Expedition Africa 500km Adventure race
What Happens in the Baviaans, Stays in the Baviaans
Adam Rose / 16.05.2017
At 4am, under a moonlit sky, the pale white orb was seen to cross the waters repeatedly, as teams waded through the pool near CP17. It was a good ten metres, rather than the promised five, but no swimming required unless you were particularly short. This meant packs could be carried overhead, everything dry, including shoes as the pool had a sandy bottom.
Adventure racers are well acquainted with stripping for transition, since efficiency is the priority, with ducking off to a changing room both time consuming and usually unavailable.
This was a little different. As the race had ‘restarted’ due to the dark zone, there was a glut of teams crossing the pool together, and with people regrouping afterwards to get warm gear on in the dark, it meant that as you crossed, more often than not it was into the glare of high intensity beams, with your hands raised above your head. In very cold water. With an ambient temperature in the low single figures, men came up with the short straw.
Most teams went the full monty, but Quasarlontra Brazil (#39) opted for an alternative route, involving climbing the right-hand wall. Though only a few metres high, a fall would likely result in proper injury, so it was quite risky in the dark. Credit to them, they made it without incident, which meant they moved off quickly as they didn’t have to warm up afterwards. Later in the morning, two other teams, Race Miere (#36) and Cape St Francis Resort (#28), did the same, but it was considerably easier in the daylight.
A lull followed, as the eager beavers had come and gone, then at 5:00, teams flooded in from the midpack, including Castle Lite, with Adrian Saffy embracing the challenge more than most. He was one of the men who did multiple trips to carry gear for their female racers, one woman even being given a piggyback, so chivalry isn’t dead in AR.
Deep coughing echoed across the water, persisting for a few minutes. The cold water hadn’t been so good for Freyer Scollay’s chest. Fortunately, her team crossed with Rustproof, who were the only team to bring a hot flask of coffee from the TA. You could hear them slurping away the cold as they dried themselves off.
Alquimistas Trevo (#35) arrived on their own. Not seeing anyone else’s example, and possibly just concerned with speed, they were the only team to keep most of the clothes on, two wading wearing everything. They paused for a minute afterwards, then plunged on, in the darkness, in that cold, into the bush. My hands were getting numb, and there was mist on the water. They must be made of sterner stuff.
Plett AR (#24) got to the pool just before 6:00, asking where the other teams were. They thought the 4am start applied to TA5, not to CP17, which put them back by almost two hours. A few other teams did the same. Route book: the attention is in the details.
Bloed en Omo (#7) made the pool at 10:20. Daryl Wittstock had put his trail shoes in Box A at the previous TA, leaving him in bike shoes for the trek. Fortunately he acquired a pair of regular road runners from a bystander, though, as a jeweller, he is now under obligation to make a wedding ring for the shoeless donor.
Bloed en Omo are famous on the EA roster for making up their own course from that on offer. They short coursed themselves to TA5 by taking the most direct ride possible, but were under orders from Stephan not to try shortcut leg 6. It was impossible anyway. Being the eldest team by far (with an average age of 58), they were very upbeat and seemingly ready for anything. Daryl’s request to “take a picture of his nipple stand” in the cold water came as a surprise, but he was reluctant for me to do the same as he left the water. Strange.
On the 10km drive into CP17, we had passed many teams, and had been surprised to find Jabberwock a fair distance back. Ruan van der Merwe was full of bounce, seemingly unfazed by the biking mistake from the previous day. Missing CP12, discovering their mistake at CP14 after not finding CP13, then adding 60km to their bike for the round trip to recover CP12, must have turned the air blue, but Ruan said it was history, and the team “still had a good chance” to make up the deficit. It didn’t help to be 45 minutes late for the 4am restart, though.
Martin Fraser-McKenzie of Gone Racing (#30) was wincing back to the TA, supported by his teammate, as his foot problem had gotten serious, swollen with a suspected hairline fracture. The remaining pair continued to race unranked.
Other teams commented on the previous night’s biking, the “hardest 90km ride of my life” for Ecobound, while Race Miere (#36) said the final 10km “wasn’t a dirt road, it was an amalgamation of loose gravel, a cruel and unusual punishment!”
We left the CP eventually, and passed the last six teams making their way into the canyon. They were spaced all the way up the track to the TA, with Ubhejane right at the rear, moving very slowly. They were finding it tough, but the canyon was going to be a whole other level of challenge. We hoped they’d survive as a team.
It’s unusual to see an adventure racing team with black competitors, and Ubhejane have been receiving a lot of encouragement from all quarters for the positive example they are setting. In Expedition Africa, the only previous black participant had been in the Hermanus edition in 2011, and while black participation is obvious in road running events, there has been substantial growth in kayaking endurance events like the Dusi canoe marathon, in trail running, and is on the increase in mountain biking. Adventure racing has always had a high cost of entry, so black participation can be greatly enhanced by sponsorships and training events.
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