This past weekend was the annual Swazi Xtreme adventure race. Now in its 7th year, we saw Salomon coming on board as a title sponsor. Being on the sideline this year, on the organising team, I've come away from this year's Salomon Swazi Xtreme with thoughts on teams, responsibilities, our AR community, support crews, cable-tie ladders and the pleasures of racing in Swaziland.

I got a call this afternoon from a Cape Town-based racer asking, "Lisa, what happened at Swazi this weekend? I'm getting all kinds of different stories."

This is what I replied.

The race started in rain on Saturday morning, for the first time in the event's history. And it was cold, really cold. The teams progressed through this first day with the expected teams out front. John Collins' Landrover Gear/USN in the lead and gaining more time with every leg. They were being chased by Mark Collins' Voels McCain team, Nicolas Mulder's Cyanosis team, Deon Bruss' Cyclelab KZN team, and Graham Bird's McCain team. Adventure Inc. Red Ants, Kinetic USN and Sterling Light were also prominently in the picture.

With nightfall came the thickest fog I have ever experienced. We were driving in fog so thick we could barely see 3-meters in front of our vehicle. Teams were out in this on mountain bikes, headed for the Malolotja Nature Reserve. From here they would head out on foot for the dreaded pothole and hydro sections, which I remembered from the 2005 Swazi Xtreme; the one that started from Bulembu. Only a few teams (three, I think) made it this far in 2005. From the start it was inevitable that teams would go through this section in the dark.

At around 23h00 Bennie (from Salomon) and I drove Darron through to the hydro station so that he could put the checkpoint in the correct place. He went out alone and returned to us some 4-hours later. Unable to undo the attachment, he'd left his 20-meter rope at the first section, which teams were required to abseil down (all teams had their own 20-meter ropes. They were required to use their own ropes). Darron had to make a cable-tie ladder to get down the next section*. It couldn't have been long after the checkpoint was put in place that John Collins and his team arrived, passing through the whole section without incident.
* This is not recommended. Even foot-loops made from two cable-ties break when weight is applied, which Darron discovered; luckily without injury.

It seems that Mark Collins' team arrived only a short while later but instead of finding the normal minimal water flow through this section they encountered a torrent. They found Darron's rope and thought it had been rigged for them to use. Mark abseiled down and within half-a-meter was being pounded by the water flow. He was unable to ascend and so he motioned for his team not to follow. Philip Swanepoel came down afterwards, joining Mark at the bottom. After talking to Mark on Monday I understand that the team (and others who had arrived by this time) hiked around this hydro section to the base and before leaving hung a space blanket to warn other teams not to proceed (this had been mentioned by Darron in the pre-race briefing as something to do on the river section should they encounter hippo. Voel's McCain team did the right thing to warn teams of the danger below). When they got to the bottom, they found that Mark and Philip had not made their way through and so the team realised that something was wrong.

And wrong it was. Apparently in the wee hours of morning some guy pushing buttons at the hydroelectric station decided to divert the water from the dam, just upstream of this 2nd pothole section, down this kloof. Normally the water goes through the hydroelectric plant or conduit tunnels and to Darron's knowledge, from prior conversations with the hydro operators, water was never diverted down the kloof. This was not a normal situation. I saw Craig Dutton's striking photographs of this pounding waterfall, which thundered into the pool below to make a white, turbulent base. The normal situation is a gentle "waterfall" flowing into a calm, deep pool.

Darron was contacted and he got the hydrostation to divert the water from the kloof to the conduit tunnels. It took something like 4.5-hours before the water subsided and Mark and Philip, waiting for assistance, were able to pass though cold and uninjured.

Teams were halted and diverted through to their closest transition (T6 for most) and were then instructed to be transported, by their support crew, to T7 on the shore of Maguga Dam. While all of this was happening Landrover Gear USN had completed the paddle on Maguga Dam, had passed through T7 and found themselves below the dam wall, putting their rafts into a river that was bone-dry. The ordered dam release had not happened. It must have been by this stage that the team was halted and they returned to T7.

I have a few points on this situation.

1. Race organisers have control over many things but no control over
   1. the weather and;
   2. the unplanned and unanticipated actions of other people.

2. When crisis strikes any race, the usual procedure is to:
   1. halt the race and;
   2. get all teams to one location where they can be accounted for and communicated to.

3. Above this hydro section was a pothole section (deep potholes). I've never been through here so I speak from second-hand knowledge and not personal experience. The first pothole was a 12-meter drop from the top into a pool below. This is not something most people enjoy and so there was a walk-around option teams could take. They would incur a 30-minute penalty to bypass the whole pothole section. During the day I may have considered the jump but at night I would have definitely walked around. Remember too that as racers we trust race director's when they declare an element "safe". Yes, this was a safe jump and as this section was unaffected by the water flow it was in its "normal" state.

4. There were 4 stages where Mark's alarm bells rung.
   1. He wasn't crazy about the first pothole jump in the dark, even though in Darron's pre-race briefing he said that it was sufficiently deep. In the dark you can see obstacles, how far to jump out, the size of the pool or where to land.
   2. Mark didn't think it was a good idea to abseil down the first part of the torrential hydro section and decided to abseil a short distance to check it out; he got trapped and pummelled by the water, unable to ascend again.
   3. There was an old, rickety ladder going down into the pothole (on the hydro section) and Mark assumed the rope Darron had left there was for them to use (not knowing that Darron had left it there because he couldn't undo it alone - Darron had made no reference to rigged ropes on this section in the pre-race briefing or race instructions).
   4. Mark found that there were no hangers on the bolts on the next section and also found a rope rigged there, which had been left by John Collins. In Darron's briefing he had warned teams against using any ropes, carabiners, slings or any other equipment they might find down there because they had no way of knowing what, who and when gear had been left by past visitors.

5. Yes, I think there should have been a marshal at the start of the potholes and the hydro section. They would have been able to:
   1. assure racers that the first jump was safe (and that they were in fact at the first jump) and;
   2. recognise the altered, abnormal water level that arose, diverting teams from this section.

At the end of the day we all have to account for our own safety on course and we all have the right to say, "You've got to be kidding, I'm not doing that". This counts for rope sections, kloofing jumps or paddle sections on a stormy sea or flooded river. From a course planning aspect there should always be an alternative route. This is not about crazy adventures. This is about safety, your skills and your experience. I'd suggest you read "Competence and Responsibility" (www.ar.co.za >> Articles), an article I wrote a few years ago following an incident at an event in the E. Cape. You do not have to go into any section on blind-faith, trusting only the words of any person. See for yourself and make your own decisions (as my mom would say, if Joe jumped into a fire would you also jump into the fire?).

I can tell you that when I heard of these happenings on Sunday early-afternoon I froze, images of Storms River flooding my mind. These racers, my friends, had been in serious danger. Although this should not happen to anyone, I can only say that had competitors less experienced, less skilled and less competent than Mark and Philip descended into that turbulent flow, the situation could have been tragic.

So, the teams were sent to T7 and Darron spent the afternoon re-negotiating with the Maguga Dam officials to implement the dam release they'd "guaranteed" for the day before. Fortunately the release did happen and the race was re-started on Monday morning just before 07h30.

Something I must mention; on Sunday night one-by-one the "main" teams said that they would not be starting again on Monday morning and that they would be withdrawing from the race. A friend commented to me, "Well, I guess that the race is over now."

These competitive teams may well have been at the front of the race but they are by no means the teams that make up the race. "No," I replied. "These guys may be out but there are still another ten or more teams who want to get up in the morning. This race is about them too."

At dinner, up at the new Maguga Lodge, Landrover Gear USN said that they'd decided to line up at the start in the morning. I returned to the transition below and walked around to each team telling them of the morning's procedure and urging them to get up for what would be a good day; raft, hike and mtb to the finish.

Kinetic opted not to start. Graham Bird's Mccain Adventure Addicts team started with 3 (Stu Rawlinson had been battling a dose of flu), Mark Collins' team would be reduced to a pair (Philip and Hannlie) as Mark had to fly back to George that evening; he would do the rafting section with another team. Cyanosis had left for Joburg earlier in the day as Arrie had a flight to catch on Monday afternoon*. There was a lot of shuffling of members between Enduro, Tri for Life, aQuelle and others. The only teams with their original members and full complement included Landrover Gear USN, Adventure Inc. Red Ants, Cyclelab KZN, Sterling Light, Samurai, Jeep Voetsak (pair) and His People (pair - short course).
* It would be my guess that teams are assuming that they will be finished so far ahead of the field that it is ok to book flights the day before the prize giving (assuming that the full 3-day period is for the slow teams and that it doesn't count for them). What happens if these teams are not at the front of the race or that the race is planned to take all three days with slower teams being diverted on shortened courses throughout the race (which is what happened). Mmmm…

When Darron and Shane tested the river a few weekends before the race it had been at 6-cumic. Water release had been planned at 7-cumic and when it happened the water release was at 8-cumic. This made some sections better but seems to have turned the first rapid into a dangerous one. Most teams made it through safely but Mark Collins and raft partner, a pair from CACE, the pair from A2A and Piers & Philip (Jeep Voetsak) were washed out and trapped. Again, they all (at different times) made it out uninjured but shaken. The CACE pair returned to T7 (I recall there being another pair that returned to transition... the pair of Alwyn and Adele from A2A?)

The only other remarkable incident was when Alec and Wayne from His People went down the waterfall at OP7, which teams had been instructed to portage. They now have legend status in the region.

On this... Darron expressly mentioned in the race briefing that team should scout rapids before going down. When talking to a racer from a "top" team on Monday night, after the race, he confessed that they just shoot the rapids. Even racers like Ian Adamson and Mike Kloser bother to get out and scout… You should too. Nonetheless, I do think marshals at OP6, OP7 and potentially dodgy rapids should have been in place.

Cyclelab KZN had a brilliant day on Monday, blitzing the rest of the field. Landrover Gear USN was chasing but John Collins had come down ill, battling diarrhoea since morning. This possibly resulted from drinking contaminated stream/river water during Saturday/Sunday; something that happened more mildly to racers in other teams. With John incapacitated the team finally called in, asking their support crew to fetch them.

The results
The race had essentially become a stage race with Day 1 ending when the race was stopped on Sunday morning and Day 2 starting on Monday morning with the rafting.

So, how would you gauge the results? We went with the option of awarding prizes for Stage 1 and Stage 2 and overall. How would you assess overall? We took the combined teams from the last manned checkpoint (CP22) on Stage 1 and added it to the finish time on stage 2 to get an overall result. You can never please everyone all the time so this resulted in a few debates when I had a discussion with racers, and support crew, on Monday night.

The issues were the following:
Landrover Gear USN had blitzed the field on Sat/Sun, leading by a few hours. They had also progressed far further than any other team before being stopped and diverted to T7. They were in the front bunch on Stage 2 but had withdrawn due to illness. Now I have no doubt that Landrover Gear USN is an experienced and accomplished team and they really raced a superb race on Sat/Sun. BUT, they did not cross the line as a 4-person team on Monday (actually, they didn't cross the line in any case).

This too applied to Graham Bird's McCain team. They were in 5th (if I recall correctly) at CP22 (last manned CP) on Stage 1 but they started as a 3-person team on Monday morning.

As you all well know, the most difficult element of adventure racing is the team aspect. Getting a team to the starting line is the first obstacle and getting a full team across the line is another story entirely. This is also the element that differentiates adventure racing from other multisport events. Thus, the team that crosses the line with all team members intact is the winner.

There were all kinds of IFs. IF the race had been allowed to continue Landrover would have been finished before John fell ill. IF the race had continued other teams would have still been in the picture. IF Day 2 wasn't counted then the results from Stage 1 would have counted as overall. There was even a suggestion that we put it to the other teams to vote for a winner! This was a preposterous suggestion. Am I more a friend to John or more a friend to Mark or more a friend to Tweet? Would they be offended if I voted for another team who truly deserved the win? We used times on a piece of paper as solid, irrefutable evidence. What would you have done? There is no precedent for any event.

Friends, winning a race is actually far less important than getting everyone home safe and sound. What are you going to tell your sponsors? Tell them what happened. Explain that the race was stopped and then restarted. A restart is never easy as momentum is halted but most of the competitors got up in the morning for another day of racing. If your sponsor does not understand that AR is subjected to more variables than I have socks (and I have lots of socks) then you haven't done a very good job at explaining this sport to them.

So, Cyclelab KZN took line honours with Adventure Inc. Red Ants, Sterling Light and Samurai taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Jeep Voetsak was the only pair to complete the entire PRO course.

As for the 3-day staged SPORT course. All went well. Most teams appreciated the staged format and good sleep each night. Others would like the sport event to stay non-stop as in previous years (Swazi Beverages team essentially turned it into a non-stop event). My recommendation to these teams is to attend other events around the country of the 150-200km distances and to enter the Swazi PRO event in 2008. I think the stage format is a nice introductory version and it brings a more social element to the event.

There are no doubt different versions of the happenings to my account. Truth be told, I do not know of every nitty-gritty details that happened as I wasn't there when it all went down and only caught up with various tales post-occurrence. But I have given much thought to the things I heard and have contemplated what I would have done and why things happened they way they did.

On to other topics...

Lessons learned
Teams should remember that things happen, despite the best controls a race organiser implements. I'd like to see more marshals out on course; but this requires support from the AR community - racers who are injured, racer who are less experienced and not yet ready for Swazi Xtreme or racers who have decided to sit out the event, for whatever reason. We need you to volunteer as marshals - not just at this race but also at other sprint and distance events around the country. Our community is small and each one of you should be giving something back to the events.

Support crews
I met a number of novice support crews this weekend. One thing they all have in common is to do the best they can to take care of their teams. What did horrify me is that many were inadequately prepared and briefed by their teams. Competitors, without the presence and dedication of your support crews you would be unable to race. They move your equipment around, prepare hot meals and sandwiches, drive long distances at night, over rough terrain and they get little sleep. They deserve to be properly briefed by you about setting up a transition, preparing meals, what equipment you need for the various disciplines… and you all have absolutely no excuse. Every team should print out at copy of my series of support crew articles. I wrote them a few years ago after I was on a support crew for a team at a 500km race (the articles have been updated subsequently with input from experienced support crews). They can be found under the Articles section on www.ar.co.za >> Articles

Finally...
Swaziland is a wonderful country to race through. The people are friendly, the terrain is diverse and the landscape is beautiful. Darron, Anita and their team of Swazi Trails staff and kind volunteers put together another a solid race. For this I can take no credit as I only stepped in to assist during the race. I do plan to be far more involved with next year's event.

Congratulations to all the competitors who took part in both the SPORT and PRO events. This was a tough race and the coldest in the event's history. No matter how far you got through the courses you are all winners and I hope that you'll use each mistake, success and experience to improve your techniques and skills for races to come.

Lisa «