Rated as one of the top 10 races worldwide and the biggest in Africa, this years Swazi Xtreme was definitely not short of adrenaline and drama.

Taking on this years Swazi challenge were quite a few Knysna locals. Team Land Rover Gear/USN consisting of John Collins (co-owner of Magnetic South events organizing company, better known in local circles for his impressive race history along with brother Mark, their involvement in the Land Rover G4 and Spirit of Adventure events as well as the adventure nights events), Hanno Smit (local saw miller and accomplished canoeist, with quite a number of adventure races under his belt), Martin Dreyer (known as the Dusi Duke, also with an impressive list of adventure races and wins behind his name, including winning the Land Rover G4 International adventure challenge, and participation in the 800km Primal Quest Adventure Race in Utah last year) and the rose, Jeannie Bomford (Cape town girl with a love for the Garden Route, with quite a number of long distance adventure races behind her, including the 500km African Quest in 2004, podium positions at both the Knysna Forest Marathon as well as the Total Sports Challenge in Kleinmond, not to mention the grit and determination that saw her finish her 3rd Cape Epic. The impressive collective pedigree of the team members earned them an amazing sponsorship from Land Rover Gear, including two Land Rover backup vehicles, which proved to be essential due to the rugged and almost impassable terrain negotiated by the seconds, as well as sports nutrition from USN.

Other Knysna locals, Mark Collins (brother of John, also with an impressive list of races and achievements behind his name) partnered up with Philip Swanepoel, Hannelie Booyens and Ryno Giesel (all from Pretoria) to make up one of two McCain Adventure Addicts teams, and Team Action Cycling, Patrick Mosterd (owner of Action Cycling with a long list of mountain biking wins and finishes under his belt) partnered up with race novice Louise Hemmes.

This years Swazi Xtreme saw the top South African Adventure Racing teams lining up on the start line, all ready to battle it out to see who would reign supreme. The start was from the Waterford Kamhlaba College, on the outskirts of Mbabane. Racers were greeted by icy wind and rain conditions on the Saturday morning, and after a 90min delay, they were off. After the first cycle leg, Team LR Gear/USN had already opened up a significant lead on the following teams, which grew with each leg. Their transitions were smooth and efficient, and they were working together like a well oiled machine. After the second leg, a hike with some abseiling down a waterfall, they climbed onto their bikes and headed off for the tough cycle leg in high spirits. Heavy mist in the Malolotja Reserve made navigating even more of a challenge in the dark, but they were not deterred. After a hot pasta meal they were off, on what was to prove the turning point of the race for many.

The next hike leg included a kloofing section in the dark down a gorge with some free jumping into potholes, a nasty bundu bash with a dam swim and another couple of abseils down a slot gorge. Team LR Gear/USN successfully negotiated this section in the freezing cold of night and arrived tired but in good spirits at the next transition. Their next leg included a cycle, swim (in the crocodile and hippo infested Maguga Dam), paddle and hike, which would take them to the dam wall at the end of the Maguga dam. Concern started to set in when after six hours the others teams had still not reached the transition after the kloof section. Later news came through that Mark Collins and Philip Swanepoel had been caught in the kloof by an unexpected water release. Meanwhile, Team LR Gear/USN, were racing full steam to make the cut-off for the dark zone at the start of the rafting leg at the Maguga Dam. They arrived with an hour to spare, and headed off for the river. After two hours they phoned in, claiming that the river was running dry, only to hear from the race director that the race had been stopped because of these two incidences.

Monday dawned bright as all the remaining teams lined the banks of the dam ready for a watered down sprint race consisting of the rafting section, followed by a hike and then a cycle home. Because of this stoppage many teams had pulled out including Team Action Cycling, the two McCains teams as well as Cyanosis (the current top rated team in this country), but LR Gear/USN lined up eager for the day ahead albeit a little more jaded than the rest, after racing for nearly 6hrs longer than the other teams.

The rafting section certainly saw its fair share of thrills, spills and drama. Incorrect seconding instructions after the raft transition saw many support crews including Land Rover gear being sent on a wild goose chase through thick bush and near to non-existent roads, trying to locate the final transition point, but with a little bit of extreme off-road driving, ensuring the Land Rover back up vehicle were put through their paces, the Land Rover Gear back up team arrived in time with bicycles for the last 5hr leg home, it was also during this leg that John Collins of Team Land Rover Gear started to feel the effects of a bad stomach bug.

But for Team Land Rover Gear/USN, it became obvious only an hour or two into the cycle that finishing the race was no longer an option due to a severely sick John Collins, and they were forced to withdraw.

Team Land Rover Gear/USN, although not able to cross the finishing line, certainly stamped their authority on the race from the start and set a new benchmark in adventure racing in this country, thereby announcing themselves as the team to watch in future events. «