Flat water proficiency is the first level of assessment towards becoming a graded paddler. With a successful flat water proficiency test pass and a paddling license from the local canoe union in hand you can take part in races on dams. After signing off three time trials, where results are recorded, or dam races, river proficiency is the next assessment stage. Only then can you participate in graded river races (starting with C-grade). After three successful C-grade river races, you can move up to B-grade; three B-grade races takes you up to A-grade. But note that if you do your river proficiency and gradings in a K2, then you are graded for a double, not a single. The safety and grading process is outlined in the Canoe South Africa Safety Booklet, which can be downloaded.

The flat water proficiency test has a theory and practical component.

The theory component briefs participants on what to do when you capsize, how to catch a paddle that is floating away, different strokes (steering and back paddle) and various safety elements, including equipment.

For the practical component, participants must bring their boat, PFD, splash cover and paddle. The test requires participants to put their splashy away from the bank, paddle two laps around the dam and use steering strokes and the back paddle stroke. Participants then have to capsize with all their gear on, pop their splashie, turn their boat upright as soon as possible - getting as little water into it as possible, put their paddle into boat and swim the boat to the side. If they lose or drop their paddle, they will fail the test. They are not expected to capsize and get back into the boat from the water -  a very difficult task.

Sue Belcher, from Team Lickety Split, attended a recent flat water testing session with coach and GCU safety officer, Bill van der Walt. She was accompanied by three of her teammates. Sue recommends that other ARers do their flat water proficiency test and adds that, “if you can paddle at all, you can pass easily”.

Lizelle and Wiehan van der Merwe also attended. “We first did some theoretical stuff and learned alot about safety. We then got into the boats, checked if all gear and boats were ready, practiced getting our splash covers on without holding on to the side - this was new for us – and then off we went for two laps. We capsized, by mistake, on the second lap so when we actually had to show Bill that we can capsize, we already had some practise! We had no problem with getting our splash cover off. Practicing emergency stops and paddling backwards was also fun,” Lizelle says.

“We all passed and are happy to have the papers now,” she adds. “You really benefit from this proficiency test, as you practice skills that you would never do on your own. Bill also made us so much more aware of safety factors, which was an eye opener for us.”

Race organisers have the responsibility of pre-scouting rivers and water sections on races; thereafter it is your responsibility to ensure that you are proficient in both the craft that you are required to paddle and on the type of water in the race. A flat water proficiency test is the first step.

* Image: This dude is really proficient… Adam van Koeverden of Canada competes in the Kayak Single (K1) 1000m Men’s Heat at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on Day 10 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 18, 2008 in Beijing, China.  (August 18, 2008 – Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images AsiaPac)

The first is the Energizer Night Relay on the night of Friday, 15 October at Teak Place. Although this event has been around for some time, this is the first time it is coming up to Jo’burg. There are three events. Each member of the  four-person run team does a 5km lap; the three-person bike team does 10km laps (one lap each person) and the two-person walk teams each walk a 5km lap.

An Energizer headlamp, with batteries, is supplied to each team, participants get goodies bags and there’s a festive vibe, music, bar and catering. Think ‘Friday night p.a.r.t.y’ !

Entries are already open (R150 – R200pp) and there is even prize money! Event website is www.nightrelay.co.za

Triple Challenge is another multisport event that has been around for ages. It’s an off-road run-bike-paddle (or run-bike-run) event that allows for a combination of entries. You can do the whole event on your own or you can race in a pair and do everything together. The relay options allow for one person to run, one to bike and both to paddle together or a third to paddle. The date for this year’s event is Sunday, 7 November, which is great for Gauties because we can drive down on the Saturday (registration and boat check in on Sat afternoon).

The first 20.5km trail run starts in ‘Maritzburg and 18km of the route is on jeep and single track with “nice climbs”. You’ve got 2.5-3hrs to complete the distance (depending on your entry category). Next is a 53km MTB leg that starts from Camperdown. The event website says, “the route is seriously off road – you need grip and proper mountain bike tyres”. No slicks here!

If you’re entered in the Multisport event your final stage is a 18km paddle on Inanda Dam. The route is anti-clockwise to ”cover the ‘windy’ bit of the dam first so as to make the second part of the paddle a little bit easier”. There are two portage sections.

If you’re doing the MultiX (run-bike-run) option, then your last stage is a 6km run.

Multisporter Dan Hugo will be defending his title and going for a 5th win.

This will be my first Triple Challenge, with one of my Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge teammates – we’ll be drawing straws for teams.

The field of competitors included some of the most experienced adventurers as well as many new faces who were to set off in windy conditions along the Vaal dam for a 12km paddle as the first leg. The heat was on from the start with Team Cyanosis, the male pair of Team Hawkstone and the Red Ants sharing waves to break away to the first check point. Team Hawkstone put in a good push to exit the water first and head off on a short 5km run/hike which split the teams up seeing the Ants make it out of transition first.

The third leg was a longish 40km + mountain bike on wide open dirt roads with enough corrugations to shake up the kidneys. Team Cyanosis put the hammer down and made good time into the following 10km technical hike which proved to be a strategic move as they completed the loop in time to watch the sun go down. The hike became a thorny “bundu-bash” into the night for pursuing teams; however team members could look forward to a welcome mug of hot chocolate from the organisers on completion of the hike…that is enough to keep anyone going.

The 45km + mountain bike stretch that followed was very straight forward and had teams averaging high speeds down to the fifth transition on the shores of the Vaal dam Marina yacht club. Inquisitive locals were out to cheer on and fuel up the weary racers as they set off into a beautiful moonlit night on a glassy Vaal dam. Teams paddled to UJ Island for a quick 5km island orienteering task over tricky terrain and dodging spring hares before the final 3km paddle to the finish at the very welcoming Bayshore Marina.

Team Cyanosis took race honours in a time of 9hrs 26min for 120km, with the Red Ants cruising home a mere 40min later for second place. Teams finished through the night and into the early hours of the morning, every member with a smile on their face and many war stories to tell. Finishing teams were able to treat themselves to some of the best pizza in town as the very hospitable Bayshore Marina restaurant stayed open through the night to send racers to bed with full tummies. Ah the life of an adventure racer, eat when you can and never turn a good pizza down, no matter what time in the day. Well done to all the teams that took part and finished.

Stephan and Heidi’s Kinetic team together with all their very friendly and helpful staff deserve a double thumbs-up for an amazing event. They are proving that adventure racing is alive and well and accessible to everyone. Thank you for keeping up the spirit, the spirit of adventure.

 Author: Ryan Hodierne | Kinetic Full Moon, Vaal Dam. 28 August 2010

After dropping off our bikes at UJ Island just before 9am our team met up at Bayshore Marina which was to be the start/finish for the event. We registered and were give out 160L team kit box which would be transported to all the Transition Points by the race organises as this was an unassisted race. The race maps and instructions were handed to the teams at 10am after which we set about getting race ready and packing our team kit box with the necessary gear, clothing and food for the 130km we had ahead. At 12:30pm we had the shortest race briefing I’ve ever had which basically told us “If you needing to climb over a fence you’re in the wrong place” after which we all got together for a race photo in our black and white First Ascent tops.

Leg 1 – 12km Paddle
The race started with a paddle from Bayshore Marina’s harbour. We had decided connect our 2 Fluid Kayaks together and have our 2 strongest paddlers, Rob and Jeremy in the front boat towing Laura and I in the 2nd boat. The race started at 12:52pm and the 1st 50m out the harbour was chaos with boats bumping into each other and creating big waves which had everybody very wet very quickly. After about 500m we decided that the towing was not a good idea and disconnected the tow rope. Rob and I also changed boats to even out the paddling strength of our boats. At the 1st CP (Check Point) the 4 teams of Cyanosis, Red Ants, Hawk stone and Maccapacca had pulled a little ahead of us and we to had pulled ahead of the next group of teams. Nothing much had changed by the take out; we were still in 5th position with a small advantage over 2 teams behind us so we quickly got ready and disembarked onto the 2nd leg.

Leg 2 – 4km Run
The 2nd leg was a very fast run in which we had 2 CP’s to collect. On our way to the 1st CP we saw Cyanosis and Red Ants had managed to get a small gap between themselves, Hawkstone and Maccapacca. who we had pretty much caught up to but the time we finished the stage and headed into T2 (Transition 2).

Leg 3 – 46km Mountain Bike
The 3rd leg started really fast with us chasing Team …. on a short road section before turning onto the dirt road and collecting CP4. Team …. Were still a short distance ahead of us and remained so for the next few kilometres that lead to CP5 at which point they realised they had missed CP4 and needed to go back for it. We continued on at a very strong pace and at times had to help each other with the odd push up a hill to keep the pace. After about 20km we caught up to Hawkstone and road with them for a few kilometres before they pulled away from us again. We exited the sand road at a point where a couple of supporters that were following the Assitport teams were waiting and cheering on the teams as we passed by. It was along this stretch of tarred road that we were to 1st be bitten by what was going to be our Achilles heel for this race.

Jeremy called a halt to the nice rhythm we had going with a puncture. It in fact was far worse than a mere puncture; he had a tear in the side wall of his back tyre. None of us had a tyre gator so I quickly had an energy gel so we could use the packet to line his tyre. Energy gel, bomb, problem solved and we were on our way… for 500m and the tyre was flat again. New slime tube, bomb, problem solved and we were on our way again. As we approached CP8 at the silos which were supposed to be the abseil point but that had been cancelled Jeremy again called us to a halt. Another puncture. New tube, bomb, problem solved and we were on our way again… for 1km and the tyre was flat again. New slime tube (this time from Laura so it had a Presta valve), bomb, problem solved and we were on our way again. We couldn’t believe that no teams had passed us with all our punctures and had only had about 4km left to the end of the leg and we were able to complete it and arrive at T3 without any further problems.

Leg 4 – 10km Hike
Our kit boxes were waiting for us at T3 which was at the Karma Game Lodge. Kinetic had booked out a chalet so there was an opportunity to get changed out of our bike gear into warmer hiking clothing as it was just before sunset. The urgency to get onto the hike and do as much as possible before sunset was apparent as none of us even thought about running into a room to change and just did so where we were. We headed off quickly onto the hike and managed to get CP9, CP10 and CP 11 while there was still sunlight. On the way to CP12 I started to cramp up but was quickly assisted by Rob with a couple cramp tabs and a shoulder for a minute or so. My cramp eased as we carried on running while it was still light enough to do so. At CP13 we made the decision to not go straight at CP14 which would have taken us on a short, 1km bundo bash and which we thought was the planned route but to rather go back on our tracks and stick to the roads, this would be double the distance but could be a safer option although Laura did slip on the descent and land rather hard. On the way we passed 2 teams that were now only about 5 minutes behind us. CP14 turned out to still be a little tricky and we only managed to find it as the 2 following teams got to us. From here we chose to take our only risk of the race and headed straight down a steep hill towards our next point instead of taking the safe longer route. Laura a little trouble descending with her low powered head lamp so her and I swapped headlamps and we all made it down to the next point safely and very quickly. After getting CP15 it was a short run to CP16 then we headed back Karma Game Lodge which was to be our T4 to.

Leg 5 – 50km Mountain Bike
This time at the transition we decided to use the facilities provided as well as enjoy a cup of hot chocolate or coffee that the marshals were providing. Hawkstone were still at T4 when we arrived but left after about 5 minutes. We (I should say I) took about 20 minutes in this transition which annoyed a couple of my team-mates as they were all ready to go a couple minutes before me but I still had fresh memories of how cold the night ride was at the last Kinetic Full Moon AR and was not going to have that again. I had invested in a pair of Fuse Pro 280 cold weather tights and was hoping they would be the business. We ended up leaving T4 about 5 minutes after the 2 teams following us had arrived there.

It wasn’t long before I was helping tow Rob up a couple of the hills to help keep our pace high and Laura was insuring the pace was kept very high… those leg were showing their Epic pedigree. I always enjoy a quiet night ride and this one was no different, the kilometres disappear so quickly at night and this was a fast route. After about 30km the Men’s pair from Do It Now magazine caught up to us and we passed each other over and over for about 10km before we got to a hilly section which they left us on. The managed to average a very impressive 33.5km/hr on this stage. With about 5km to the end of the leg Jeremy had his 5th flat tyre. It seemed to seal. A quick bomb and we were off again… for another 1km before it went flat again. Tube number 4, bomb number 6 and all we had was 4km left. We arrived at T6 just before 11pm to the news Cyanosis had just finished and that T6 had also been the scene of a huge part earlier with a bunch of inebriated guys trying to get Cyanosis and Red Ants to join their party. Cyanosis had declined the offer and quickly left but 1 of the Red Ants and joined them for a quick Klippies & Coke down-down. We all knew it must have been Alex.

Legs 6, 7 & 8 – 5km Paddle, 5km Orienteer, 3km Paddle
Knowing we wouldn’t see our kit box after our next paddle we had to pack what we wanted for the Orienteering leg into our water-proof bags and headed across the dam. This paddle had been the part of the race both Laura and I had been dreading. It would be over 2 hours before the race would end for us and if we got wet now we would very quickly get cold. Luckily there was no wind and the dam was like glass. Rob had put his legs into a black garbage bag and I remembered that I had pack 1 into the side netting of both Laura’s and my bags so we too quickly climbed into our garbage bags. The combination of still waters and garbage bags worked and we arrived at the island in 39 minutes and we were dry.

Laura had suggested we take 1 of our Ay-Up bike lights for the ‘O’ which was a brilliant idea. Between the bright lights and Jeremy’s spot-on navigation we were able to find all 4 CP’s on the island without any hassle and were on the island for just under an hour.
The final 3km paddle almost saw us make our 1st real mistake when we headed for the wrong set of harbour light. Luckily we realised the error fairly quickly and were able to do the last paddle in just under 30 minutes.

Finish
We arrived at the finish at 1:04am to claim 3rd position in the main race category, 5th position over-all. Even at 1am Heidi was still awake and excited as always. We had seen Amy at most of our transitions and she was there at the end too to cheer us in. Not only were there warm cheers at the finish but there were warm showers too. Even better was the fact that Bayshore Marine had kept their kitchen open so at 1:30am we all tucked into a pizza and a non energy drink. Apparently the kitchen stayed open until 4am, my eyes didin’t.

This 2nd instalment of the Kinetic Full Moon was far more enjoyable than the 1st. In fact I’d say it would rate as one of the most enjoyable races I’ve ever done. The course was challenging but fast and didn’t have you asking at any stage “why has the race organiser put a point here”. As we’ve all come to expect from Stephan the CP’s are where they are indicated and you never feel like you on an Easter Egg hunt.

Thanks too Stephan and his team, all the sponsors, venues, marshals and my team-mates. Lastly a very special thanks to Heidi. Heidi you are definitely the spirit of the Kinetic events.

Author: Andrew Wiggett | Kinetic Full Moon, Vaal Dam, 28 August 2010

Team Cyanosis’ members include: Nicholas Mulder, Clinton Mackintosh and Ryno Griesel. Their female team member is still to be confirmed.

Hard Day’s Night is Alex Pope (he raced in Team www.AR.co.za in Dec 2009 at ADAC), Jane Swarbreck, Tim Deane and Alan Neate.

There’s going to be a great Souff Afrikan vibe in the Emirates!

The process of selection for the three places on Team www.AR.co.za began with the submission of written applications from which six squad members were recruited. After three months of training and racing the three racers to make up the mixed-gender, four-person team captained by experienced adventure racer, Lisa de Speville, were chosen. “In previous years, my ADAC teams were chosen from written applications. This year, because I received notice of our entry, which is sponsored by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, earlier, I was able to change the selection process,” de Speville says.

“Managing and choosing from a squad has been more difficult for me because I have gotten to know and train with these talented, competent and compatible racers; all super people with common racing objectives,” she adds. “We ‘lost’ Ilze Jansen van Rensburg in early July after an emergency eye operation put a halt on her training and racing for weeks.”

The choosing of only three from the five squad members – Adri van der Westhuyzen, Keane Ludig, Lizelle Smit, Lizelle van der Merwe and Steven Erasmus – has weighed heavily on de Speville’s mind. “I’ve played over and over with all kinds of combinations and they would all work well. But, I had to settle on just three. In making my final selection I’ve looked at age, experience, ambitions as well as opportunities that they currently have or could have as a result of being part of the squad and team.”

The selected team members are Adri van der Westhuyzen, Lizelle Smit and Steven Erasmus. Keane Ludick and Lizelle van der Merwe are the team’s reserves, ready to jump in should they be needed. “In previous years we’ve had stress fractures, injuries, illnesses and lost passports crop up weeks and days before departure. The role of a reserve is not an easy one, especially when you really want to go to Abu Dhabi. Keane and Lizelle’s ongoing commitment to training and the team is really special and reassuring,” explains de Speville. They will all continue to paddle together and work on skills and disciplines needed for the six-day semi-staged race in Abu Dhabi.

Although the most common team composition is three men and one woman, Team www.AR.co.za has flipped things around with their female-weighted team, which will be a first at the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. Erasmus is the only man in the team. “The women that have been chosen are great people and they are all really strong. It is going to be different to the standard team format but I’m also sure that it’s going to be fun too. Women bring a special balance to teams,” he says.

With three months until race day, the team is looking ahead as they focus specifically on paddling and running.

Contact

Lisa de Speville, 082 936-2509

lisa@ar.co.za , www.ar.co.za

Team Blog: www.teamwwwarcoza.blogspot.com

Event website: www.abudhabi-adventure.com

About Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge

This six-day semi-staged adventure race is held every December in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The event attracts top teams from around the World, with participants from almost 30 countries. Disciplines included are sea kayaking, desert trekking, canyoneering and mountain biking. South Africa is one of five countries to receive an entry (incl. flights) from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority as part of their generous Awards programme. www.abudhabi-adventure.com

Darron was unfortunately unable to get away from Swaziland to join us; he phoned and also sent a message of thanks to all the adventure racers over the past decade for their participation in Swazi Xtreme (one and many) and passion for this sport.

Darron – three cheers to you, Anita and helpers for 10 years of adventures and memories.

Swazi X 2010 was real, no holds barred, full on HD 3D entertainment! (Something Red Ants enjoy all too often for one’s own good and loss of brain cells is part of the HD experience).

With most of the original Red Ants team deciding that THE 10th AND FINAL Swazi Xtreme was not for them, it was up to me to co-op some unsuspecting friends into this Game. After some searching, phone calls and emails, the Red Ants had swarmed and the colony was once again on the move. This time the Ants would invade the fabled hills of Swaziland with Phillipe “I train 24hrs a week” van der Leeuw, Tim “so when can we sleep?” Deane, Muffin Girl (a.k.a Jane “this is my first long AR” Swarbreck) and me; Brian “the last standing Red Ant” Gardner.

The Red Ants were pampered, protected and fed by our outstanding seconds Walter “I led the convoy to T5” Dhooge and Hardus “where’s my bike?” de Bruyn. Who can however forget the amazing back massages we got in transition from one of Team Khakibos’s seconds, Inge “massage therapist” van Rooyen. You guys frikken ROCK!

After months of preparations, training, logistics and organising, the 10th and final Swazi Extreme in full HD 3D had arrived.

Race briefing

It was at race briefing that one Darron Raw divulged that this Swazi was packed with “added value” in the Pro event, and teams wanting to compete should get all the OP’s. Great, ADDED VALUE and fun! So our strategy was easy, race hard, collect all OP’s, have fun, enjoy the added value and get a good sleep on Sunday night. Huh? Not quite. Darron held his cards close to his chest and never really told us what REAL “added value” entailed, although we did know that this involved a few added Km’s here and there. Right, off to sleep on this ADDED VALUE statement…

Leg 1: Hike (12km)

It was 6am on Friday the 6th of August and Swazi was on! Teams lined up for the start of the swansong of all AR swansongs. This first hike/ run would be crucial; we felt that a good start was what we needed. We were off and jogging through Nisela Game reserve in the chilled pre-dawn air with Team Jabberwok for company. Muffin Girl was briefed thoroughly before the race to not expect a fast pace on a long race, as she had been used to high paced racing on the shorter races she had done, but alas, this illusion would come back to bite on the first run. The ‘time trial’ had begun. We made short work of the run, colleting the 2 OP’s on the hill and getting into T1 just behind Jabberwok.

Leg 2: MTB (93km)

We mounted our MTB’s at T1 and were hot-on-the-heals of Jabberwok, with SPORT and ‘non-OP searching’ PRO teams all around us. It wasn’t long before we caught Jabberwok and rode with them for a while through the Swaziland lowveld. We had just snuck ahead of Jabberwok at an intersection, but on the approach to OP100P (Gauging Weir), I managed to get us onto a foot path at just the wrong angle down to the river, which evidently popped us out at the river about 1km downstream from the OP. Damn, stupid mistake, but when tracks are running all over the place, and with the Swazi cartographers taking another puff of their green Swazi bush when map making, it was fairly easy to do. On arrival at the river, we realised the mistake straight away and found a pretty decent single track next to the river which led us right up to the OP at the weir. Not much time lost, but irritating none the less!

At this point, we were going strong and all feeling pretty good. The rest of the bike leg to T2 at the paddle start was just one long slog, with a quick stop at a roadside shop to refuel on coke and sprite. At this point, Jabberwok had extended their lead to about 45mins.

Leg 3: Canal Paddle (17km)

After a quick transition and a bite to eat, we were off to the paddle put-in at the start of the irrigation canal. In training sessions on Emmarentia Dam it was decided that Jane and I were driving the 2 boats. Jane having never steered a boat down anything flowing before, was told to try and stick to my rudder and follow my line. Well that plan lasted about 200m down the canal, when Phil and Jane took a liking to the overhanging tree and tipped. Not a bad swim mind-you, they saved it pretty well, seeing as though you could stand in the canal. After some short discussion and boat emptying, Muffin Girl joined me in the back of my boat and Tim was upgraded to driver in the other.

The paddle, which ensued was uneventful but a welcome relief to the legs after 100km of fairly fast-paced hiking and MTBing in the morning.

Leg 4: Hike (8km)

Arriving at T3 we made quick work of the transition and were on our way to T4 at Van Eck dam on the outskirts of Big Bend. The sun was setting as we approached CP18, which for all intents and purposed was “misplaced”. It turns out that the Swazi cartographers were once again up to their tricks and the CP was actually plotted in the right place, but roads on the map didn’t quite make sense. After searching for a good 10mins we decided to take one quick look down the road, and viola, there it was… Leaving me somewhat bamboozled as to the accuracy of the map?? Anyway, we were back on track and heading to T4 with gusto. A short search for OP104 along the way cost us about 10 mins but we found it in the fading light and were all smiles hiking into T4.

We had no idea what lay ahead from this point, as this is where we got our next set of maps for the next few legs, and also more of an insight into Darron’s added value!

Leg 5: Hike (17km)

Our seconds were once again on hand to provide us with a fantastic pasta meal, whilst Muffin Girl and Phil attended to sore and blistered feet. Some quick calculations of distances and confirmation of the lack of roads on the map, we were on our way into the Swazi darkness. The initial stages of the hike were fast and flat, and we were able to attempt a fair AR shuffle for most of the way to CP21. It must however be noted that we junctioned with the canal on which the CP was located a little way to the south, which caused some unneeded confusion amongst the ranks. A quick bearing sorted that and we finally arrived at CP21. A time check with the marshal confirmed that we were still about an hour behind Jabberwok, so we were at least not losing massive time and were still moving well.

With CP21 brought the start of the track up the Lebombo’s. 600m ascent in less than 2km of foot path. Muffin Girl being once again reminded in no uncertain terms by Phil that THIS IS NOT GAME as we huffed and puffed our way up to the top of the Lebombo’s! Muffin Girl slowly coming to realise that this could be a longer and harder game that predicted… On summiting the Lebombo’s on foot, it was a short 4km walk to T5. Once again aimless traipsing on a wide dirt road induced the dreaded Sleep Monster in some team mates, and we think Muffin Girl had her first encounter with him too…

Leg 6: MTB (75km)

T5 at the mountain top school was an unassisted transition, and we were quick to don the cycling shoes and head off in the darkness for a cycle back to T4 at Van Eck Dam. The navigation for the first section was straightforward, and an awesome 6km downhill off the top of the Lebombo’s and back into the lowveld was the highlight of this ride! You just gotta love hurtling off a mountain at 50kmph with only bike lights to guide the way. (That’s always when you wish you had better lights!). Being joined by Alex Pope and Paul Bothma of Cipralex, we found the first couple of OP’s on this leg fairly easily, but the combination of tiredness and endless tracks leading in all directions in the sugarcane plantation put pay to us finding OP209 at the “pump house”. Having finally determined where we were on the map after some uncertainly, I decided to hit the tar road, skip OP209, and head straight back to T4. We arrived just before 6am in the morning, and just caught the start of the SPORT teams heading off on their next stage.

Leg 7: MTB (14km)

We had had a long night on the bikes and were feeling the pace at this point. The next couple of legs would be long and we would only be seeing our seconds much later in the day again. Tim, Phil and Jane took the time to get 30mins of sleep whilst I worked on the maps for the next few sections of the race. Knowing full well that this would be a long day, we took our time in transition before heading off for a quick 14km MTB to the paddle put-in.

Leg 8: River Paddle (18km)

With none of us really having much river paddling experience, except for experience gained through adventure racing over the years, we surprised even ourselves and had a flawless paddle through the beautiful Lusutfu River valley! Not one swim for either boat through all the Grade 1 and 2 rapids ensured we kept a good rhythm on the paddle (except for those damn sand-banks which popped up all over the place!). Jane and Phil were having a grand ‘ol time on the river, being dragged over every sand bank we hit by Tim and I. Sitting in the front of the K2 meant that we (Tim and I) always jumped out and dragged the boat to deeper water, whilst Jane and Phil in the back looked like they were on holiday. Phil of course reminded Jane that despite the illusion to the contrary, THIS IS NOT A GAME!

Leg 9: Hike (22km)

Having loved being off our feet for a good 3 hours whilst in the boat, the ensuing 22km hike was a fair shock to the system. Not much can be said for this insane slog up the mountain and out of the Lusutfu Valley, except that this is where we realised that Sleep Monsters can actually be encountered during day-light hours. Evidence of this was tabled by Phil who decided to take a closer look at the flora on the side of the road, before realising that it was in fact the sleep monster behind that tree. We again realised that THIS IS NOT A GAME, and we had many hours still to race, so we all zoned out for a 20 minute power nap under the blazing Swazi sun. For those who think sleep-walking is for night-time only, be well advised that your facts need revision! We hiked for a while with Alex and Paul of Cipralex, and collected the 2 OP’s on route to T8 as the sun was setting on day 2.

This long hard hike certainly took its toll on our feet, as some good time was spent at T8 remedying feet and fuelling our bodies with excellent spaghetti bolognaise before heading out once again. Inge was once again on hand with superb back massages! We should have taken a power nap, but the mist was rolling in and the drizzle started to come down. With no gazebo in transition, we decided to push on so as to not get wet and cold with the drizzle! In hind’s sight, a sleep would have been good at this point, to recharge batteries before the long night ahead.

Leg 10: MTB (60km)

Leaving transition well fed and watered, we collected OP300 and then went in a few small circles trying to locate the single track at OP207. Muffin Girl also had a fairly hilarious encounter with the sleep monster during the initial stages of this bike leg; as she politely asked me why I was wearing an umbrella on my helmet to keep it dry and why there were mice running all over the road!!!?? That was a classic! Sleep monsters do weird and wonderful things!

On finding the track at OP207, it was a blissful downhill MTB back into the lowveld. This track was insanely rocky and steep, and caution was the name of this game. Tim, however, still managed to make a well-calculated purchase of some Swazi bushveld on the way down. He certainly bought a quality turf, but his wrist that he injured 2 weeks prior to Swazi was now starting to flair up wildly and he struggled to hold onto the handle bars from then on in. Tough guy, true AR spirit shown! “THIS IS NOT A GAME!”

Having narrowly negotiated the decent of the Lebombo’s for the second time in 24 hours on the Mountain bikes (both times in the dark let me add!), we headed north towards T9, stopping for a quick rendezvous with the Holy Ghost School at OP301. Finding this OP was however not without incident. On approaching the area, we were not more than a kilometre away when I decided that some direction from “friendly” locals would not go amiss, as sometimes confirmation from locals that where you were heading was in fact correct…

Well, contrary to our previous encounters with the Swazi locals, this one didn’t really go down well with two young men. I left my team on the “main” road, and cycled not more than 50m off the main road to ask two guys who were just alighting from a car. Keeping my distance, I greeted politely and asked if the school was in that direction (pointing). Not getting any reaction or greeting in return, I asked again, but sensed that something wasn’t quite right. I immediately turned my bike around and mounted it, by which time one of the youths had walked a half circle around a clump of aloes, and his direction indicated to me that he was going to try and cut me off from my escape route, and still not uttering a word despite my questions. I summed this situation up very quickly despite my sleep deprived sate, and hit the pedals hard to escape back up the road. As that happened, this (most likely beer saturated) youth ran at full speed after me shouting derogatory remarks and trying in vain to grab hold of me as I sped up the hill! My team heard all of this and the youth stopped short of running all the way to where Tim, Phil and Jane were sitting. Heaven help that fellow if he did get hold of me, with all of us now pumped full of adrenalin!

Needless to say, we were all wide awake for the rest of the bike to T9. (O, and we did find Holy Ghost School OP by the way)

Leg 11: Hike (18km)

Arriving in transition well pumped on adrenalin after the ‘attempted mugging’ (or whatever that fellow had in mind!), we didn’t really consider sleeping, and hit the hiking leg right away, as we were all wide awake. Once again, hind sight is a great sight. We should have slept and recharged, as the wheels come off in the next 3 hours or so… We nailed OP302, 303 and 304 on the head, but CP36 proved to be our nemesis. We had a set plan to attack CP36, but soon after arriving at OP304, we came across a male pair team who claimed to have bund-bashed for hours. This immediately made me think that the bushveld between us the CP was thick and impenetrable, so we opted for plan B which was to hike around the bush and join up with the Cordon fence on the other side. That seems pretty easy, or so we thought. We were joined at this point by Team Here be Dragons, and attempted to tackle the conundrum together.

After a couple of hours of back and forth we decided to retreat to our last point of certainty, OP304. (Later to discover we were on a different cordon fence only 300m away from the one we wanted, at exactly the same altitude, going in exactly the same direction). Huh. It’s amazing what tiredness can do to one’s reasoning and sense of direction. Anyway, we backtracked to the last OP and hit a bearing through the bush to the CP, being at a loss for words as to how that stuff-up happened. Now we should have done that bearing right from the start, instead we lost 3 hours bumbling around the bush, when the “bundu bashing” as described by the male pair we encountered earlier didn’t really materialize. Well, you win some you lose some, that’s AR!

The sun was starting to rise on day 3, and we were joined for the hike from CP36 to T10 by Lisa and Bruce. Having lost considerable time, we skipped the OP’s around Siteki town and headed straight for T10. At some point nearing T10 Jane must have eaten something that us guys didn’t, because on the final 2 odd km’s to the transition she kicked into overdrive and outran us. Huh, so us tough guys took it on the chin and told Jane that long haul AR is not always about running, and that she should conserve herself (however, knowing full well that we had been truly OUTRUN on that section!!)

Arriving somewhat disgruntled and discouraged we still had no idea how far to go on this value added race. It was like a buy one, get one free lucky packet. We got our final maps for last 2 legs at T10 and eventually these maps had “finish” printed on them. We had now raced for about 52 hours and still had, on my calculation at the time, about 16 hours to go. Wrrrrong again!! THIS IS NOT A GAME!

Leg 12: Hike (17km)

The last 52 hours of non-stop racing had taken its toll. We had covered over 350km from the start, and still had about 100km to go, and had only had about 45mins of sleep in total. Our feet were sore, the sun was blazing and we were now attempting to chase down the 2pm cut off at the Jumar. Jane was in a different league at this point, and following on from her outrunning us into transition, she followed that up with some inspirational hiking and running to the kloof, leaving me gasping for breath at the back of the line! She is going to be a super-star!

We once again caught Alex and Paul from Cipralex and plunged into the kloof together. Having negotiated the first few steep sections, we kicked again, and ran through the kloof to try and make the cut-off, but time was short, it was now about 1:30pm. With ourselves, Alex and Paul bashing through the kloof, we somehow missed the OP which indicated the split to the jumar. Having passed it and then realising our mistake about 15mins later, we backtracked, and eventually found it. It was now 2pm and we had missed the jumar cut-off, arriving there at 2:25pm. There were still teams on the ropes and stories told that some teams waited 3 hours to jumar! Even though we missed official cut-off, we could have still done the jumar, but it was getting late and we reasoned that scrambling out of the kloof would be quicker that jumaring.

Our reasoning worked, as we scrambled out to the top, just as one of the members of Team Gijima who was on the rope when we were below, topped out. By this stage the sun was blazing and the cliff jump was welcome relief! Tim and I negotiated the jump whist Phil and Jane attended to some sore feet! It was great, and I wish we could have hung around, but time was ticking!!

We upped our pace once again and headed for T11, our last transition, finally! We were scheduled for a quick transition and Tao (the marshal at T11), came over to us about 15mins into our transition and said that if we don’t leave in the next 10mins, would not be allowed to leave and that would be our race done! This galvanised us into action, but deep down I know we all felt like a good nights rest! This was where the mental strength of the entire team shone through, and our will to finish was huge. We were broken physically, but mentally still strong and in the Game! (But this is not a Game, is it?)

Leg 13: MTB (75km)

We were now lying in 2nd place behind Kinetic after our shenanigans on Leg 11, but we still didn’t know exactly how many OP’s they had, and if we might still be in with a fighting chance. Jabberwok had had to pull out earlier in the race, so it was now up to Kinetic and us to race to the line.

Now if ever one talks of a “sting in the tail”, this exact leg in this exact place would be what they were talking about. Darron’s sense of humour was out of control, and our sense of humour was left somewhere near T11. Needless to say, the last 75-80km MTB was an EPIC end to an EPIC event, and most truthfully an EPIC end to what has been 10 extreme years of Swazi X!

Being sore and tried, we totally missed CP45, which had been wind blown around to the other side of the pole and we couldn’t see it from the direction we were coming from! Some negotiations with Team Yoshimi and we were backtracking a kilometre or so to find CP45. Approaching it from that angle, we found it first time! We were finally on our way down the craziest, rocky and most outright ridiculous track Swazi had thrown at us thus far, (with the help of some friendly locals pointing us in the right direction down the mountain!) and once at the bottom, we had to hike-a-bike back out of the valley. Nice one Darron!

Phil kept reminding a hyperventilating Muffin Girl that THIS WAS NOT A GAME, and that we need to push on for this game to finally end. During this hike-a-bike out of the valley, I became really sick and proceeded to vomit my lungs out on the side of the mountain. I put it down to dehydration, but at 10 at night, it seemed a little weird? Anyway Phil took over navigation duties for a while, Tim fed me with rehydrate and we were back up and on our way to CP46 after a few minutes. We eventually hiked our bikes up to the right road about 1km west of the CP, so had to back-track slightly, collect the CP and head on out along the jeep-track to CP47.

We again found Alex and Paul from Cipralex along the route and teamed up to finish this EPIC race together. We made fairly good time from then on in, and decided to skip the OP’s and head around to the next CP on the tar road through Siteki. The sun was just about coming up when we stopped for coke and chocolate at the petrol station in Siteki, which had seen a roaring trade of smelly adventure racers by the time we arrived, so they didn’t even bat an eyelid at our physical appearance! I was feeling much better now, and took the map back from Phil for the final run into the finish.

With the sun up, headlamps off and Darron’s ‘fast finish’ to come, we left Siteki in haste for our final destination, Simunye Club. The fast finish wasn’t that fast at all, but at least there were no big mountains between us and Simunye. We raced along with Cipralex and shared our war stories of the epic race that was drawing to a close. Muffin Girl was however still absolutely certain that there was one last HUGE mountain to come, and that she couldn’t face it, and we should go around it (??!!), she wasn’t even Navigating, I think the sleep monster got her hook line a sinker! A humorous end to long slog!

Without further incident, and no navigational difficulties (thank goodness) we arrived to a warm welcome at Simunye club after 75 hours and 28 minutes of racing at 9:30am on Monday morning. We were BROKEN. We had finished in 2nd place behind Team Kinetic, who had a solid race, and showed us that slightly slower and steadier (with more sleep) wins the day! Well done guys!

To Alex and Paul, thanks for keeping us company at so many points on the race, and to my fellow team mates, it was a pleasure racing with you! Thanks to Darron, Anita, the marshals, our awesome seconds (Walter and Hardus) and everyone else who supported and cheered for Team Red Ants, THANK YOU!! We could not have finished this EPIC race without you! Thanks for making the last Swazi so memorable!

THIS WAS NOT A GAME, this was the SWAZI EXTREME, in real life, full added-value HD 3D, and we’re sad to see it end.

Author: Brian Gardner, Team Red Ants | Swazi Xtreme PRO, 6-8 August 2010

WOW – WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! (Danie) 

One thing you can be sure with the Swazi Xtreme is that you would never be 100% prepared for what the event will throw at you.  We all assumed that the race will take us about 60 hours to complete and I can remember that we still joked that the sun must come up (at race start), it must go down, it must come up again, go down again, come up again and when it goes down for the third time we would be finished.  Never have we anticipated that we would, at that point, still have one entire mountain bike leg left that would take us all the way through to the next morning extending the race time to 74 hours.  We also anticipated a total distance of about 350km but soon realised that a mind shift is required and that we need to prepare ourselves mentally (if that is possible) for something closer to 500km. 

The race was nonetheless a highlight of my life and the experience would always be entrenched in my memory. Yes, the route was awesome and truly amazing, but the one thing that made the race so great was the TEAM and when I’m referring to the team it most definitely includes the seconds.  It was our first race together as a team and it was truly a privilege to be part of such a great team.

 Although we were not the strongest physical team in the field it was a classic example of the tortoise winning the hare were we just kept going at our own sluggish pace trying not to make too many navigation mistakes and ticking off the CP’s and OP’s the one after the other.  The one thing that I believe was key to our success (amongst the great navigational skills and experience Stephan brought to the team) was the fact that we were able to keep our sense of humour the full distance. I’m not too sure if it was the endorphins and adrenaline or just the sleep deprivation that contributed to the humour, but it surely helped to keep us sane, although only to a degree as one could probably not be classified sane doing the Swazi Extreme Pro Race.  I really enjoyed the entire race, but if I have to highlight the leg I enjoyed most, it would have to be the river paddle.  It is a pity that it was the last Swazi and that I only got to do it once.  Should the opportunity arise, I will definitely be back. 

Danie van Aswegen

Nine years of racing (Heidi)

All I can say is that I love this sport with all my heart!!! Maybe 9 years of racing has deepened my love more than what I thought.  Seconding was also an amazing experience seeing the race unfold from a different perspective.  We really tried to make each transition as comfortable as possible with hot food, Milo, coffee, ice water & drink etc, everything I always wished for while racing.

I knew my husband was mentally at a good place having no pressure with a fairly beginner team.  The goal was to finish their first long race and take them over the finish line.  After race briefing Stephan has decided that he will go for all of the OP points – as he told the team “you guys wanted to do the big race and I will take you to all the points, don’t worry about any other team and what they are doing, lets look after each other and just survive and we will do well in this race…”

Nothing can buy experience is all I can say. The team just went forward and soon into the race I realized that my husband is enjoying the navigation and is having fun! I think we also planned their 1.5h sleep perfectly. I just wanted the three “beginners” to feel what I have been feeling for so many years…. it must be in your heart and in your head because nothing you are going to experience will be possible to translate to your normal life when you are going back.  Does not matter what you experience it will only enriched your soul!

Needless to say – they raced with their hearts and pushed through all the blisters, sleep deprivation and pain to cycle over the finish line in 74 hours in first place!!

I am so proud of our team and thank Darren and Anita of putting yet another Swazi race together.  We know how much planning and work goes into it behind the scenes.  I also want to thank you for taking me on a journey for 9 years of Swazi Extreme races and 1 Seconding.  Best life experience I could have asked for.  I also want to thank my husband for taking me all over the country for 9 years doing so many races that I cant even distinguish between them anymore.  Hopefully I will join you again in the future. Lastly congratulations on your 10 year win and for taking 3 friends on a life journey they will never forget!

All our best wishes

Love

Heidi and Stephan Muller 

Authors: Daie van Aswegen and Heidi & Stephan Muller | Swazi Xtreme PRO, 6-8 August 2010

The logistics and planning for a race like this is not to be underestimated. Team-mates, seconds, vehicles, canoes, food, tents, camping equipment, racing gear, leave from work and other commitments all need to be accounted for and then of course the main thing is one has to train, particularly since the date for SX was announced as winter was approaching and the only thing I was fit for was wine drinking.

I will spare you the details, suffice to say that the team format, support crew, logistics and even the team name varied widely until at midnight on 5^th August 2010, the night before the race, Team Placement Partner had completely arrived at Nisela Safaris, Swaziland. The team consisted of Kobus from Joeys, myself from Cape Town, and supported by JP, Daniel, Jeanne and Yogi from Gabs, Botswana.

Kobus, myself and Daniel had made it in time for the race briefing the night before and two of us were suitably worried. The Swazi Extreme had always carried a fearsome reputation. Entrants, both returnees and newcomers, knew this was justified. We had entered the shorter “Sport” version for this reason, to try and stay within our ability. Billed as a 180k race, we were planning to go for compulsory checkpoints only, no optionals. But from terms race director Darron Raw used in the briefing: “extra value”, “change of strategy”, “no checkpoints are optional”, “longer than advertised” etc we knew we were in for some exercise. I slept with a heart rate of around 90bpm.

6^th August 2010 6:00 am

Stage 1

Leg 1 – Trail run 13km

We’re off! Kobus and I give each other a high five as we finally set off. Anybody will tell you that the hardest part is getting to the start. We were to discover that the hardest part is in fact getting to the finish! Despite the whole field knowing that we were in for a few hundred clicks plus “extra value”, that didn’t stop the adrenalin fuelled bunch of lunatics with head torches and backpacks from taking off at nothing short of a sprint and settling on about 5 or 6min/k, either jabbering away or focused on some distant spot down the road like it was a time trial.

The first control point code was recorded with much jubilation, some teams discovered their lack of a writing instrument, but soon the field spread and Kobus and I found ourselves slowly working our way up it, perhaps guilty of too much enthusiasm. This was also evident in the way that myself and several others ran through the first patch of muddy water we encountered, just to see if control point 2 wasn’t lurking there. On finding it later at a much bigger dam we realised that it was true what Darron had said in the briefing about the maps being slightly outdated i.e. circa 19-voetsek. The dam, fence and canal we had just traversed were probably still a twinkle in the farmer’s eye when our maps were sketched.

The air was crisp but not icy and as the sun rose, the sweet smell of the lowveld grass and red dust permeated the mist. After cruising over some ploughed lands and past some sugar cane fields,  we crossed a dry river bed and were relieved to see the Pro racers head up a mountain side to nail a CP which wasn’t on our list of things to do that day. We turned down the river towards our transition on its banks a few kays down, following animal paths between the sparse thorn trees, stopping once to take a crappy cellphone photo of the beautiful river bed with hippo tracks in the sand. You see, I had thought it wise to play it safe and condomise my cellphone for protection against dust and water, but the photos were useless. Always consider the optical properties of your condom such as refractive index. Any good manufacturer should be able to send you their spec sheet.

We arrived at the transition to discover that our novice seconds had a great deal of common sense and had done 99% of things right, all by themselves, with very little briefing from us. Incredible people. Little things, like tightening the clamp on the bike’s front wheel after re-assembling it, could come later. Oranges, bananas and lentil salad were swallowed whole and washed down with energy juice – we set off on the first bike section, knowing not that the lentil salad had plans for us.

Leg 2 – Mountain Bike 60km

It felt good to be in the saddle, covering distance a lot quicker than on foot. We quickly hauled in the team ahead of us and set ourselves a steady pace. The bike races and training seemed to have paid off. We were comfortably doing 35kph with little effort, feeling superhuman, but that’s because it was downhill. This feeling would come to pass.

We wound our way around the little thatch housed settlements on their haphazard roads, mostly unmarked on our map using the “discovery” method of navigating suggested by Darron. The Swazis were coming out of their houses and waving, calling to us: “Hau aaah yooo?”. They were a very friendly people, poor as dirt but not a beggar in sight and generally looked happy and welcoming in their kingdom. They were rich in other ways. I would have loved to have known what they thought of us sweaty people clad in funny clothes, helmets and backpacks, clutching maps, shouting out instructions and cranking up dust in their villages.

We portaged across a muddy river bed, slipping knee deep into the quicksand once, mistakenly searched for the CP around a pump house simply because it felt like it had to be there and eventually found it in a tree 200m away. On we cycled over a railway bridge and towards the riverside transition where our seconds would be waiting with replenishments.

Eventually arriving at the transition after 4 hours, our backsides felt like they had overstayed their welcome on the bikes. We were keen for the first bit of paddling action – a rare time in AR when your legs can rest.

Leg 3 – Paddling in canal, 12km

We grabbed the K2 by its handles, one at each end and rushed to the put-in. It was a bit of a rocky put-in and I was a little stressed. For starters, I hadn’t paddled a K2 for over a year. Secondly neither of us had ever paddled a river. Lastly I had never even sat in this particular K2. None of this seemed to bother Kobus and he expertly launched us straight into a bamboo bush 5m downstream of the put-in. After bundu-bashing (yep, you get to bundu bash during ALL disciplines on the Swazi X) our way through this minor inconvenience we set off down the canal at a leisurely pace, concerned more with trying to stay upright than gain on any hotshot paddlers ahead of us. At least our boat was experienced – it had the Dusi stickers to prove it. Our paddles were of the non-dusi variety but perfectly suited our skill level. With brand new splash covers and life-jackets we looked the part.

At least we thought we looked the part. Anybody following our progress closely, however would have cringed when we smacked the canoe’s bow straight into a concrete block placed by Darron in the river especially for this race on the inside of a tight turn, disguised as a flue. Once we established that we weren’t sinking, we discovered that the 200m flue was just wide enough that we could eventually manoeuvre the boat through it while pondering the forgiving virtues of fibreglass.

The lentil salad made its intentions known and a pit stop was made, the first of many.

We reached a sign on the side of the river saying “Get out”. We duly got out. After standing there like idiots thinking we were done, we realised that this was not the take-out and that we needed to portage our boat down the road alongside the canal. This was for a good reason – there was some sort of hydro-powered plant just around the corner and we would have damaged the turbines had we continued paddling. We hesitantly put back into a flue which felt ominously like it would lead to a huge drop off, but luckily it didn’t. That’s the thing about paddling. It doesn’t have the speed of biking or the exposure of some hiking routes, but it’s the possibility of unpreventable disaster that gets your mind going. The river will take where the river will take you. Under, over and through whatever. Nevertheless, we received a confidence boost by reaching the take-out unscathed and in good time. It was now late afternoon and time for a jog.

Leg 4 – Hike/run 8km

We set off at a brisk jog and stopped after 500m, as the Lentil Salad came into play again. We rendezvoused back on the road after 10 min and continued at a slightly less strenuous pace. What should have been a very short and sweet leg took another unexpected turn when the CP clearly marked at a very clear junction on the map, wasn’t there. We looked up and down the road and then headed off west in search of it.

After 2km, Kobus and his lentils disagreed yet again so we reasoned that I should make use of the time to go back and search some more, since we really, really wanted to remain official on this race. I jogged back and discovered the CP a few hundred metres east of the junction; presumably another case of outdated map. The map was starting to seem like a cheap imitation, an optional bit of paper which could only be useful when you have had well-travelled lentil salad. Since Kobus was back the other way, I had to pass the exact gate we had emerged from an hour previously where two racers were poring over the map pondering the exact thing we had been. I considered trying to ignore them but they looked up expectantly as I ran past. “OK, OK, the CP is 300m that way” I said to which they replied “Shot, we owe you a beer” and gleefully set off.

Rejoining Kobus we managed a reasonable pace down the dirt road to the first transition in the last glimmers of daylight. I let out a whoop of joy as we arrived, disturbing a massive kudu bull which bolted in the bush to the left.

Our seconds already had the tents pitched alongside the dam, inflatable mattresses inflated, braai coals glowing, and a suitable view of the action in the transition. We clocked in with Anita to be told we were the first pair to arrive and 6^th overall. A cold shower, an expertly prepared steak and delicious pasta went down well. Kobus medicated himself with Imodium and beer. As we sat enjoying the company of our seconds on the hippo-dung strewn banks of the dam, we savoured our achievement for the day. We had klapped Day One of the Swazi. At this rate, it was going to be a doddle. The nice thing about staged races as opposed to continuous races is that provided you don’t get things wrong during the day, you are rewarded with sleep at night. Even some socialising and joviality isn’t out of place. Your body recovers a bit and you can actually end up stronger the next day than the previous. We liked this and decided that the thing to do was to go hell for leather from the gun to the flag and try and make it before dark again the next day.

That night, a squadron of hippos bullied their way into our seconds’ tents next door and snored and grunted so loudly that we thought we should call the ranger. They were gone the next morning though, leaving no trace.

 Stage 2 – Saturday 7^th August 2010

Leg 1 – Bike 13km

A quick bike leg saw us race to the put-in for the much anticipated (or feared, depending on your skill level) paddle down the river towards Mozambique. We would need to take full hiking packs with us because our seconds would not meet us at the take-out, we would be hiking out of that remote corner of Swaziland where RSA meets Swazi meets Moz. With me still struggling to wake up properly and get with the program, we arrived at transition to find that my shoes were still at the other camp and we didn’t have enough water with us for the hike. While Daniel arranged water, JP quickly jumped on his scrambler to race back to the overnight camp which had not been dismantled yet. This bought me some time to do my morning faffing, which Kobus very patiently tolerated without so much as a word. He just silently and amusedly watched me pack and repack my bag, waterproof it, then decide I needed to put something else in and repeat the process. When JP arrived with my shoes, I immediately put them on, then took them off again to put my gaiters on. Eventually we were the last boat in transition and all was quiet. I finally got my shit together and we carried the canoe down to the waters’ edge, a nice sandy gentle put-in this time. How ironic.

Leg 2 – River paddle 20km

We had just got our pesky splash covers on and not paddled half a click when a weir appeared in front of us. A local on the edge of the weir was demonstrating the international signal for “danger”, which is a random pattern of pointing, shouts and gesticulation. We decided that it would be best to portage. It turned out the correct decision because downstream, looking back, we saw a boat crunching cascade onto rocks. We wondered if any teams perhaps went over, perhaps in inflatables?

By this stage I was concerned. If that was the first 500m, what lay in store? If we had to portage every 500m, when would we finish? What were these “grade one and two rapids” like? We navigated our way through a small boulder cluster with some fast-flowing water, hoping that perhaps this was the extent of the rapids spoken of and taking some comfort that our splash covers worked and we could keep the boat upright by placing our paddles flat on the water behind us as we went through the shaky bits. This technique, combined with a bit of luck and Kobus choosing pretty decent lines had me feeling a little more confident. We were a far cry from that first paddle in a borrowed K2 on Emerentia a few years ago where we fell in after 100m much to the delight of the fishermen.

As we shot another presumably Grade 1 rapid, I let out a yelp of excitement. This was starting to be fun. The banks of the river started closing in and soon we were surrounded by densely shrubbed banks and sheer cliffs either side, glowing red in the morning light. A fish-eagle’s cry echoed down the valley. Some water fowl sunned themselves on a rock. We overtook a plastic kayak. Things were looking good.

Something grumbled up ahead.

It was a low, deep, rumbling sound that penetrated your body and gripped your spine. As we approached a rocky outcrop, we realised this was a substantially bigger hydraulic system and it was making it’s angry intentions clear by sucking us in at an ever increasing rate. We didn’t choose a line, it chose one for us. What followed was a lot of shouting, paddle slapping, rock punching, gurgling, spitting and hoping. We got spat out the other side to be immediately greeted by 3 boats, one of which was broken and two assisting, their occupants warm-heartedly cheering us on. Pleasant folk, AR people, even in the face of disaster. As we were carried past, somebody shouted out to look out for their backpack, which contained, of course, some important belongings essential to walking the 20 odd km to the transition. Luckily for them it had been perched on a prominent rock already by another team up ahead.

Bathed in adrenalin, we meandered down the river, shooting the odd rapid with ever more enjoyment until we encountered one particular instance where we saw a rock over the lip too late and smacked straight into it. Again, the trusty boat refused to break but rode up the rock and tipped over sideways, spilling Kobus out except for one of his legs, while I refused to take a tumble and propped the boat up sideways with my hand on a rock beneath the water. Kobus could not get out of the boat due to the force of the water, the bows were resting on the rock and the stern was trapped. I wasn’t keen on turning upside down with my splash cover on and going down the rapids inverted so this inconvenient and precarious pose continued for quite a while, as if waiting for a photo. Eventually Kobus managed to extract his leg. He then lifted the nose of the boat off the rock, grabbed the stern handle and we somehow managed to stabilize the boat from the back through the remaining rapids with Kobus in tow. We regrouped at a sandbank, tipped the water out and continued, considering ourselves fortunate.

After that, we encountered more and more sandbanks and kept getting stuck on them. We then devised the “ape-walk”: using our hands to lift the boat and move it forward while remaining seated, which I was particularly good at, but Kobus’s arms are shorter and he preferred to row in the sand, pretending that there was no water shortage at all. If sandbanks were longer, we had to get out and trudge, which we did at least 10 times, because we were very good at finding sandbanks.

We enjoyed all the lesser rapids after that with ever increasing enthusiasm and the end of the paddling leg came all too soon in a calm stretch of river at the Mozambique border. We might have overshot it, had there not been another boat ahead, paddling in our direction! It soon transpired that these Dusi champs (really) had been so quick to the mark that the marshal hadn’t even arrived at the take-out yet. Apparently they realised they were off the map when questioned in Portuguese as to their intentions in Mozambique!

Leg 3 – Hike 20km

Reluctantly, we wrung out our sandy shoes and socks and prepared for the slog out of there. We had been instructed to carry our life-jackets, splashies, helmets, gloves etc with us, so our backpacks were heavier than normal, making running difficult. We also had to make several stops for me to get more sand out of my shoes. Eventually I took out the inners and discovered that the sand grains had permeated every available crevice in my shoes and saturated my socks. Some slapping of shoes and socks on rocks ensued while the ever-patient Kobus stood munching on an energy bar.

The hike soon turned out to be far more scenic than I had thought it would be; despite being on a jeep track, it led through unspoilt wilderness and climbed all the way to the top of the undulating plateau, with views for miles. At one point we took a shortcut along a cattle track, which worked well, so we looked for more. We were within striking distance of the transition when we encountered another team consisting of Swazis. Thinking local knowledge rules, we mistakenly followed them as they took a “shortcut” – the result was a scenic tour of the rural villages and some pleasant conversation to pass the time while we waited for the correct path to make itself evident. We eventually caught sight of the transition and made a beeline for it, leaving the Swazis, who had again inexplicably hooked a sharp right, to continue on their travels. They did seem to be having fun.

Leg 4 – Bike 20k

We hopped on the bikes for some undulating riding on main dirt roads with a quick diversion through a rural village to nail some CP’s. Again the locals were very friendly and pointed us in the right direction. An uneventful ride took us to our pickup for the day at a school ground, where our seconds were waiting to take us our overnight destination in a field near Siteki. Arriving at the field, we discovered that there would be no showers, not even cold ones, but that was OK since we were rather weary in any case and after a lekker braai we hit the sack and passed out.

Stage 3, Sunday 8^th August 2010

Leg 1 – Hike 17km, abseil and special task

The last day started again with a run down the road as everybody sought to finish the business. Soon the field split between those willing to chance it navigating through the rural villages (e.g. us) and those who would rather run the long way round on a good road. Our gamble paid off and after weaving our way through some perplexed people’s backyards, we rejoined the other teams near the front-runners. Unfortunately my penchant for shortcuts and bundu-bashing reared its ugly head again and I lead us down a valley on a small single-track which needless to say fizzled out into nothing but thorn bush. Somehow we managed to pick up the main trail again, though, and I navigated us with plenty of doubt but reasonable success to the much-anticipated abseil over the side of a cliff. Although the abseil itself was not that long, it offered exposure to a far deeper valley below, creating the impression that we could fly off for a few seconds of freefall. That was a nice touch. Also nice was the fact that there were 4 ropes, so not only were there no delays but Kobus and I could descend together.

Before descending, we noticed somebody coming to grips with the Special Task down below. A chap was standing on a rock on the edge of what looked like a large hole near the rim of the valley. He was being told to jump, but his brain was obviously telling him otherwise. The silly sausage, he should have known to switch that thing off before assuming the position.

Climbing out along a ledge we headed to the special task. Only one team member needed to volunteer, so after a brief negotiation I stepped up to the launch rock. Again, looking to the left one could see down the valley for miles, while a few stories down below the black water of a plunge pool beckoned. I had done higher jumps before, but I was somewhat out of practice. Feeling the wobbles coming on, I focused just long enough to step off the edge and then had time to think a bit before crashing into the water. That certainly got my adrenal gland re-booted and the climb out of the pool was slightly exposed too, with Kobus offering our safety rope just in case.

From there on we hiked up the valley to the transition for what we knew was the last stage of Swazi X, a long mountain bike ride. It was almost in the bag.

Leg 2 – Bike 76k

Packing plenty of water and snacks, we set off at a decent pace to complete the last leg of the race. Our route would take us east to the Mozambique border, then north for a bit and then west again to Siteki before the final push north to the finish venue at Simunye, where no doubt there would be trumpets and fireworks to celebrate our arrival, followed by a ritual banquet, a twelve gun salute and the main valve from the local brewery would be cranked open.

We were still cruising along nicely on a level path when out of the bushes to our right sprang a farm worker wearing a torn orange T-shirt and shouting at us to stop. Ahead there were cut bushes blocking the road. He spoke no English, but he convinced us that we needed to head sharply left, down a much less inviting side road. Was this a trap? Observing the tyre tracks, we noticed that some teams before us had already fallen for it. We decided to follow suit. The path became slightly more technical and we enjoyed a bit of rocky downhilling. It got worse and worse until I heard a crash and cursing behind me. Kobus, riding with caged pedals, had gone over the bars. No bones were broken and we continued, only for the same to happen again. Then it was my turn, sideways into a pile of stones and thornbush. We thought it prudent to push our bikes from that point downwards. The path degraded into a rocky scrambling descent which got steeper and more difficult until we eventually reached a beautiful, lightly forested river valley below. It was very quiet in the valley and the river was dry. It would have been easy to appreciate had the fact not remained that what goes down must come up.

Pushing our bikes up the other side, I felt really sorry for all the ladies on the race. It was a difficult task requiring a lot of energy, the pebbles we are loose and the heat in the valley was oppressing. When we finally emerged at the top after what felt like an age, we were quite drained.

When after several hours we clambered onto our bikes again, we were relieved to be back in the saddle. We cycled the pleasant dirt road on the plateau of the Lebombo mountains and eventually reached a farm gate. Kobus’s water was finished so we opened the gate and went in to consult the farmer. This remote farm was miles from anywhere. It seemed an unlikely place to find an old derelict farm house, but there it was, with green peeling paint, broken windows, a rooster clucking around, a black dog suckling a puppy in the barren yard. The farmer himself appeared a poor man in ragged clothes and an old cloth hat, but he greeted us with a smile as we asked him which way to Sitsataweni. His three small children eyed us curiously from their perch on a rusted drum. He pointed at the ground and his finger traced a path through his yard. We were on the road we wanted, it just so happened to lead through his front gate and out of the back gate. We asked about water. He hesitated, then threw a key to one of his three small children. I realised then that they must have had to carry the water up from somewhere far. Water was not something that just arrived at a tap. It was something to keep under lock and key. With relief Kobus accepted a refill of his water bottle and I offered the farmer an energy bar. He gracefully accepted with both hands and a small bow.

We fetched our bikes from the entrance gate and cycled through his yard. He and his wife and children were already standing at their rear gate, which he had opened for us, and as we waved goodbye, he took off his hat and humbly wished us well on our journey, we who had arrived uninvited on a weekend jaunt to ride through his backyard and replenish our water from his meagre stocks, were treated as guests by this poor family. I shed a tear.

We cycled on along a long straight road through fields towards a settlement in the distance. Arriving unexpectedly at a junction and a checkpoint, we found the two teams ahead of us in relaxed postures on the ground, enjoying a hard-earned break. Consensus was reached that the valley had been a trifle challenging. After sharing stories, we moved on.

During the race briefing, Darron had mentioned that the last 30k or so would be fairly easy, we just needed to make it to there. With this in mind we pushed on to Siteki and eventually crawled into the Galp filling station just before sunset. Our thoughts turned to the afterparty in Simunye and we headed down the road, just after our fellow racers arrived to replenish their stocks.

Looking for the junction off the tar road, a police van pulled up. “What are you doing?”

We explained that we were on a race.

“At night?”

We extolled the virtues of adventure racing

“What a crazy game you are playing. Anyway the road you want is that one”

And off we went. Little did we know that we would be back at the same spot 16 hours later…

A few kays down the road, by the light of our headlamps, we found the first CP and a marshal fairly, who told us that we were only the third team to pass that point. Bonus! A podium finish awaited!

As the night got blacker on a mild and moonless night, we followed the most obvious path. It wasn’t long, though, before the path ended in a field, so we turned around, only to see a stream of lights poring down the valley. We were not alone. After several discussions with other navigators we established that there was no clear highway through this valley. It was going to be a hit and miss affair, a case of testing several options. Rather than sticking with a group of about 12 racers, we decided to go back and test some other options we had passed earlier on. This was a mistake – in retrospect the light offered by 12 headlamps would have been a good reason to stick with the group.

We soon found a path that showed some promise, but after a few kays it spat us out into a grazing area populated by thorn trees. We tried several more times on various paths and eventually earned ourselves punctures, despite the slime in our tyres. Having fixed those, we were now alone in a sleepy, dark valley. A lone lamb slept under a thorn tree while we strategised. We decided to cross the river and try to find the optional checkpoints, which should be on the main route. We eventually found a route which looked very recently graded and checking it with a low-held torch revealed that it even had some vehicle tyre tracks on it. A highway! Gleefully we headed off down the road, which took us quickly and effectively up a parallel valley, unbeknownst to us.

Somehow, we were too far east, but we didn’t realise it because the shapes of the hills weren’t clear in the dark and behind the trees. Perhaps I wasn’t looking for the right things. Suffice to say, we had finally found a route which took us north and we were sticking to it.

By the light of our headlamps, we saw the path reduce from graded road to jeep track to single track to cattle path. We pushed on, believing we would emerge in the plains any moment. The cattle path narrowed. We pushed on. We reached a small, dry weir. We crossed it and pushed on. The cattle path disappeared. We pushed on.

Soon the thicket was too thick. Our skin and clothes were torn, we were tiring and getting low on water. We decided we must have missed a path and should head back to the dry weir. We backtracked, trying to stay above the thick bush in the river bed this time before descending into the river bed. Once in the river bed, we decided that the weir had to be either upstream or downstream. After exploring a little upstream, we found we could go no further due to dense vegetation, so we tried downstream, only to discover the same. Then we climbed out of the valley again to above the dense thorn bush. Dragging the bikes through all of this was becoming tedious. By the light of our torches we found some untraversably steep slopes ahead of and behind us. We needed to ascend or descend to get around them – we ascended because the vegetation was less dense.

By 1 am we had reached the point of despair. I sat down with the map and took a compass reading. It then dawned on me that our valley ran east-west and not north-south. We were sitting on a south facing slope, and since we could see no lights of Siteka down the valley, that meant that we had inadvertently backtracked up a tributary of the river into a different set of valleys! Shock and horror.

My altimeter told me we were at 400m. Because of the little water we had left and exhaustion, we figured that the next decision we made had to be the right one. We couldn’t risk wandering around on these steep slopes in an exhausted state at night. We also couldn’t bundu bashing with bicycles for miles in a valley with no water during the day. Thus we needed to have a Plan. We decided to sleep for an hour or so to rest and gain perspective, before coming up with The Plan. Putting on all our clothes, we pulled out space blankets and our “emergency shelter” – a large piece of tent fabric with foil laminated to one side, which I had specially commissioned for the race. I was overjoyed that we would have the opportunity to test it. Actually I wasn’t.

As we lay down on the rocky incline, we pulled some tufts of dry grass to provide some insulation and comfort. Even though we were far from comfortable, sleep came quickly. I awoke two hours later with a rock protruding into my back as I had slid a bit down the slope, and shivering from cold. Popping Super C’s, I pulled out the map again and pored over it. With my ample ears I listened to the sounds of the quiet night. Somewhere down the valley, a jackal’s call. A bat flitted past in my headlight. And to the left, the soft shshhhhh sound of a distant waterfall or perhaps a road. The map showed a road on top of the plateau to the east, running north-south. Switching off my headlamp and allowing my eyes to adjust, I could just make out the outline of the hills against the starlit backdrop. And perhaps the faintest of glows in the direction of what could be Siteka. I hoped to catch the glow of headlights but to no avail. I narrowed our position down to two possibilities, both of which allowed for an escape to the road on the plateau. Feeling a bit better now that I had a Plan, I lay back down and waited for dawn. Shooting stars were plentiful and the rumoured cold front thankfully never came, but I was not enjoying myself. Kobus, if he was worried, showed no sign of it. He just snored. We got some more sleep and eventually were awakened by the alarm on my watch. Yep, Monday was going to be another race day on the Swazi X for us. Day 4.

Stage 4 – Monday 9^th August 2010

Exploratory hike

At dawn we executed The Plan. The Plan was to position the bikes in such a way that they were easy to find again, then abandon them and walk out in search of the road. If we found the road nearby, we would come back and get them, then ride out. Otherwise if not, we would eventually just stumble into the road and stop a passing car. Decorating the trees with helmets and bikes, we set off, wondering if we would ever return. Depending on how far the road was and how long our water lasted, we would make the call. We eventually climbed out into the delicious sunlight at 600m and 7h30. In the distance we could see the telephone poles alongside the road. Things were looking up.

I switched on my phone and discovered a 5 bar signal. I phoned JP, who told us that we weren’t the only team still out there. “It’s very technical” he said. Thanks, I hadn’t noticed. I then left a message on Renate’s phone. Then we descended again to get the bikes, which were at 400m altitude. After descending the wrong hill twice, we finally spotted the bikes below and got to them. A difficult slog up the mountain ensued, dragging the machines to the top through the grass and shrubbery. On reaching the road, we exchanged my front tube, lifted our bikes over the fence and set off towards town, much relieved to be riding smooth tar.

Bike to Siteka 9km

Cycling to Siteka, we decided we were going to stock up at the Galp again. Perhaps even try again. At the filling station, we bought water and energy drinks (still had food) and debated whether to give it another crack. I would probably miss my flight back to Cape Town and JP had already left back to Botswana, but there was one seconding vehicle left and my brother-in-law Laurent had just phoned to say that he had been waiting at the finish to surprise us. We surprised him by not showing up. He urged us to continue. Darron assured us, too, that since we were still official on this race with all the CP’s found, we should try and they would wait for us.

Bike to Simunye, Lap II

Off we went again, stopping en-route for another puncture. Down into the valley we went, carefully choosing the route under the pylons as we thought best. After some time, we found tyre tracks and followed those, only to discover they were our tracks from the previous night! As we contemplated backtracking and testing another route, my rear tyre got a puncture, adding to my slow front puncture. Having fixed that and proceeding again, Kobus then dismounted laterally into a thorn bush. It’s a sorry state of affairs when your good friend and team mate is lying bleeding in a thorn bush, still attached to his bike, and you ask belatedly “do you need a hand?”. It was an indication of the mental state we were in. The race adrenalin had long gone, people in the valley were going about their daily chores of subsistence farming on a Monday morning, there were no other teams and no more excitement, just two lunatics stuffing around on bicycles. Reality set in.

Bike to unofficial finish

Not even bothering to fix my puncture, we cycled back to the tar road, calling Laurent en-route to inform him of our decision. He offered to try and get me to the airport in time from the pickup at the side of the road. This was a good prospect, since I really missed my wife and daughter. We kicked a home-made soccer ball around at the side of the road with a local boy, while we waited. Laurent, Daniel and Yogi arrived in convoy in a cloud of dust. Laurent was exuberant in his congratulations. We had done enough in his eyes to warrant a celebration. It was great to see Daniel and Yogi too and a pity that JP and Jeanne had already had to leave. We chatted excitedly and had the closest thing to a shower in 3 days as Daniel poured water over us. Then it was all over and we left that spot on the side of the road where 4 days and 250km of racing had come to an end.

Finish

In the valley when we had decided to call it quits, Kobus and I shook hands and congratulated each other on giving it our best shot. There was mutual respect, earned long ago but re-affirmed. We had left nothing out there. We had come so close to finishing well, but ultimately had not finished at all. But that was OK, because we had got what we came for. Adventure.

Thanks to our sponsors, Placement Partner, for the entry. Thanks to JP, Daniel, Jeanne and Yogi for being fantastic support crew and the use of your vehicle and equipment too. Thanks to Aniek for the all the food and stuff you prepared and sent (we should have looked after the lentil salad better!). Thanks to Kobus Franken for the use of your vehicle. Thanks to Renate for letting me race on your birthday. And of course thanks to Darron and Anita Raw for the Swazi Extreme.

Author: Ronald Jessop | Swazi Xtreme SPORT, 6-8 August 2010