Looking at the teams as they are currently (Wednesday morning), course director Stephan Muller predicts that 35 of the 40 teams will complete the full course by prize giving on Saturday.
All teams currently on the cycle to the kayak put-in (T4) should complete the leg by this evening and reach T5 by Thursday mid-morning at the latest. They’ll hike all day (and into the night) on Thursday and then have most of Friday and Saturday to do the long 230km cycle.
There is a short course opportunity on the hike, which will see teams hiking straight along the beach to T6 – instead of heading inland (skipping CP22 and CP24). And there are two short course route opportunities on the cycle, which make it easier and trim a lot of distance from the route.
At this stage Stephan predicts that he’ll only need to short course the last five teams – those currently in the canyon and at/recently left T3.
Bloed & OMO have been doing their own thing since Day 1. They short coursed themselves early on and are making it up as they go along.
Teams really just need to hang in there, use the time available and they’ll make it.
I spotted Bloed n Omo implementing their well-known race strategy early on with deep respect and appreciation: they kept out of the kloof and went on their merry way. They know what they can do and why they are out there, and they are rocking it. You go, you good things 🙂