THIS week, somewhere in the Drakensberg Mountains, 31 teams of four have been tackling Expedition Africa, a qualifying event for the Adventure Racing World Championships to be held later this year in Costa Rica.
The race is about 500km of mountain biking, trekking, and kayaking. The course is not marked, and a large component of the adventure racing challenge is map-reading and route determination. A poor navigational decision can put a team back by hours, and it’s essential to get team dynamics right.
The first team to complete all the race legs and visit all the checkpoints wins.
Following the progress of the teams battling through this year’s course reminds me of my foray into adventure racing – the first Expedition Africa, held near Hermanus in 2011.
After two days of packing food, bikes, lights, batteries, shoes, tights, shirts, hats, gloves, paddles, more food, medical aid gear, compasses, tape, knives, and even more food, I was exhausted and the race hadn’t even begun. At the race briefing, when my team introduced themselves as trail runners trying out adventure racing for the first time, we were hit with guffaws of laughter from the more experienced field.
Only slightly daunted, we grinned, sat back down with our maps, and somehow, among all the mayhem, our navigators copied the checkpoints and planned our route. We were ready!
Beginning the next morning at sunrise, we happily ticked off the “quick” orienteering leg around the start, and still chipper, jumped into a kayak for the first paddling leg. The end of the lagoon destroyed our mood, though, as we portaged through green muck for an hour before breaking through a swamp of three-metre reeds to access the river and the next transition.
Already far behind the top teams, we left the kayaks to find a city checkpoint at the church. The checkpoint was marked with an A4-size laminated poster high up on the lamp-post. Who would think to look up? It took us a long while of wandering in circles before a teammate casually noticed it while munching her energy bar, “Oh! Look, there it is. Letter ‘F’.” Finally!
We biked the whole first night. It was cold and misty; one teammate groaned despairingly that he was no longer having fun.
Luckily a pink sunrise broke through our grim attitudes, and we survived to scarf peanut butter sandwiches at the next transition and begin the 59km trek over fynbos-covered mountains, into deep gorges and through quiet country towns.
The second night saw us struggling from the lack of sleep. We had a short evening nap under a bush, but at three in the morning, discouraged by a singular lack of success in checkpoint spotting, we succumbed to another.
Again, the rising sun proved our friend and we found our way through sheep-spotted fields and rock-hopped a couple of gurgling rivers, stopping to refill empty water bottles and bladders.
On the afternoon of the third day, we reached the halfway point and were given luxurious accommodation in the form of a tent, as well as a warm meal and a medic to shoot burning ointment into our blisters.
I couldn’t help but jerk when the sharp pain seared my foot, and the medic shouted in a panicked voice, “Argh – you’re not supposed to move!” Whoops. Welcome big black blood blister… goodbye comfortable trekking.
After that, the second half of the race was a blur. Pain management took much of our focus, which may explain why we found ourselves on a twisted path when our mapped route showed a straight section of road. Uh-oh. Problem number… mmm… how many problems have we had so far? Where are we exactly? Why did we sign up for this?!
Eventually we triumphed over another day and a half of mountain treks and abseils, lagoon paddles and mountain bike rides to make the finish line! The experience was truly an adventure, with many good reasons to smile and laugh after overcoming all the reasons to cry.
We saw rosy sunrises and sunsets, star-splattered skies, blue herons rising above golden fields of wheat, fish jumping over kayak hulls, and opposing teams helping each other out in the spirit of good sportsmanship. I heard trumpets and angels singing… Hail the Conquering Heroes!
This week’s Expedition Africa will probably be won in 60 hours – we took 100 to finish ours. As someone who loves the outdoor endurance sport, but who is only just surviving the races, those top-performing athletes have my utmost respect!
l To read more about the adventures on this year’s Expedition, see www.kineticgear.co.za If you are interested in trying your hand at adventure racing, but would (wisely) like to start with something smaller than the Expedition, see the Spur Adventure Sprint Series at www.quantumadventures.co.za or the WCAD Adventure Races at wcad.co.za