Two hundred kilometres of extreme adventure: mountain biking along rural mountain trails, white-water rafting down a swollen Lusutfu River, trekking across African savannah, rope ascending a 100m waterfall, navigating the African bush through a moonless night and kloofing through a hidden gorge overgrown with indigenous forest. This was the 2006 edition of the Swazi Xtreme adventure race and Johannesburg-based Team Powerade Cyanosis, comprising of Nicholas Mulder, Susan Sloan, Arrie De Swardt and Clinton Mackintosh, was back to defend their title.

The 200km race started at daybreak on Friday morning in the village of Malkerns near the Ezulwini Valley. Fifty teams of 2 and 4-persons, heavily laden with backpacks lined up against each other to take on the Swazi Xtreme course, presented by Swazi Trails. The goal for the majority of teams was to finish in what is arguably one of the toughest adventure races in southern Africa. The goal for Powerade and a handful of other teams: to get to the finish line first, a feat that was expected to take a little over 30 hours of non-stop racing. With cameras whirring and flashing, the teams set off at a casual jog into the cool dawn down the village’s main road, the navigator in each of the teams trying desperately to judge their bearings and distances as they each navigated their team to the morning’s first check point. The field spread out into a long snake that soon veered off the road, down a shaded track and into tall marshy grassland laden with the morning dew. A mere twenty minutes into the race and the troubles began. The snake broke up, teams milled around in the elephant-high grass searching for the elusive checkpoint marker. Some backtracked to the end of the lane of Eucalyptus trees, where the marker board was immediately found on the far side of a well-girthed tree.

Team Powerade punched the checkpoint early, quickly taking the lead with Team Jeep a handful of strides behind. The pace picked up as the teams navigated their way to the second and third checkpoints. Pineapple fields and reed-clogged rivers were traversed before the leaders arrived at a small farm dam for a short 200m swim to the next checkpoint. A dense blanket of mist covered the water as Powerade and Jeep broke the glass reflection of the surface, splashing their way out into the white haze. Shadows appeared out of the mist as teams Due South and McCain Adventure Addicts followed in third and fourth place.

Exiting the dam, Team Powerade settled into a steady pace for a 10km run to a checkpoint on an island in the middle of the Lusufutu River. Due South closed the gap to form a 3-team lead pack together with Jeep and Powerade, but the rocky scramble through the river between the shrubby islands saw the teams split up. Jeep were unlucky enough to be out of sight when the other two groups clipped the marker, and quietly disappeared through the river to the far bank.

Two kilometres further downstream and Teams Powerade and Due South entered the first transition area for a quick change to 2-person inflatable rafts. The two teams found themselves equally matched as they both easily propelled their craft to their maximum velocity. It would be left to the route choices between the millions of islands in the Lusutfu River and the white-water ability of the teams in the rapids to separate them. A series of severe grade 3 and 4 rapids tested the teams till the halfway mark on the 20km paddle. No team could open a gap on the other however, until both rafts from Team Powerade took a nasty swim at a rapid with a strong ‘washing machine’ effect. Arrie De Swardt was forced to run back upriver and recover the boat, which was still endlessly circulating in the rapid whilst the remainder of the team began recovering paddles, boat and themselves. The eye-opening spill gave Due South an immediate 5-minute gap, which Powerade were not able to close. The second half of the rafting proved easier as rapids were less severe, but significant channelling between islands kept the teams alert.

The two lead teams had paddled at a significant pace, taking three and a half hours to complete a paddle that the race organiser Darron Raw had expected the fastest teams to finish in five. As a result, Team Powerade Cyanosis, as well as Due South and the third-placed team missed the take-out when they paddled past before the designated marshal had arrived at the point. Powerade paddled for another 2km downstream before portaging the rafts back up beside the river, losing 1h10 in the process. Due South had recovered earlier, keeping them in the lead. Powerade now found themselves down to 7th position, 45 minutes behind the leaders, but determined to fight back even harder.

A quick change to mountain bikes at a nearby transition saw the beginning of a tortuous roller coaster route. Powerade made little inroad into Due South’s lead for the first section of the 38km mountain bike as the team struggled to find a constant rhythm on the long climbs up the mountains. After two hours of hard cycling, the team finally caught up with the 6th and 5th placed teams of USN and Jeep, giving the team members a psychological boost that immediately improved the team’s speed. The dirt roads changed to jeep track, the tracks became steeper and more technical and Team Powerade started catching teams at a quicker pace. Starting the final steep descent into the transition at the end of the bike leg, the team caught Cross Contour for 4th, Watts Sports for 3rd, and just got the Mitsubishi Sandown Red Ants into sight. Due South’s lead had meanwhile been cut down to 18 minutes.

The fourth leg of the race took teams up the Ngwempisi River into a steep sided canyon on a 25km trekking leg. As darkness descended, Powerade pushed the pace and caught Red Ants and Due South at a split in the river. An attempt to break into the lead failed quickly as the random nature of paths beside the river leant more to luck than navigation skill when trying to find the fastest route upstream. The three leading teams, realising that any breakaways would be fruitless, decided instead to work together as one, bashing their way through the thick bush and over the rocky outcrops lining the deep, swiftly flowing river. This saw the teams past another checkpoint before they found an overgrown hiking trail that took them over the canyon rim onto the high mountains. A route choice was presented to the teams here, with two different hiking trails leading to the next checkpoint. A quick conference between each team’s navigator determined that the turnoff to the one trail had been passed and Due South and Red Ants favoured continuing on the present trail. Powerade opted to turn back instead, setting up an exciting contest to determine which route was faster. Despite not finding the whole hiking trail, Powerade made use of a plethora of cattle tracks to emerge at the marshal manning the checkpoint at a cabin first. After quickly signing off, Powerade proceeded to the next transition along the hiking route that Due South and Red Ants would be arriving. A time check showed a healthy 30-minute lead that prompted Powerade to push hard and extend the gap.

A dense mist started to roll into the transition on an isolated mountain hilltop as Powerade Cyanosis ran in for a quick change back onto mountain bikes. At 2am, the temperature had dropped well below 10°C, so the soup provided by the team’s support crew (Liz Mulder and Sam Braid) was well appreciated before the warmly dressed team set out on a long downhill on a technical jeep track into an adjoining valley. Thankfully the mist was absent at lower elevations, but this didn’t stop the team from eventually losing the track that race instructions implied would take teams all the way to the next checkpoint. Powerade thus had to attack the riverside marker from the opposite side, an easy navigational alternative, but one that involved more distance and altitude gain.

A quiet dawn amongst rural villages in the heart of Swaziland heralded the 24-hour mark for Team Powerade Cyanosis. With 150km done and a further 50km to go, the team pushed hard to keep a good lead whilst the temperatures were still mild. A few further checkpoints in quiet corners of the Kingdom saw the team ride through various forest plantations and rural settlements before a final killer climb up a mountain pass saw Powerade reduced to pushing their bikes. Fortunately the pass was very short, and the next transition emerged very close after the summit, giving the team new impetus for the impending kloofing and rope ascending leg.

Invigorated by a quick transition and newly equipped with rope climbing equipment, Powerade pushed on into the kloofing leg. News had seeped through that the team had a 90-minute lead at the previous transition. The route through the kloof forced teams to keep to the river, ankle to knee deep in most places as the vegetation and rock faces on each side proved too formidable to pass. Towards the end of the kloof, the river became steeper and numerous waterfalls had to be clambered over. Powerade lost 30 minutes at one stage trying to bypass a waterfall in the dense vegetation before being forced to turn back. Teamwork soon became essential in helping the members of the team over the precipitous slippery surfaces. The view that greeted the team at the valley head was breathtaking and a true reward. The team admired a 100m cascading waterfall resembling a wide sheet of white lace. Alongside the waterfall lay the rope ascent course that would require each team member to perform a 30m rock climb, a 50m rope ascent by means of jumars and a final 10m rock climb. Halfway up the falls, the team received a shock with the arrival of the chasing Team Due South at the bottom. They had capitalised on their tight race for 2nd place with Team Red Ants, pulling out time on Powerade when the team lost precious time with the mistakes whilst cycling in the dark and when attempting to bypass the waterfalls. The race was back on, but Powerade was fortunate in having priority on sections of the ropes course. Powerade reached the cliff top and completed a 40m traverse across the front of the waterfall just as Team Red Ants arrived at the base and as Duesouth were half way up.

A final 8km downhill mountain bike leg was all that was left for Powerade to complete before the finish at Malkerns. An extremely quick transition thus saw the team fly out on the downhills undeterred by faltering mountain bikes that had keenly felt the punishment of the past 100kms of riding. Half an hour later and it was in the bag - Team Powerade Cyanosis cycling under the finish banner at the Malkerns Country Club to claim first place. Just over an hour later, Team Due South completed what had been an extremely tough and adventurous course, with Team Mitsubishi Sandown Red Ants a further hour adrift.

Team Powerade Cyanosis experienced the best of Swaziland during the race. Rafting down the Lusutfu River proved to be one of the best white-water experiences the sport has ever seen in southern Africa in its short history. The race will be remembered for its hills though, with the team logging 5176m of climb on their altimeters during a course that took 33h39 to complete. Click here for our altitude profile log (PDF format)

Team Powerade Cyanosis would like to thank its support crew of Liz Mulder and Sam Braid. Swazi Trails, Darron Raw and his band of volunteer marshals are to be congratulated on a well-organised race. Thank you must also go to the team’s sponsors: Powerade, First Ascent outdoor apparel, Foodstate vitamins, Petzl headlamps, Wiley X sunglasses, Form and Fitness sports supplements, Garmin GPS equipment, Kreature.co.za outdoor and survival equipment, Lizzard wetsuits, Specialized bikes and accessories and Summit Cycles in Midrand. «