“I didn’t know how to describe adventure racing to them so I just told them that I fell.”
He then wheeled her through to x-ray and the nurses there gave him strange, disapproving looks too. Word travels fast.
“Oh, now I get it,” he thought to himself, “you guys think I’m a wife beater.”
Needless to say, I absolutely howled! This whole incident was made even funnier for me because I’ve known Ian for a good 10 years.
Baboon ass
Bad things can happen to a body during an adventure race. Poor Ida first got treatment for blisters on her bottom at T5. Only one word can describe this situation – bad. Hennie was the medic in attendance and he had nothing my sympathy for this poor lass.
Ian was waiting for Ida returned to Ian after x-rays and declared, “Now I go show the doctor my baboon ass.”
Friends, we have a new term, like ‘sleep monsters’ to add to the adventure racing lexicon.
Baboon ass noun
A term used to describe the appearance of a blistered and chaffed adventure racer’s bottom. Named for its similarity in appearance to that of the African ground-dwelling monkey.
To use this new expression in another sentence, here’s an example from something Ida said this evening. She was sitting at HQ waiting for see a medic about her right foot, which is very swollen and inflammed.
“I think I have an infection,” she says quite matter-of-fact.
“I’m taking penicillin already for my baboon ass so that should help with my foot too.”
T-t-t-hat’s all folks (for tonight)
There are hundreds of stories just like these. In pain and discomfort and ailments of body parts not-often-discussed-in-public there is also humour. And that’s evident from the abundant laughter here at the finish as we welcome teams home and share stories.
Here are some beautiful photos from Day 3 by Bruce Viaene.
“Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.” Veronica Roth.