Compared to the previous Metrogaine held in April in the Rivonia/Gallo Manor area, this course was wide open with only two road closures and no security boom access gates. This makes a huge difference to the freedom of movement of the runners and opens up the route choices dramatically.

My guess was that a clockwise route would be the most effective to give gradual climb up towards Westcliff, where the points were nicely stacked, and to descend the stairs – taking in a lovely view down below. Where there are lots of points available in an area, always remember that you are going to have to work for them! I also kept a good number of points reasonably close to the start/finish for walkers.

In terms of penalties applied… Many of the one hour course runners were late; few of the 90-minute course runners were late. Latecomers lost 10 points for every minute or part thereof that they were late. Wrong answers were heavily penalised to prevent runners from guessing answers. The penalty here was three times the points value of the control. It is very important to make sure that the correct box is checked as some wrong answers may have just been in error.

I only had two ‘funnies’ out on the course. At briefing I told runners that if they find funnies, to move on and not hunt for the answer (if they’re sure they’re in the right place, that is). Controls as indicated on the map are pretty accurate in terms of placement (how far down a road) and also which side of the road. All answers should be obvious, even at night, and I’m more than happy to give them the points if their explanation is sound. The date at ‘Glenshiel’ was one of them. I used the 1904 date on the round plaque (cement base), “Established in 1904…”. As it turns out, there’s another date of 1903 on top of the gate, which I hadn’t noticed. The other was the location with the answer ‘Freckles’. The sign was on the other side of the road.

Results take a while to get because of adding up points and scores. It is really challenging to work the totals with people coming and going and under time pressure; we also don’t want to keep people waiting for too long after the finish. I’ll be certain to pack calculators for the next one. A bunch of people jumped in to help and their assistance is greatly appreciated. Koki pen or highlighter marks on the answer sheets was definitely easier to check; light ballpoint pen marks can be missed in the rush.

We had a few bloopses with the points tally. I have checked every entry and they have been corrected on the results spreadsheet. But, it does mean that we had two errors in the overall results…

On the one-hour course, Piers Pirow beat Nathan Thompson. Piers had 660 points but lost 50 for being late; Nathan had 620 points but lost 120 for an incorrect answer. Andrew Wiggett and Caroline Kelly beat the father and daughter pair of Derek and Zoe Brentano. Wigs and Caroline had 490 points and lost 50 for being late. The tally on their sheet read 370 when it should have been 440. Derek and Zoe collected 420 points so they end up second to Wigs and Caroline. My apology for the errors.

One hour course

Solo: Piers Pirow, 610 points

Pair: Andrew Wiggett & Caroline Kelly, 440 points

90-minute course

Solo: Christo Truter, 620 points

Pair: Brian Gardner & Neal Markham, 1020 points

The winning pairs and solos got edible awards plus free entry to the next metrogaine. As the event grows, I will certainly include more categories, like male, female and mixed other than just solo and pairs.

Pre-entry worked really well because:

1. I know how many people are coming and thus how many maps and instructions to print and cupcakes to bake.
2. Little to no cash on the night so that I don’t need copious amounts of change and my mom, Liz, who handles registration isn’t a sitting duck with cash in hand.
3. I can brief the venue as to the number of people to plan for.
4. I have lists of people to check off and to make sure that everyone is ‘home’ safe and sound.

Thanks to Liz for assisting with registration and finish. And then there were a bunch of helpers to jumped in to assist with adding up points. It is a really tough manual job, done under time pressure. The counters that I saw included Susette, Jono, Fred and Piers. If I’ve missed you here, thank you for helping with this task.

Yes, there will be another metrogaine, probably only in September. I’m thinking around Tuesday, 6 September. I’ll confirm in good time. I have in mind an idea for a ‘Power Points’ control or two where you can earn extra points. All will be revealed…

STATS

Total number of controls: 42

Total point score available: 1260

Highest score: 1020 (Brian Gardner and Neal Markham)

Highest one-hour course score: 610 (Piers Pirow – he had 660 but lost 50 points for being late)

Distance run by Brian and Neal: 18.6km with 295m of climb in 1:27:07

Total number of runners: 72

Runners on 90-minute course = 21 pairs & 3 solo = 45 runners

Runners on the one-hour course = 12 pairs and 3 solo = 27 runners

Full results

Lizelle and I were very excited when Alex Pope and Steven Erasmus agreed to join us for the race in the Freestate (Bethlehem, Fouriesburg and Clarens).  As this was the first time for all of us to race a long race together, we were all unsure of what to expect from the team’s cohesiveness.

A nice and early start at 5am Friday morning saw at least 58 headlamps taking off in different directions.  As Alex’s game is orienteering, we managed to hit all the OP’s in great time on the first hike leg.  The orienteering paddle also went really well and we managed to have a small lead when getting onto the first bike leg.

Since my heart rate averaged 180bpm on the first two legs I was close to a zero on the bike.  Alex was reading the map with Lizelle hooked on behind him and I was holding on to Steven to get me up the up hills.  We managed good time on this leg and arrived at Fouriesburg TA just ahead of the Salomon pair.

After a fairly quick transition we were off to the epic hike.  We made a minor mistake heading down stream to CP6 in the kloof.  We realized the mistake soon and turned around to go back up stream.  (A quick thank you to PS Hawkstone who also made this small error and retrieved Steven’s sunglasses from that section!)  Alex with map and compass in hand almost tiger lined us to both the remaining CPs and back to the abseil.  Before we started with AR you would barely get my wife up a chain ladder like that in the beginning of the hike, here she did even the abseil on the other side in good form!!

We had a slightly more relaxed transition before getting on the bikes for the last big bike leg.  However, once moving we tried to use as much of the daylight and only stopped again after dark on the Lesotho border road (it was a short stop as we did take note of the warning).  We were trying to be very careful not to miss the mountain pass as we were sharply warned to do.  We did over shoot it but fortunately Alex’s O-instincts warned him after 5min of going past the first turn-off.  We turned around and found the grassy turn up to the mountain pass.  By now I had my 2^nd of 4 flat tires!  Not a single flat on any of the other bikes, just four of them on mine in a space of about 5km!  I felt so special.

After carrying on for a while up the pass we met up with Team Jabberwock .  Cobus was looking for the left turn to switch back up the mountain pass.  He and Alex brain stormed a bit and we decided to carry on, shortly after which we managed to find the turn up to the left.  What a relief!  The hike-a-bike mountain pass took quite some time.  The dark was a blessing on the one hand, not being able to see how high we still had to go, but on the other hand it also made coming down on the other side very slow going.

Reaching Clarens was a great relief and we had a nice slightly more relaxed transition.  We found out that Jabberwock was taking an hour’s nap at the guest house, but we felt strong and decided to take on the hike.  We left the guest house at about 2am and our team spirit was high.  We came to the split of the two hiking trails, and the sign to the right that said “Mountain Hike 2 hours” sort of made sense, however we trusted the sound judgment of our navigator and took the “Hiking trail 1 hour” to the left.  We wondered on cracking a few good jokes (which was probably some poor jokes but given the time of night we had a good laugh) only to later realise that we now had to cross the river/stream and find a way up over some daunting cliffs.  A few cliff hanging manoeuvres, some pushes and pulls and nervous moments we were at the top of the mountain where we wanted to be.  It was then that we saw Jabberwock coming strolling along the hiking trail to the right whistling and singing happy songs as they go along.  We opted to tell ourselves that we just wanted to take the uncharted route (pun intended).  This hike proved to be quite tough with allot of ups and downs.  We came down just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunrise over Clarens!

Our transitions became even more relaxed as we found out that we didn’t have another team hot on our heels, but every time we went out, we pushed and gave it our best.  We had a great and uneventful cycle to the dam for the last paddle.

It was with disappointment that we realised that none of us packed hats in Gear Box 2!  So we slapped on some sun cream and armed ourselves with Buffs to keep the sun off.  The highlight of the paddle must have been a ±4kg carp jumping out of the water and almost knocking Alex of the boat!  Wow was he surprised!  Here Steven became quite witty and chirpy.  I think it was his last attempt to try and stay awake.  He, in his sleepiness, showed very good form and paddled like a pro.  The paddle was also quite epic, going basically to all three corners of the dam.  However, it went much better than what we expected and we were off the water by half past 12.

With high spirits we were off back home, scraping up the last CPs.  Team Uncharted were the third team to cross the finish line at 14:15 Saturday afternoon after 33h15min of racing.  This gave us a Mixed Team win!  We are very happy and grateful for our result.

Our team worked together perfectly!  It was such a pleasure to race with these guys and I would do it again at the drop of a helmet.  Alex was spot on with his navigation and managed time lost due to errors to a minimum.  In addition he was such a strong work horse pulled much more than his own weight.  Steven was a champion and such a good race partner.  He remained positive throughout and worked really hard to contribute to the entire team’s progression.  My beautiful wife was as positive and determined as always!  Thank you Lizelle for showing so much vasbyt even when we could tell you were in some pain.

A very big thank you to Stephan and Heidi and all their marshals for a top class event!  All the effort you have done does not go unnoticed.  From the tented village (with a little chocolate!) to the very cool trophies and detailed race book made all the hard work evident.  Thank you very much to Salomon for sponsoring our great sport.  Very well done and thank you to all the other teams who also support AR!  You’re all legends.  I really want to express my sincere gratitude to my Lord and God who has not only given us the opportunity, ability and venue J to do this event, but has also protected us throughout, including in some hair-raising situations.  No adventure like knowing You!

Author: Wiehan van der Merwe | Team Uncharted | Kinetic Double Moon, 11-13 March 2011

AR Club and Tshwane AR Club have been encouraging adventure racers to do their flat water proficiency test - ultimately you are responsible for your safety on water. The flate water test does not have an expiry date; and the next step is the river proficiency test, which means a trip down the Klip (for Gauties).

Thanks to Bill van der Walt (paddle coach and safety officer) for being so accommodating to our adventure racing crowd.

The OTTER African Trail Run, sponsored by global outdoor apparel manufacturer HI-TEC, was yesterday presented for only the second time within the scenic Garden Route National Park. This unique and exhilarating race, run in a single day along the 5-day Otter Hiking Route, showcases the natural splendour of one of South Africa’s favourite (and newest) national parks.

Few people are afforded the privilege of doing ‘The Otter’ in one day, and it is certainly not within everyone’s physical ability to do so. 

Yesterday however saw 160 athletes arrive at Storms River Mouth to do exactly this: run the Otter Trail, and do so within the maximum allowed time of 10 hours. This was to be the second running of ‘The Otter’, an event made possible only after a historic agreement was signed between organisers Magnetic South and SANparks management.

The five-day hiking trail, stretching over a distance of 42km, was last year blitzed by KZN runner Ian-Don Wauchope in 4hrs 59min, making him the first athlete to officially break the mythical five hour barrier. This year, with the event run twice – this past Saturday as well as Monday (as part of the Southern Storm Duathlon) – 300 eager endurance runners were given the opportunity to emulate Wauchope’s ‘impossible feat’.

All sub-five hours competitors have their names engraved on the ‘Otter Grail’, a trophy especially designed for the event, and out of all the runners, the one most eager to make this a reality was John Collins. 

As a Knysna and Sedgefield local, he has literally grown up running wild along the Garden Route coastline.

The concept of the OTTER African Trail Run was the collective brainchild of brothers John and Mark Collins, and they are also key partners in the successful event organising company, Magnetic South, responsible for staging ‘The Otter’. Together with HI-TEC and Plettenberg Bay Tourism, they forged a partnership with SANparks, thus making the impossible dream of ‘running a 42km off-road marathon along an unspoilt wilderness coastline’ a reality.

John’s personal impossible dream was to have his name inscribed on the Otter Grail. In order to achieve this, he had to run a flawless 42km burst, negotiating plunging sea cliffs, loose rocks, cascading waves, sandy beaches, treacherous tree roots, gruelling climbs and at least three river crossings – one of them tidal and with a huge ocean swell building – and do so in less than five hours.

He did exactly this, in a breathtaking time of 4hrs 56min 43sec, obliterating the existing record and fulfilling a life-long dream. He was chased all the way by Plettenberg local lad Victor Gugushe, who missed the five hour mark by an agonising 12 seconds, and Dominic Simms, who claimed third position. In the ladies category, Jacqueline Haasbroek duelled it out with Katja Sogget, the former claiming victory in the end with a new ladies record time of 5hrs 34min.

Now forget all of the above. The second edition of the OTTER African Trail Run took place today, a couple of days later on Monday September 27th, and literally every record ‘ unfortunately including that of John Collins – was comprehensively smashed. A dog-fight of a run saw last year’s winner, Ian-Don Wauchope, slug it out with Knysna doctor Andre Gie. In the end, Gie took it by 9 seconds, charging home across the Floating Bridge literally metres ahead of Wauchope in 4hrs 48min.

Jeannie Bomford took to the trail in her Infinity shoes and delivered an impeccable display of trail running, claiming a clear victory over the other ladies with an untouchable time of 5hrs 17min Sometimes a single day of adventure delivers incredible memories, and today was such a day. An impeccable display from all the runners, nonetheless from those who battled home in a gruelling twelve hours.

Overcast conditions, perfect for running, and superb organisation by the Magnetic South crew saw both events unfold flawlessly and without mishap. ‘A new benchmark has been set for SA trail running’, said Mickey Mallet, MD of outdoor apparel manufacturers HI-TEC. ‘We expect this event to grow immensely, not only amongst local racers, but also within the wider international running community. In my opinion, this rates as the country’s most technical trail run, and also its most beautiful’!

According to event organiser Mark Collins, the key ethos around the OTTER African Trail Run focuses on environmental preservation. ‘The only way we can make this event 100% sustainable for competitors, landowners and the outdoor tribe is to be untouchable when it comes to how we treat the environment. It is a sad fact that we leave the trail in a better condition than what we find it in; this year we removed more than 70 plastic dry-bags left behind by hikers who cross at Bloukrans’.

Although ‘The Otter’ has now run its course, the Southern Storm Duathlon, also presented by HI-TEC, will continue tomorrow, with nearly 90 Otter finishers taking on five more days of adventure action from tomorrow till Friday.

For more information on the Southern Storm Duathlon, presented by Hi-Tec, visit www.southernstorm.co.za

* Image by Jacques Marais: Andre leads Iain by a few metres

Rondawel –

Leading the field adventure racers and Freedom Challenge veterans Trevor Ball and Ugene Nel left the Damsedrif support station in the Baviaanskloof on Friday morning.  They rode through Willowmore and alongside the Droeberge (“dry mountains”), passing the provincial boundary sign in the evening, and continuing on to the village of Prince Albert where they arrived well after midnight – a big day of riding both in terms of time (22 hrs) and distance (257 kms).   On Saturday morning they took on the 800m ascent up the historic Swartberg Pass before riding though the botanically rich mountains of the Swartsberg Nature Reserve and into the isolated Gamkaskloof, also known as or ‘Die Hel’.   Following in the footsteps of Denys Reitz and generations of travelers before them Trevor and Ugene then carried their bikes up the historic mule track know as up The Ladder which runs out of Gamkaskloof.  They rode into the hamlet of Vleiland before continuing to Rouxpos where they arrived shortly before midnight.  On Sunday morning the two headed out towards the Anysberg Nature Reserve and the town of Montagu.  The two may forego further sleep in an effort to arrive at the Diemersfontein finish by Monday night and ahead of chasing rider Alex Harris. 

Coming into this home stretch polar adventurer Alex Harris appeared to have established an effective lead over the rest of the field.  Leaving the Toekomst support station in the Darlington Dam section of the Addo Elephant National Park on Thursday, Harris rode hard through the Groot Rivier section of the trail and the Goede Hoop area of the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area arriving at the Cambria support station at midnight.  Normally covered in two days by Freedom Challenge pariticipants, this single day effort moved Harris to the front of the field.     On Friday morning Harris he looked to consolidate the lead and made very fast progress up the valley of the Baviaanskloof, stopping only to enjoy some of the famous chocolate pudding at Damsedrif before continuing on to arrive at Willowmore in the evening.   On Saturday he too passed the provincial boundary sign as he rode alongside the Droeberge from Willowmore to Prince Albert before climbing the Swartberg Pass and then descending down into the Gamkaskloof.  Sunday saw him climbing heading up the Ladder and on to Rouxpos before riding out towards Anysberg and Montagu. 

Harris has looked to build a lead based on fast riding and good sleep. Many race followers have been surprised by his riding speed along the trail.  Whilst many assumed that he had the mental determination for this extremely taxing race, it can now be revealed that Freedom Challange’s dark horse is a national track cycling champion.  He began track cycling in 2005.  Despite never previously riding a track bike within five months Alex became the new South African Track Champion for the 1000m Time Trial and the 1500m in his 35 to 39 yrs category. Five months later he won a silver and a bronze medal at the World Masters Track Cycling Championships in Manchester in 2006.  He may prove very tough to beat. 

Giant 29er single speed rider Glen Harrison has been battling gamely to stay in contact with Harris.  When Harris left Toekomst, Harrison, who started in Pietermaritzburg with Harris, was only three hours behind him.  However, Harrison conceded more than 5 hours to Harris when he got lost on the Perdeberg in the approach to the Baviaanskloof.  At 3 am on Saturday left Cambria and rode up the length of the Baviaanskloof, stopped to sleep briefly at Willowmore before heading out towards Prince Albert.  Battling the rutted surface on his rigid frame 29er and slowed by rain and a headwind, Harrison was forced to stop riding and sleep under a tree.  Shortly before dawn he arrived at the farm Rondawel, within spitting distance of the Western Cape boundary sign.   He then continued through to Prince arriving in the early afternoon and promptly slept until 10 pm when he left to ride up the Swartberg Pass and on to Gamkaskloof.  He has not been heard from since.   

The most recent shake up of the race occurred further back in the field with the separation of “Commander” Carl Crous, Marnitz “sponsored by PG Glass and riding for Miles for Smiles” Nienaber and August “Boskind” Carstens.  This unlikely trio have been able to push each other great distances and achieve remarkable feats including summiting  Lehana’s Pass at night.  They arrived in the Swaershoek Mountains above Cradock enjoying an effective 6 hour lead over the rest of the field.  However, above the Coetzerspruit the trio arrived at a junction.  Unable to agree on the direction take they went their separate ways.   As a result they surrendered their effective lead to Harris.  However, since then Crous has been storming ahead.  On Saturday he rode across the Camdeboo Plains and past Toekomst.  Stopping to sleep briefly at the Kleinpoort farm stall Crous arrived at the Bucklands support station on the Groot River just before dawn.  Refreshed by a meal and shower he continued on towards Cambria, arriving in the early evening having regained the lapsed time race lead. If he is to win the race Crous, who carries a 24 hr added time penalty incurred through replacing his bike in the Stormberg, will need to ride long hours and great distances over the next few days.    

Following Crous across the Camdeboo Plains on Saturday, Nienaber and Carstens were unable to match his relentless pace and slowly fell behind him.  They too arrived at the Bucklands support station early on Sunday morning. However, as they had not slept at all since the previous morning they opted to stop.  Reports later in the day were that they were still sleeping.  

Elsewhere on the trail other dramas continue to play themselves out.  Female competitor Greda Gruner fell behind her riding companions in the Stormberg.  For the last four days she has been riding alone, the first woman in the history of the race to do so.  The only interruption in her solitary journey came when she was joined for an hour by chasing rider Justin “Big Blade” Bouwer who started in the last group to leave Pietermaritzburg and has now been working his way up through the field.   The big E’s,  female rider, Estelle Labuschange and riding partner Errol Derrick, were forced to sleep for the night at a shed when they got lost near Seekoeigat in the Stormberg,  Coming through the same section 4 days later, extreme triathletes Leon van der Nest and Keith Little also looked to have lost their way in the darkness.  However, after retracing their tracks they were able to work their way through to the Romansfontein support station where they arrived after midnight.  School principal David Bell continues to ride on with a broken wrist whilst number of other riders are battling stomach complaints.  Headwinds caused by the latest approaching cold front are also slowing their progress as they endeavour to make the race finish at Diemersfontein outside Cape Town within the 26 day cutoff.

For more information:
www.freedomchallenge.org.za

Cost: R590.00

Delivery: Hand delivery at races or around-and-about in Gauteng – no charge. Courier delivery according to location (will be quoted first).

Available through www.AR.co.za

Contact Lisa at lisa@ar.co.za

Review – by Lisa de Speville

The unit is small and easy-to-use. Push and hold the button to turn on. A blue light flashes. When it gets a fix on a GPS signal, the red light flashes. Pop it in a pouch around your upper arm or zip it in the top of your backpack and go. When you finish, press and hold the button to turn off. Then, when you get home, plug in its USB cable and download to your computer.

There are three view options on the @ trip PC software that comes with the unit. I like the sports view for the trip duration, altitude profile, elevation loss and gain and average speed display. Yes, Google Earth is integrated to superimpose your track on the ground.

My track from an orienteering event, in the sports view.

I’ve had recent fun with the open-source orienteering software, QuickRoute. I scan my O map and then export my track from the i-gotU in .gpx format. Both files are opened in QuickRoute, where the track is superimposed over the map. You do have to drag points on the track - like start and finish and some controls – to corresponding locations on the map to get the correct scale and proportions. Child’s play. The neatest tool is the addition of shading to your track to indicate pace (min/km). Mmm… it really does highlight how my pace slows substantially over rocky terrain, which is not my favourite! I do edit my track on the @ trip PC software to exclude logged points from before the race starts and after the finish, before I turn off the unit.

Although the whole ‘selling point’ for this unit is to geotag photographs, its not really my thing.  But maybe at some stage if I’m scouting a route I’ll find it useful to sync my camera with the i-gotU to geotag images. The idea behind this is that your image displays on your route – pretty much like what happens with photos on Google Earth, only these are tagged to your track. And they can, of course, be auto-uploaded to Flickr and Picasa, with your route exported to Google Earth.

I’m not yet sure how long the battery lasts. I’ve logged just over 11.5hrs and I haven’t recharged it fully yet. The unit does power-up whenever I plug it in to my computer (USB charger) to download tracks. Kinetic’s Full Moon race will be a nice test of continuous use. [UPDATE: the unit, fully charged, ran for 17h36 minutes at Full Moon (recording every six seconds, in the cold and including an unplanned swim in the dam!]

The unit is water resistant, not waterproof.

Lisa’s blog posts on the i-gotU:

• Ultra O at Mohale’s South (20 June 2010)
• Measuring paddle distance and speed (16 June 2010)
• Testing QuickRoute (12 June 2010)
• A weekend of O (6 June 2010)

More information:

Product website: www.i-gotu.com (there’s a nice little demo video ofplaying the track in 3D through Google Earth; and it demonstrates the photo-tagging display).

Visit www.kineticevents.net/ndc for information on the race.

This includes:

1. Entry into the race 
2. All race camp accommodation
3. Drinking water during the race
4. Medical assistance
5. Pre-race dinner at the lodge
6. End of race awards dinner at the lodge
7.  Transfer to and from Windhoek Airport

In addition to the R1,500 admin fee, you will have to pay for your flight to Windhoek and one night of accommodation after the race (25 Feb). After the race awards dinner, which is included, I spent the night at a nearby Desert Camp -  superb accommodation (and divine shower!). The Lodge does offer participants preferential rates.

I thoroughly enjoyed this 5-day staged foot race last year and am sad to miss it this year. The Sossousvlei area is strikingly beautiful, we were all so well looked after with pleasant, well-managed overnight camps and flawless race organisation. My reports from 2009 are on my blog – www.adventurelisa.blogspot.com – under the February 2009 archive.

Applications for my entry can be emailed to Gary Burrows at gary.burrows@kineticevents.net.

Deadline is 12h00 on Friday, 22 January 2010.

The winning application will be selected by lucky draw and the winner will be notified by 17h00 on Friday, 22 January 2010.