Certainly the most consistent Adventure Race of the past 9 years is the Swazi Xtreme Adventure Race. This event on the AR calendar is what has been used as a common cliche, 'a race not to be missed' and for good reason. The Raw family has made sure that this event is on most of the adventure racing team's calendars year in and year out. All teams look forward to this event with great excitement and in some cases great trepidation, as the teams that know Darron (Race Director), know that there will certainly be a talking point in the event when it is all done. This year I think for most teams it was the 'rideable train tracks'.

Cyanosis was no exception and we made the trip down for the SX 2009 edition. This would be the teams 6th SX with wins in 05' 06 & 08. The team has had the privilege to race in the out right point to point edition of SX with wins in 05' & 06 as well as the current format that highlights the 'risk and reward' scenario with a win in 2008. The 2009 team line up for SX 09 consisted of Nicholas Mulder, Clinton Mackintosh, Ryno Griesel and Susan Sloan as Debbie Gerrand was still injured after the team's XPD Portugal race in December 08. Susan was called up less than four weeks before Swazi.

The team again went in to the SX 2009 with a clear strategy on how best to tackle the 'risk & reward' format because strategy and patients would certainly be the winning factor. A curve ball was thrown at all the teams by Darron that all teams would need to 'MANAGE' a compulsory 6 hours of sleep at a CP during the night sections of the race.

We were a little reluctant at first about the compulsory sleep but understood where Darron was coming from and a different element was presented to the teams. The sleep meant that teams would need to make sure they move quickly at night to collect as many OPs as possible but needed to factor in that if you got it wrong and spent too much time looking for OPs you would need to log sleep either that night or the next and you would certainly miss OPs.

We arrived at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary on Thursday afternoon and managed to get all our gear sorted and prepped for race start. We had the usual race directors briefing however, this year was slightly different and I could not put my finger on it at the time but realized later what was missing. Darron's briefing did not have the usual comments like, when swimming make sure you have your knife handy because when we were putting out the CPs we ran in to a few croc's some hippo's and oh yes, there were traces of big foot on one of the mountains you will be trekking over. This normally leaves a sense of fear in us after briefing but this year all seemed normal. Maybe Darron was playing with us and we would have to wait and see what was in store for us like a grade 4 rapid just around the corner on the paddle leg.

We had a fabulous night's sleep at Mlilwane, unusual for an AR, but wow it was welcome, in fact the best night's sleep I have had in 22 months with my twin boys at home. We got up at 4am to prep for the 5am start, we were told the night before that we would be following a maize trail to a specific point where we would meet a marshal who will give us our stage 1 maps and instructions. Darron got the race underway at around 05h09 and all the teams trotted down the road following the maize trail. We did a short run and reached the marshal who gave us maps for stage 1 but it was for an area that was some distance away so we, as I am sure many teams did, started planning our route to the OPs and CPs. The instruction by the marshal was to take the maps and to sit put until further instructions.

A bus arrived and the marshal said 'all aboard'. WOW that was a surprise but a good one as a trek to the city would have been a long one. We arrived in Mbabane city centre and were given the 'go get em' by Darron. This first leg was a Rogaine in the city centre and it was a lot of fun running around while most normal people were heading to work. It is always great to see the different routes teams take, but it is clear when it is all said and done, whose route was quicker to an OP or CP.

We finished up in town and headed to the mountains where we were to head for a beating drum. This would be the entrance to a caving section that had a number of OPs. This was for the team the best caving section we have done in AR and we seemed to go deeper and deeper into the ground. While wiggling our way about the cave we could hear a underground river and it was very soothing and uplifting to see and hear nature at its best. We finished up the caving section and headed to the rafting where we were to collect more OPs. We were just 8min behind McCain's and 11 or so behind the leading pair team.

We got to the river and put our Crocs into the river and off we went not expecting to much excitement on the river. We collected all the OPs on the river and managed to get very excited by a grade 4 rapid. When we turned the corner and saw Jacques Marais on the bank ready for pictures we knew this would be big and Jacques would be there to capture any spills and thrills. Nic, Ryno, Susan & I made it down the rapid without incident and we powered off to the boat takeout. We managed to gain a minute or so on the leading teams.

Nic pointed out where we needed to be and off we went, this trekking leg was going to be hot and looking at where we were heading we knew we would need to pace ourselves as heat was going to be a factor later on. We passed our good friends from Mud & Gage (Sakkie & Bennie) while heading up the mountain where Sakkie told us about his encounter with two local thugs that wanted their kit. After a slight altercation, Sakkie put them straight and I think the two thugs go the idea that Bennie & Sakkie were not giving up their gear easily. We pressed on and managed to catch the leading pair's team, putting some time in to the McCain gap as they were just ahead of us on the trail. We were happy with our teams pace as we were not overexerting ourselves, as we knew a tough bike leg was to come. We needed to make sure we had the energy to push for all available OPs. We cleared the summit of the mountain and headed for the valley where we could see our seconds and the dam that we would be swimming and paddling on. We reached the swim about 5min behind McCain and what a welcome relief the swim was. It was not midday yet, but it was hot.

We headed to T1 and quickly headed out for a quick flat-water paddle. The paddle leg was uneventful with a few OPs scattered around the dam. We arrived back at the T1 slightly behind our predicted time for that stage in the race. So we were going to have to have a quick transition and head out on to the bikes to make up some time, so that we could be sure to collect all OPs on offer. We had a great cycle. We all felt good and we all managed our own exertion well during the early part of the day so we were flying on the bikes. We managed to collect all the OPs on offer on the cycle leg and we also managed to make up any time gap between us and McCain, who missed one of the OPs on the cycle leg. We headed in to the fist overnight transition with all CPs & OPs that were on offer. Anita mentioned that Darron did not expect any of the teams to collect all the points during that stage. This meant that Cyanosis was now leading the race but anything could happen and one OP advantage was not going to be a comfort.

The first night leg of the race was on bike and was going to be a tricky affair, as we needed to factor in the compulsory sleep. Nic went about doing what he does best guiding the team to where we needed to be and he managed to do this at pace. I kept thinking during this leg how can a race director give a Google image of the area to a orienteer like Nic but fair is fair if all the other teams got one we should be no exception right? Nic took us to the OPs as if he had a compass locked on to the points. We also made a few drops of our bikes and ran to some OPs that would have just been too long to get to if we followed the road network on our bikes. We were now only three OPs to a good night's sleep and then it happened; the first of many bike problems that plagued the team throughout this event. Ryno's egg-beater pedal fell off and we stopped to try and fix it with the tools that we had with us. We managed to tighten the nut so that the pedal would stay on to the crank but a few hundred meters later it fell off again. We decided that it would be best for Ryno to peddle without the actual egg-beater clip and we could try and fix it when we get to the compulsory sleep CP. We made it to the CP with plenty of time to log all our 6 hours of sleep so Ryno and I got cracking on his peddle. We managed to find a pair of pliers (thanks Sakkie & Bennie) and tightened the bolt as best we could, hoping that it would hold to the transition. We set the alarm and snuggled in for a strange 6 hour sleep.

We got into transition knowing that we had some bike repairs to do before we got into our normal transition routines. We managed to get the proper spanner but the bearing in the pedal was seized. As Ryno peddled, it would release the nut, so we had no choice but to put him on to flat peddles and takkies for the remainder of the race.

The teams got our next bit of instruction from Darron for what was ahead of us and off we went. We headed out the gate in around 2nd spot and as we turned the corner some 500m from the transition Nic's bike started giving us problems. We assessed the problem and found it to be a seized bearing in his rear derailleur jockey wheel. We had a spare rear derailleur at the TA so we went to collect it. After replacing the jockey wheel we were off again. Now the last team, we pushed to catch up as we knew we needed to manage our time properly to obtain all OPs for the day's stage. The cycle leg was quick and we arrived at the TA just a few minutes behind McCain. We were now off on to a trekking leg that would take us over a small mountain to the bike TA, that was beautifully located on a hilltop. We managed to pick up our pace on this hiking leg and passed all the teams that were ahead of us, arriving at the TA joint first with all the CP & OPs to our credit. We managed to put a 14min gap between ourselves and the rest of the teams on the next cycle leg to the next TA.

We arrived at this TA and asked the marshal whether we could do the cycle first or if we had to do the trekking first. He called Darron to confirm and the outcome was we could choose as there was no particular order for the two legs. We opted for the cycle and set off to collect all the CPs & OPs. We had a steady pace on the cycle leg as it was getting hotter and Nic mentioned that we would need to work hard that evening as navigation was going to be tricky. We collected the OPs and CPs and headed back to the TA for our trekking leg. We had a quick transition and headed off on to the trekking leg where I still could not work out how some teams used their bikes to get to the bottom of the mountains on a trekking leg. Be that as it may any advantage that they would gain would not benefit the teams as the start of the next leg would be at 17h00. We would make it back well before that for some rest.

Before the teams were set off for the second night section, the marshal at the TA let all teams know the current sleep times logged. We only needed to log 4min more as we slept the first night in the CP for 5h56min. The rest of the competitive teams needed to log around 2 hours or more. This worked out well for us as it would give us a buffer to collect all the OPs for the night section. Nic had already warned us we were going to be in for a tough time due to the tricky nav. We headed out for the first part of the stage, McCain heading in one direction and we heading off in another direction with the leading pair teams in pursuit. Nic decided to stick to the main road and not take a shortcut we used earlier in the day. The two leading pair's teams took the shortcut. When we arrived at the junction on the far side we were less than 30 odd seconds behind.

We pushed on and managed to collect the first OP on a pass. As we headed down the pass we saw McCain coming in from the right. They still needed to collect the OP so we managed to open a 5min or so gap on them and that was the last we saw of them during that stage. We collected all the OPs & CPs and headed to the second CP on that leg where we needed to log our 4min. We used this time to refuel our bodies and set off again to collect 3 OPs that were the toughest of the race to collect. We knew we had a 2 hour head start for these OPs but on our way to the first OP, Ryno had a side wall slit in his tyre and the slime was not filling it up. We stopped and repaired this by putting a tube in his tubeless tyre and we set of knowing that we were at risk of another puncture. Two hours went by and we just found the elusive jeep track that would take us down to a junction that we would find our first OP. We headed down this jeep track and we kept checking we headed down a track that ended up heading to a gully and Nic was not happy with the direction so we climbed back up and tried option 2. Nic continuously checking terrain and bearing and we found the OP.

We were now off to collect OP 2 following this jeep track. We went down a few wrong tracks but we quickly recovered and got on to the right track. We crossed a river and went past a wooden house where Nic let us know that the OP was in this area and we need to be on the lookout for 'Camp Ground Building'. We searched for 45min to 1 hour looking for this OP in the area, with two buildings surrounded by electric fence. We could describe in detail what these sites looked like and what was in them. Darron said to us later that we were less than 50m from the OP and that we should have jumped the electric fence. Hmmm, in SA when a house has an electric fence, the owner has a big ass gun to go with his electric fence that is normally there for a reason. J Anyway...

We headed off to locate OP3 that was a lookout on top of a mountain. We could see it in the background from this elusive OP2 so we decided to find our way through the village and head up the mountain carrying our bikes. We made good progress with out bikes on our backs. With out heads down we were determined to reach the top quickly. Once at the top Nic got his positioning and said we need to be over 'there'. When he meant we need to be over 'there', he meant we need to collect the OP on that rocky outcrop. What a view!!!! We hit this OP well past 2am and it was a great feeling after a lot of hard work taking a 'Bee' line straight up. All that was left was to head back to the transition to get prepped for the final day of racing.

The final day was certainly the most technical. We would be tested down a technical but short kloofing leg, we would be jumaring and we would be cycling on what we were told, would be an easy ride down a railway track to a few OP and the finish.

We all headed out with a great run, all the front teams jogging together. We all stuck together to the first CP and then down the mountain to the forest, where teams decided to take their own routes. Some found slightly quicker routes than others, but we all ended up at the start of the kloofing leg. The kloofing leg was good. We climbed over trees and under trees with all sorts of obstacles on the way down the kloof. We even saw Alex take out his 20m safety rope for a bum slide to an OP. We finished up and headed off to the mountain in the distance where we were to find the jumar. The climb up to the ledge was exciting and as there were only two lines, we managed to take our time to look at where we had actually come from earlier in the day and last night. We also had the opportunity to socialise with the teams that were waiting for the jumar as well. We completed the jumar with no incidents and headed on to the compulsory CP on the mountaintop. Then it was off the mountain to the final transition of the race where we would be start our final bike leg. We arrived into the TA just before McCain and we had a good relaxed TA.

We headed out on to the bikes where we were to get on to the railway to find a OP that would be in the middle of the railway tunnel. We got on to the railway and rode for around 500m where we encountered some of the sport teams and the leading pro pair's teams. They had been 'bundu-bashing' for some 20min and could not get through the thicket. Nic, Richard & PJ had a brief discussion and decided to head to the road that was seen going off to the left a few hundred meters earlier. There apparently is a MTB race that is held in this area and the jeep tracks we could use are part of the route. We would need to be accurate on when to turn back on to the railway so that we do not miss the tunnel. We managed to locate the tunnel get the point and headed off down the railway again looking for additional OPs. We based our way making slow, slow progress as the railway was now a continuous thorn bush. I am sure this railway was last used by the voortrekkers so we could not understand what Darron meant - 'the railway is rideable'.

We turned off the railway as soon as we could see a road or a track that was part of the MTB race. We moved along this looking for the OP that was on this route but as we were checking out one road we heard a pop and Susan came to a stop. Susan managed to get a sidewall slit about 2cm long in her front tyre. So our bike woes were not over yet and we now needed to get this sorted and collect the rest of the OPs. The teams that were with as searching for the OP quickly headed off leaving us some work to do to repair the tyre and catch up some time. We always carry a plastic 'thing' in our bikes spares that we could use for this exact problem however this sidewall cut was a little larger than what I have seen before so was unsure if it would hold. We put a tube in and put this plastic in place and inflated the tyre. The plastic was holding but the tube was a bulge out of the slit. We needed to head off but with caution again as we were not sure if this would hold. We decided as Susan is the lightest in the team it would be best if we kept that tyre on her bike. We collected the OP we were looking for and headed up the mountain. We walked a bit of the technical terrain as to not put any unnecessary pressure on the fragile tyre. We got on to a sort of smoother dirt rode and rode up the side of the mountain to the 'car park'. We dropped our bikes and headed off to collect the two OPs, we passed McCain as they were coming up to collect the first OP while we were heading back to our bikes. Their route choice I believe had some challenges of their own that cost them some time as we managed to fix a side wall cut and make it to the top of the mountain before them.

We headed to what was going to be the highlight for the day, a downhill stretch to the finish with one OP on the way down. We were very cautious on this downhill and we rode it at a slow pace as to avoid any further technical problems and to protect Susan's front tyre. We made it back to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary with plenty of time to spare to secure the teams 4th Swazi Xtreme title.

I think that the result of how many teams successfully completed the SX 2009 is an indication that the Swazi Xtreme is an event for everyone. It tested our ability and strategy and it made sure that there was enough variety out there to keep the sport teams going. Well done to all the teams that completed the 9th edition of the Swazi Xtreme.

We are pleased that we were able to successfully defend our Swazi Xtreme title and are pleased with the team's progress leading up to the Adventure Racing World Champs in November 2009.

This type of adventure racing is not all about out right pace but is about managing your teams pace and your race. It is pointless to overexert your team in the early part of a race and as a result not be able to collect OPs. The idea for this type of racing is a 'risk and reward' scenario, Cyanosis were confident that we managed our exertion well leading up to the decision where we opted to go for all the OPs on offer on day 1 and this was our risk to collect all the OP and make cutoff. Fortunately there was a reward for us as we were the only team that took that risk and collected all the OP effectively putting us in the lead on day 1.

There are a number of factors to consider when making a discussion to go for broke and commit to collecting OPs let alone committing to collecting all the OPs on a particular leg, because get it wrong and as a great man once said 'GREED, ONE OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS'. We, Team Cyanosis learnt that lesson at Portugal XPD last December where we collected the most amount of OPs but in doing so missed a cut-off that had seven or so CPs that we could not get back effectively putting us out of podium contention and placing us 5th overall.

We owe huge thanks to our solo second Liz who has been looking after the team for so many years with great success.

To all our teams sponsors who believe in the team & who inspire us to perform at our best with the support that they give us.

Team Sponsors
First Ascent outdoor apparel, Foodstate vitamins, Island Tribe sun lotion, Petzl headlamps, Wiley X sunglasses, Mule Bar 100% Natural Energy Bars.

Form and Fitness sports supplements, Kreature.co.za outdoor and survival shop, Lizzard wetsuits, Specialized bikes and accessories, Summit Cycles in Midrand, Suunto field compasses and wrist top computers.