The Southern Storm Duathlon, presented by Hi-Tec & Plettenberg Bay Tourism, undoubtedly rates as the most gruelling Multi Stage Duathlon in the country. Yesterday saw this epic race 90 top athletes finish when they rampaged down main street of Plettenberg Bay. Iain Don Wauchope – 2004 Duathlon World Champion – managed to win the Southern Storm 2010 for the second time in a row.
Natalians Iain Don-Wauchope and Jennie Bomford eventually emerged as the winners after six days of the most gruelling racing imaginable in the 2nd annual Southern Storm duathlon presented by Hi –Tec . The Storm, dubbed in the media as the “impossible race” after local rescue coordinators expressed reservations about its achievability, is a staged race comprising of 13 brutal mountain biking and trail running legs in the remote Southern Cape wilderness regions which are marketed by Plettenberg Bay Tourism.
At the finish line in Plettenberg Bay’s Main Road race director Mark Collins of Magnetic South admitted that the Southern Storm is not a race for mortals. “What these guys have just done almost defies belief,” he said. To give some measure of comparability with the man in the street , the Southern Storm starts off with a 42 km trail run on South Africa’s premium five day hiking trail, The Otter, regarded as tough by most hikers, accept that the Southern Storm competitors do it in under nine hours or face being removed from the course at five strategic compulsory cut off points. The leaders are able to complete the entire trail in less than five hours and this is only day one of this gruelling multi day duathlon . Race organisers balance this true test of trail running ability with mountain bike legs of equal intensity linking many of the regions finest trails.
Whilst both overall winners held onto the converted leaders’ yellow jerseys from day one, victory was by no means a certainty for either of them till the very last leg. Don-Wauchope lead going into day six was down to a mere 4 minutes with Bomford holding onto a slightly more comfortable 24 minute gap. One wrongly placed foot or mechanical failure on the bike legs could have changed the competition at any moment as veteran’s leader Graham Daniel discovered to his cost breaking his chain twice on day 5 and eventually withdrawing from the race.
Second place in the overall males race was an epic battle between Capetonians Cas van Aardenne and Greg Goodall with split seconds separating the these two endurance athletes for five of the six days. Ultimately it all came down to just one hill climb where Goodall finally managed to make an uncontested break on foot.
Two of South Africa’s legendary woman mountain bikers duelled for 2nd and 3rd in the ladies race with Cape Epic champion Hanlie Booyens gaining the upper hand in the trail running sections to secure 2nd place for the 2nd year running. Yolande de Villiers, who finished 3rd, dominated almost all the mountain bike sections but lost time to her rivals on the running legs.
Mark Preen ran into the Nature and Sport Capital of Africa (Plettenberg Bay) as the veterans leader followed by Mike Charlewood & Brenton Ashby whilst Knysna Local Rhona Zonnestein claimed her 2nd Southern Storm title in as many years by beating Heike Jakins & Sandra Boer in the ladies veteran race.
John Ntuli from Natal finished his first Southern Storm in the mountain bike leaders red jersey strongly signalling his intention to threaten the overall lead in the future. Full results are available www.southernstorm.co.za