Leg 1: 5km Run
The race started at 4am with a mad rush around Stanford Lake College. We had a smooth start hitting the first few checkpoints well, but the next 2 checkpoints had been swapped around so we did a bit of extra distance. We also did a tour of the school buildings looking for the swimming pool.

Leg 2: 10km Paddle and portaging
With our 2 paddling pro’s, Anthony and Craig, we had a good paddle leg making up a few positions. Our competitive side started to come out as we put in an interval to pass Xhale. It was a beautiful time of day to be on the water with the sun rising over Ebenezer Dam.

Leg 3: 7km Hike / Run
Alex was a bit baffled when he was handed the map for this hike. There was no start marked so our position on the map was unclear. He even asked me what I thought! We tried to match up the contours on the topographical map with the hiking map and headed off with Xhale and Piers. We soon worked out that we’d made a 180° error.

Once we got back on track we enjoyed the undulating trails. It was fun locating the “sally’s slope” and “tryst” signs and taking team photo’s at them. The last uphill of the hike to the Cemetery gate, through some long grass was tough going and the bungee got some use.

Leg 4: 49km MTB
This bike leg was tough! The hill up to the mine made Breedts Nek look flat! It was also hot and we were dripping. We all made good use of our small cogs and I made sure that Alex and the tow rope didn’t feel left out. We packed in some cramp stop and all made sure we ate and drank properly, mindful that we still had a long way to go.

It was nice to have lots of other teams around. We passed Lickety Split, caught Olympus, got away from Piers and Shelly and stuck with Stijn and Seth for a bit.

CP5 – an impressive cave – was a welcome break in the cycle leg. Ryan’s New Balance advertising techniques also put a smile on our faces.

We had 2 mechanicals in this valley with Craig’s saddle falling off. They guys got it back on in good time. And then up a big hill Craig’s chain broke. I was rather relieved to get a short break but Anthony and I hadn’t even put our bikes down before it was fixed and we were on our way again. The fastest chain repair I’ve ever witnessed!

We worked hard on this leg. We all did well to manage ourselves and keep the pace consistent.

Leg 5: 15km Hike / kloofing
We were relieved to be off our bikes and moved consistently on the 15km hike / kloofing. We’d seen Lickey Split and Xhale come into transition as we were leaving so we wanted to try and hold the gap. The kloofing was brilliant and the guys enjoyed cooling off in the water. Once again it was nice to have the company of Olympus as well as Charnas for some of the leg. The question at CP7 also kept us entertained for a while: “What is Garfields Surname?”

We managed to keep track of the path zig-zagging across the river and then began the climb out of the valley back up to transition. It was tough going! We were sweating buckets and I was very grateful for the bungee which dragged my butt up the hill.

We maintained our position passing team Alligators and being passed by Stijn and Seth.

Leg 6: 31km MTB
We set off on the final bike leg hoping to get the technical sections over before it got dark. I was very slow down the long, rocky hill – my hands were sore so I had to keep stopping to give them a break. Not fun! I made a promise to get myself a full suspension bike with disc brakes asap! The guys were all very patient as Xhale, the Alligators and Piers and Shelly whizzed passed us.

We moved steadily along the bottom and were very happy to hit the tar road just as it got dark. Our excitement faded a bit as we headed uphill again for what felt like hours! It was a big relief to finally see Nicky and Gert at the final transition.

Leg 7: 10km Paddle and portage
Another great night paddle! Craig and Anthony were once again strong on the water and the guys did a great job to find the way across the dam. We struggled a bit through the reeds just before the bridge under the road, but after hearing stories from other teams we actually had it easy. Turns out we passed Piers and Shelly while they were stuck in some thorns near the bridge.

We crossed the line in 17 hours and 44 minutes.

We ended up losing 58min to Xhale. We were 6th overall in and 2nd mixed team. Xhale unfortunately got a 1hour penalty for missing mandatory kit, so we got the prize for 1st mixed team by 2 minutes.

Thanks to Alex for helping me through my first long race! Thanks to Craig and Anthony for joining us. It was great to race with such a strong, patient and enthusiastic team.

Thanks to Brian and the Red Ants Team for a fantastic race and thanks to all the marshals and helpers. The little trophies were great. The course was tough, but beautiful and I’m happy we took part in the 2012 Rumble.

Author: Sarah Pope | Team Geronimo | Red Ants Rumble, Magoebaskloof, 28 January 2012

WILD RACERS :: WHAT IS ADVENTURE RACING? from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

With children come greater demands on your time and as such even people with a strong commitment to exercise struggle to maintain their pre-children level of fitness. As a parent with a full-time job, exercise is probably the last thing you want to do or feel that you have time for. Yet sport should remain an integral part of your life; for physical health, for mental wellness and so that you are an active role model for your children.

Valid short-term excuses
Time constraints, lack of sleep and shifted priorities (child comes first) will put a damper on training but new parents need to be mindful of how long they’re inactive.

Six-time Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon runner Lynne Simpson had her first child five years ago and the second one two years ago. “I originally thought that it would be quite easy to pick up where I left off before I fell pregnant.”

She says that her biggest problem was not picking up some sort of training programme as soon as possible after each birth. “The longer I left it the less I felt like going through the initial strain to get back into training. Added to this was that I was carrying at least an additional 10 kilograms in weight, which made running even more difficult.” It took her about two years after each birth before she starting training again; keeping Augrabies in mind as a goal to focus on.

Downscale
Single mom Marilyn Pirow has two young daughters, aged two-and-a-half and one. Pre-children she was a regular tri- and biathlon competitor. Even with help from a nanny, Pirow has cut down on training time and disciplines: “Partly due to time constraints and partly due to exhaustion!” she adds. “I have started focusing more on paddling now. Time is limited, so I am doing what I really enjoy. My girls are still very young and quite a lot of work. I expect it will get easier in time.”

Trail runners Iain and Su Don-Wauchope also have two young children. Su found that with one baby and a job with regular hours, her training was only marginally affected. “The one discipline that went out the window was paddling. I could get out jogging with my pram, do some hardcore sessions on a stationary trainer and leave Abigael in child care at gym while I swam… but paddling just didn’t happen. Now that Iain and I run our own hospitality business and have two children, training is very difficult,” she explains.

Clinton Mackintosh, a competitive adventure racer, is father to four-year old twin boys. He has always juggled disciplines, never focusing on one particular sport. “Having children has only changed my training times and availability but not the fact that sports are a major part of my life,” he says.

Flip-side of the coin
Even with four children Alec Avierinos has added to, not subtracted from, his sporty arsenal. He comes from a background of body building, weight lifting, power lifting and surfing. All this ended when he started his own business and got married at 22.

“Six years ago, aged 37, I was overweight at 104kg. I read an article on the Freedom Challenge Extreme Triathlon and decided it was for me.” Avierinos initially started with mountain biking and has progressively added trail running, canoeing, adventure racing, orienteering and duathlon.

How does he manage? “I’m up at 4am to get in two hours before work and then I do one hour in the evening with longer sessions on Saturday and usually races on Sundays.”

Alec’s four children are sporty too. Greg (17) and Ruth (13) are the ones most into adventure racing and related disciplines. “Ruth participated in her first AR sprint (30km) with me at the age of eight; Greg did his first 250km AR at the age of 16. He trains with me on Saturdays, if we are not racing.”

Family time
Shortly before Mackintosh’s twins were born, he raced in the 250km Swazi Xtreme adventure race. “It was 2am and we had to bum-slide down a waterfall. I am normally first in the team to go down these sorts of things and for the first time in six years of racing I hesitated, realising that I could be injured. That memory will stay with me forever because at that moment I stopped thinking about myself. I was thinking of my family-to-be. Now I only take calculated risks but am always thinking of the consequences of my actions for my family.”

The Don-Wauchopes try to make racing a family thing where they take their children along to races as much as possible. If they travel to a race they take a couple of additional days to holiday with the children post-race. “For our family this is important,” adds Su. “Because we run our own business, we found that by the time we had been away for races there wasn’t enough time left in the year to take proper family holidays at all and our down time was spent away at races, which does not equate to quality time spent with our children (or each other).”

Balancing work, sport and family
Nikki and Dawid Mocke are also sporty parents. Dawid, a full-time athlete, has tailored his training to be more focused and purposeful, making the most of limited time. With three businesses and a child, Nikki’s focus has changed.
“I was very competitive, but after having children, it’s never the same again; your mental and physical preparation is always divided,” she says. “I don’t want to paddle every day twice a day anymore and I like the fact that I can still compete (at a lower level, of course) but also be a mom. My focus has changed and I paddle for enjoyment now.”
Keeping sane
Regular exercise is a stress outlet and it contributes to an overall feeling of wellness through its physical, social and psychological benefits. Going from hero to zero has greater-reaching effects than just feeling unfit and gaining a few kilos.

“I often feel a huge level of frustration with myself for not giving my body that sense of activity, adrenalin, feeling of ability, muscular relief, energy boosting and toning,” explains Simpson. Her frustrations spill over to those around her; especially her husband and children. “I am revitalised in mind and energy if I go out and sweat a little.”

Having children does not mean the end of your sporting life as you know it. But, you are in for some changes. Your training habits and schedule will not remain the same; your discipline focus will shift and time with your family will become a priority. But that’s ok. Work within this framework to keep fit and healthy for your benefit and theirs.

Top tips

• Make use baby-care facilities at gyms.
• A running pram is great if you have one child; it isn’t practical if there’s one of you and two of them.
• Train in the morning, before the household wakes up, or after your children have gone to sleep.
• Forget about what you think exercise should look like or what you used to do. Be okay with what you are able to do now. Remember that you are not a professional athlete.
• Look at other disciplines that are more child and family friendly.
• Focus on one discipline; running is time efficient.
• Schedule regular races on your calendar to keep you motivated and training toward something.
• Buy a treadmill (and use it).
• Teach your children to sneeze into a tissue and cough into their elbow instead of hands as hands spread germs when they touch surfaces. Hand washing before eating or touching their eyes, nose and mouth (and you!) is a great contamination preventer too.

This weekend (28-29 January) is the 150km Red Ants Rumble in the Magoebaskloof area. It’s organised by Team Red Ants and they’ve presented races in past years. As a team with a ton of experience from many, many years of racing you are guaranteed a challenging and interesting race. The race reports coming out of this are going to make for good reading.

The WCAD (Western Cape Adventure) bunch in Cape Town are getting things rocking in the Cape. They presented a number of events last year and are back with a series of races. Their first is on Sat, 4 Feb in Franschhoek and they’re offering two courses of 60km and 100km. Cast your eye down the calendar for their other events, which are scattered evenly throughout (see April, June, July, November).

The Senseless Summer Adventure on Sat, 11 Feb only just hits on my distance radar for their longer course option of 80km. The shorter course, which leaves out the optional checkpoints, clocks in at 50km to make this a friendly event with that little bit extra. It’s an hour outside Pretoria, which makes it easily accessible and Team Senseless have a bit of experience after presenting some events last year.

March (1-4) kicks off with the first of Heidi and Stephan Muller’s longer Kinetic events, the Kinetic Double Moon – our first >200km race for the year. It’s in the Vanderkloof Dam area of the Northern Cape, 200km South of Kimberley. And, as an event presented by this experienced pair, you’re guaranteed a well-organised event. All of the Kinetic events are unassisted and race crates and boats are provided so it is easy-peasy for you to take part. Later in the year are two shorter 120km Kinetic Full Moon events on 1-2 September and 27-28 October. Thoroughly enjoyable racing.

The Dark Horse 30hr race in the Drakensberg (starting from Bergville) will be a humdinger – good, classic, no-frills adventure racing with a well-planned and considered route. Clinton ‘Hardy’ Hardenberg is known for his solid ‘Ystervark’ races, which he first presented about two years ago. The Dark Horse will be in a similar vein. And being in the Drakensberg and presented by Hardy… you just can’t go wrong with this combination. Scheduled for 13-15 April, expect it to be chilly at night.

Expedition Africa is the big one on the calendar. It dominates the month of May (5-13).  Also organised by Heidi and Stephan, this year it is part of the Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS). The race will take you to the Port Alfred area of the Eastern Cape. Again you can expect this pair’s attention to detail and both their experience from racing and desire to show you great locations in the course layout. Good logistics and organisation at this race is without question.

August (22-25) presents the next blimp on my radar with Ugene Nel and Trevor Ball’s ‘Quantum Energy Leap‘ 250km in the Western Cape. These two old ballies have been racing together for over a decade (Team Energy). They’re tough, they’re gnarly and they’re wickedly devious so start sharpening up your navigation skills now. The promise of 26km of Grade 3 white water rafting has me sold. This event is also gloriously unsupported, which makes it convenient for racers travelling from up country.

So much to choose from! Decide now to definitely do one or two and rope in some buddies to join you. Sharing is caring.

Happy racing,

Lisa

The 12km circuit brought them back to the start and transition where they left the bikes, donned their trail shoes and set off on a 2.5km trail adventure with numerous natural obstacles including a water crossing with tubes and ropes before returning to the start and transition area.

Whilst the short course teams now finished, the long course teams repeated this sequence once more. In the meantime, Peter Statham from Quantum Adventures Crew, lead a band of Spur “Bush Kid” adventurers along their own adventure trail which lasted an hour. They faced their own obstacles out in Nature and finished of in spectacular fashion – climbing up a cargo net and sliding down a 3m high inflatable obstacle. Back at the venue; families, friends and other supporters soaked in the Spur Adventure vibe and encouraged the teams as they moved in and out of the transition area.

The next Spur Adventure in this series takes place at Oak Valley Estate on 4 December when teams will be wearing fancy dress, clown suits, painted faces and other wacky outfits – the Spur “JOLLY JESTER” Adventure sprint!

Visit the Quantum Adventures website at www.quantumadventures.co.za

It all started when we were told that we were entered into the Kinetic Full Moon Adventure Race (120 km), we had no idea of what lay ahead of us. As a team of four consisting of myself (Daniel Patrick), Jonathan Wocke, Danie Botha and Greg Avierinos, who had the most experience, we had a lot of training to do. This started with two afternoon sessions at TBI where we learnt teamwork skills, what to expect in the race, how to be mentally prepared and rope work skills. We were on the right course.

Sooner than we knew it we were on the starting line at 1 pm on a Saturday afternoon with a very limited number of saddle hours behind us and one or two paddling sessions that mainly involved failing out of our canoes in the middle of Rietvlei dam. On starting we had to carefully manage our pace so as not to burn out right in the beginning, we were doing well, slowly getting into a rhythm for the 50km cycle ahead of us. The first cycle was relatively easy riding along the train tracks on smooth dirt roads; our average speed for the first cycle was around 30km/h. On raising the last crest of our first cycle we saw the dam where our paddling leg was to take place.

Into transition we went, taking more time than was necessary, we lost two places in transition.

Our paddle leg was very good, we overtook two teams on the water and furthered our lead on them in our portaging leg where we chose to carry our canoes over land while the others chose to paddle, and in doing this we maintained our position. After the paddle we were into our first trekking leg which took us through cattle lands adjacent to the dam. The first trekking leg was easy walking but mental staying power was coming into the race for the first time, we had to keep on moving forward and we had to try and retain our position. On this trekking leg one of our teammates started cramping which we told him to run off, luckily and courageously he did just that and all was good in no time.

In the final kilometer of running to our bicycles we strategized as to how we could achieve the fastest transition time possible and this we did, we came in fourth and left fourth overall. We were doing really well.

The second cycling leg proved to be a lot more challenging than the first due to cramping muscles, fading light and increased pressure from teams behind us. It was in this leg that the tow rope came out, Greg and I took turns towing the other two who were starting to take strain, this is what made us work well together- teamwork.

We joined up with a smallish peloton and stayed with them for the duration of the cycle until we had a lucky break where we were a bit more daring and ventured onwards to look for a checkpoint that everyone thought was behind us. We had a decent lead on them which we kept through all our cramping, towing and motivating of each other, this we did up to the last 3km where we encountered the HILL.

This was no ordinary hill, at least not to us for we had been going for roughly 8 hours and were starting to get rather tired. This hill was in most of our cases the biggest tester yet and we knew that just over the rise lay the next transition point with its promise of food, water and something other than a saddle to sit on. Up and up we pushed the top so tantalizingly close yet so far. This was the biggest tester of mental staying power yet. I was determined to conquer this hill and show it who was boss. I was the first of my team to reach the top and in doing so cheered my mates on; just climbing that hill without stopping was an achievement in itself. Unfortunately we were passed by two or three teams about 100m from the transition point as the hill had had negative effects on some of our team mates.

On reaching transition we dropped our bikes and found the nearest chair where we promptly set about stuffing as much food and liquid as we could down our throats, this not being the most sensible thing to do but it felt right at the time. We were knackered, almost at the point of breaking and yet we had one more leg head of us. We finally left transition in a somewhat uncaring mood; we were just so tired that concentrating on putting one foot in front of another was enough effort.

Joining up with another team we decided to tackle the hike together until we take different routes due to different navigation options. The last trekking leg took us a lot longer than it should have due to several nav errors and fatigue setting in. After collecting the final CP we were on our way home and a new sense of energy and urgency seemed to enter us. We had one more rather tricky obstacle to tackle, a rather hairy descent down a steep slope. Overtaking a team in what must have been the last 100m of the race felt good and we all joined up and sprinted the final 15m over the finish line, we had done it at last. Sitting down on a chair sipping champagne and getting our breaths back was one of the most heavenly things we had experienced that day. After that if was off to the tents and then into slumber land, finally we could rest.

The race was a huge success with us coming in 3rd for the men’s category and 7th overall. We learnt a huge amount on the race and grew immensely as a team. Our awesome backpacks and hats sponsored to us by Columbia worked like a dream making the racing easier and more pleasurable. Thanks to our main sponsors PS. Hawkstone who made a massive contribution to getting us started. And also without Alec Avierinos us boys wouldn’t have been able to complete what we had, all the motivation and advice we received from him was priceless.

In the end we had done 102km of cycling, plus minus 16km of trekking and 10km of paddling in just under 12 hours – all of this done by four boys who are 17 years old, not bad hey! You old toppies must watch out, there is some trouble on the way it’s called CUL8R.

Author: Daniel Patrick | Team CUL8R | Kinetic Full Moon

The team will face a 700km long expedition course across the wilds of Tasmania. The race is unsupported, so teams face a gruelling 5 to 10 days out in the terrain, only occasionally coming across their re-supply and equipment boxes. Racing is non-stop, with only a 6 hour compulsory rest stop enforced at mid-way. The race will feature mountain biking, trekking and running, ocean and river kayaking as well as rope works sections. The course will remain unknown till shortly before the start of the race.

As usual, there will be satellite tracking of the 80 teams that are participating, so please follow them online (we will be Team #22) via the live website (www.xpd.com.au). Regular updates to the team’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/team.cyanosis) will be sent by the team pre- and post-race, as well as comments and notes from back home as the team progresses around the course. Look out for fellow South African team Merrell Adventure Addicts as well, who are racing as team # 4.

Cyanosis are looking forward to the race, with strong hopes of finishing in a good position in the field. The combined experience in the team, together with strong team members in all of the running, cycling and paddling disciplines should serve them well. The team has already competed in the previous two World Championship events. In 2009 in Portugal, the team placed 22nd and in 2010 in Spain, the team were 13th. Both these results were disappointments and the team will definitely want to break into the Top 10 rankings this year. The team members are all currently in good form, with John having recently finished in 5th place on The Otter 42km Trail Run, whilst Nathan and Nicholas raced in the Cyanosis team that won the Kinetic Full Moon 120km race in Middelburg two weeks ago.

The race starts on the morning of Wednesday 2 November. The top teams are expected to complete the course in 5 to 6 days, with the remainder of the field given 10 days to cross the finish line.

Team Cyanosis is proud to have the following brands supporting them:

- First Ascent outdoor apparel, Salomon adventure footwear, Petzl headlamps and Foodstate vitamins and supplements.

- Specialized bikes and accessories, Summit Cycles in Midrand, Form and Fitness sports supplements, Suunto field compasses and wrist-top computers, O’Neill wetsuits and Island Tribe sun lotion.

For information on Team Cyanosis, profiles on team members, team news and photo galleries, please visit our team website at www.teamcyanosis.co.za

Leg 1: 48km MTB

Cyanosis Salomon 1h47

We weren’t sure if this team was an exercise in youth development (Jane and I being looked after by Mac and Ryno) or a pensioner’s day out (Mac and Ryno being looked after by Jane and I). Either way, we were looking forward to testing the combination against some strong competition.

The first leg was made interesting by 3 route choices to CP2. The centre option was the shortest but depended on a good road next to the railway line. The longest option involved a tar road and a dog-leg back to the railway track. This was about 2.5km longer. My choice as we started the race was the central option, but I decided to take the risk on the longer option. I was hoping the railway track road would be bad enough to give our 4 person team time trial a significantly higher average speed. Our surface was faster but we did more climbing. We ended up losing 5-10 minutes despite riding at a very good tempo. Nic got me on that route choice. Our enthusiasm dropped when we saw tyre tracks ahead of us.

We had a very near miss on the tar road when an oncoming car overtook a truck without seeing us – scary moment! We took care to drink and eat properly in the heat. We held a good speed all the way to the transition and arrived with Cyanosis First Ascent already on the water.

Cyanosis First Ascent 1h38

This team was put together at the last moment, with Nathan and Nicholas inviting Piers and Nicky to join them. It had to be the most experienced team out there, with Oom Piers now having been racing for 11 years, with Nicky and Nicholas both having been around for 10 years. Nathan was the relative newbie in the team, with only 5 years under his belt.

With the race off to a good start, we tucked in behind the Salomon team en route to CP1. This served two purposes. Firstly we were able to shelter from the strong headwind (thanks guys!) and secondly we could wait and see what route choice they would make from CP1 to CP2. The Salomon team opted for the tar road route, whilst First Ascent went for the ‘middle’ option of a short tar section and a longer section next to the train tracks. I’d worked out that the ‘middle’ option was about 2.5km shorter than the tar option. However, the tar would have a higher cycling speed, so it was a close call as to which one would be fastest.

With the Salomon team heading one way, and us heading the other, we gunned it and went flat out to try and ensure that we got to the next CP first. Everything went according to plan, with us finding a good quality servitude track next to the railway as expected. We then went flat out along it, averaging just on 30km/hr for the entire leg to Middelburg Dam and getting onto the water before Cyanosis Salomon arrived in transition.

Leg 2: 8km paddle

Cyanosis Salomon 54 min

We had a slightly side-on tailwind. We could see the Cyanosis First Ascent ahead so we had a good carrot to keep the tempo up. Mac and Jane make a super paddling combination, so Ryno and I had our work cut out. It was hard keeping the barges going in a straight line, but we seemed to be catching Cyanosis First Ascent. We got close to the end of Middleburg Dam, with the N4 a few hundred meters away. There was a short muddy portage, a few hundred metres more of paddling, and then a portage to the Kinetic Truck. We closed the gap to about 1 min by the end. Good paddling from our team! And I was happy that Ryno and I could almost keep up with Mac and Jane.

Cyanosis First Ascent 56 min

Our transition had been a bit slow, so we only started the paddle with a 4 minute lead. Since this team combination had never raced together before, we didn’t get the correct paddling combinations right at the start. Halfway down the dam we decided to swap team mates between the boats to get a better balance of strengths. This took 30 seconds in mid-water, but probably helped us save 2 minutes on the second half of the paddle. The Salomon team were gaining steadily the whole way, so we kept pushing hard, also portaging across the mud and to the transition as quickly as possible. We were hoping to be the stronger team on the upcoming 8km run, so our focus was ensuring that we started this run with a slight time gap.

Leg 3: 8km run

Cyanosis Salomon 55 min

We set off close behind and again with a carrot to keep us moving. We weren’t moving as well as Cyanosis First Ascent and when I slowed us to a walk to spot the tree at the end of the forest, Cyanosis First Ascent seemed to already have a good lead. From there, I saw Nic go very straight over the hill. I tried to save a bit of climb and went further left. By now we had lost a few minutes. We headed into the google-earth cloud. I had it in my head that the fence would run perpendicular to the shore. So we’d run into the fence and I’d go left to find the crossing.

My assumption was bad – the fence in the cloud was parallel to the shore. So we overshot it and lost more time. We managed to lose a large 7 minutes to Cyanosis First Ascent.

Cyanosis First Ascent 48 min

The First Ascent team had a great leg here. We pushed the pace hard on the run and everyone coped with it well. We saw the gap grow on the chasing Salomon team most of the way and all I had to do was ensure that we hit all the check points spot on. As a result, we went tiger-line across the terrain, running as straight as possible and crossing the barb-wire fences as quickly as possible. We had a super-fast transition and were able to take a time split on the Salomon team as we cycled out, 9 minutes behind.

Leg 4: 50km MTB

Cyanosis Salomon 2h24

We had quite a slow transition compared to the others. Perhaps we faffed a bit filling bottles. We set off disappointed with our time loss so far. We rode well. Mac and Ryno did some good turns on the front. Jane was strong and steady. It got dark after about 30km, but with the open roads and good lights the dark didn’t slow us down much. The final hill came as we were all starting to get uncomfortable – so it was hard work. We lost 7 min, so Cyanosis First Ascent was cycling very well.

Cyanosis First Ascent 2h17

After leaving transition, we slowed down the pace a bit so that everyone could take a few gulps of food properly and let their stomachs settle. If we didn’t look after ourselves now, we’d have lost time later on in the leg. The navigation on this leg was fairly straight forward, but we kept up a constant tempo, trying to get as much of this leg done in the day light as possible before it got dark, and trying to stay ahead of a looming thunderstorm that was approaching from the south. In the end, we switched on our headlamps at the last CP on the cycle and did the final 5km uphill to the final transition under the threatening storm.

Leg 5 8km Hike

Cyanosis Salomon 1h58

We arrived at Ribbokloof and passed our kit check with no trouble. We thought we were in for a fast final run. But against the trend of the
race we faced some hills and slow going. The Google earth photo didn’t show the contours we had to cross. Early on we caught sight of Cyanosis First Ascent’s lights ahead which lifted us. After the dam wall, the navigation got a bit trickier. Compass bearings were very useful – we tiger-lined everything. We kept seeing lights ahead – not far ahead each time. This would give us the impression we were close behind, but then we’d have to drop into and climb out of a big valley. It turned out that the gap stayed very constant. The team was moving well with the end close and lights in the distance. We had the same time as Cyanosis First Ascent for the leg. I was happy to have matched Nic on a moderately technical nav leg. I’m starting to enjoy night-time AR navigation.

Cyanosis First Ascent 1h58

We were very slow in transition as we felt the pace of the earlier cycles. However, we knew we’d feel better on our feet and were looking
forward to a short quick trail run. That idea went by the wayside quickly!

The team got into a good rhythm early on once we realised that the final leg wasn’t a simple trail run. At certain stages we could see the headlamps of the chasing Salomon team, which had closed from 20 minutes before transition to about 10. We kept regular time checks on them and made sure the keep the gap at least 10 minutes. We were confident and knew we had enough left to maintain this gap… as long as we didn’t make any navigational mistakes. In the end we hit everything spot on and managed to get the gap back to 15 minutes by the finish line.

Finish

Cyanosis Salomon 8h16

In the end we were 16 min behind. A good chunk of that was due to my poor route choice on the 1st leg. There is room for navigator
improvement on all the legs though: I could set a more consistent pace and continue to take notes from Nic. Cyanosis First Ascent was strong competition that out-biked and out-ran us. Not by much though. And that is encouraging for me.

So, pensioner’s day out or baby-sitting? It is great to race with the massive experience of Mac and Ryno. Although we joke that they’re much older than Jane and I, they’re as strong as ever and with all that experience, they make it look easy. I think the young half of the team managed to hide the fact that we’ve done a fraction of the racing our team mates have done. All in all, a good team effort. We need to save some time on the navigation subtleties and get more speed on foot and bike.

Thanks to Stephan and Heidi for another good race. I love the idea of showing up with your bike and some gear and racing hard. There’s no admin. Thanks to the marshals and helpers. And well done to everyone who took part.

Cyanosis First Ascent 8h00

This was a beautiful race. The organisers, Stephan and Heidi suggested that the faster teams would find it too easy, but this was not the case. The competition between Cyanosis First Ascent and Cyanosis Salomon, as well as the other teams made this race a memorable one.

We were able to go flat out for most of the race, which was actually very enjoyable, testing team strategy and technique to the full and requiring a lot of tactical thinking. Many experienced racers will tell you that an AR team doesn’t go as fast as the slowest team member, but rather goes as fast as a supportive team will allow. This race was a superb example, with the team members supporting and looking out for each other in ways that made them faster than any individual athlete could have gone. This race was all about team work and we loved it for it.

Authors: Nicholas Mulder and Alex Pope | Team Cyanosis First Ascent and Team Cyanosis Salomon | Kinetic Full Moon AR, 15 October 2011