GARMIN Wartrail 2009

I survived my first WARTRAIL doing all 3!

	Summary
Nr.	Naam	Hike	Bike	Paddel	Total Time	Overall Place	Men	Ladies	Team Time	Team
1	ALEX AVIERINOS	14:25	8:34	5:29	28:28	11	10
2	GRAHAM BIRD	9:24	5:34	4:11	19:09	2	2
3	JEANNIE BOMFORD	9:31	6:24	4:41	20:36	4	0	1
4	JACQUES BOOYSEN	14:45	8:40	6:45	30:10	0	0		30:10	3
5	KAREL BOTHA	13:32	10:05	6:31	30:08	15	13
6	DIRK BOTHA	11:55	0:00	0:00	0:00
7	KATARINA BOVA	14:25	7:55	5:42	28:02	0	0		28:02	2
8	LAURA DE HAAST	13:25	8:42	6:45	28:52	14	0	2
9	MARTIN DREYER	0:00	5:30	0:00	0:00				19:09	1
10	ANDRE GIE	8:57	5:34	4:24	18:55	1	1
11	ROBERT GIE	0:00	0:00	0:00	0:00
12	GUY JENNINGS	13:33	6:19	0:00	0:00
13	EUGENE KELLY	14:45	8:40	6:45	30:10	0	0		30:10	3
14	BENEDICTUS KOK	13:22	0:00	6:31	0:00
15	DANIE LE ROUX	13:25	7:22	6:34	27:21	10	9
16	JACQUES MOUTON	0:00	0:00	0:00	0:00
17	CLARE MURPHY	14:50	0:00	0:00	0:00
18	LUCAS MTHALANE	13:11	8:33	4:23	26:07	9	8
19	TOM NGCOBO	fiets	0:00	4:12	19:09	0	0		19:09	1
20	THOMAS NGIDI	9:27	0:00	0:00	0:00				19:09	1
21	RAY O’BREE	13:33	8:25	6:45	28:43	13	12
22	RUSSELL OLSEN	14:25	7:55	5:42	28:02	0	0		28:02	2
23	ROLAND PEARCE	13:08	7:22	5:06	25:36	8	7
24	CRAIG POWELL	13:29	7:01	4:23	24:53	7	6
25	TATUM PRINS	14:25	0:00	5:04	0:00
26	JOE SEPHTON	14:50	0:00	0:00	0:00
27	DONOVAN SIMS	9:45	6:10	5:08	21:03	6	5
28	HANNO SMIT	9:31	5:45	4:21	19:37	3	3
29	KATE SOUTHEY	0:00	8:44	5:04	0:00
30	JUSTIN THEUNISSEN	9:28	6:05	5:06	20:39	5	4
31	PEET VAN ROOYEN	13:25	8:31	6:45	28:41	12	11
32	COBUS VAN ZYL	9:30	0:00	0:00	0:00
33	S ROSS	14:34	0:00	0:00	0:00
34	F ROSS	14:34	0:00	0:00	0:00
35	Barinda Botha	0:00	0:00	0:00	0:00

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The Garmin Wartrail has the most appropriate name of any event that I know off. Like warriors of ancient time, competitors go to war against their own personal limitations, against natures remote mountain ridges, against mountain passes and winding back roads, against remote river gorges where civilization has not yet made an appearance.
They do this in order to conquer the 65km Mountain Wilderness run, the 135km Mountain bike leg and the 60km paddle of the Garmin Wartrail.

This event is the perfect place to put Garmin units and software to the test. Many competitors would be lost without their Garmin units to guide them especially in poor weather conditions or when the sun disappears and darkness takes over. (gratuitous advertising, but true – ed)

Once again the field consisted of some of the top multi sport endurance athletes. For the first time in the history of this event we had development athletes competing. Martin Dreyer brought along three of his guys from the valleys of Natal to come challenge themselves against the Eastern Cape wilderness . They faced these first time challenges as brave warriors showing no fear despite not knowing what lay in store for them.

In the men’s category the competition was going to be fierce, due to the individual nature of this event. This allowed for usual team mates to push each other to the limits.

These male warriors have to however fend off the female warriors who like legendary amazons feel nothing for gender and want to claim the overall podium positions for themselves. (what’s this guy smoking – ed) The Garmin Wartrail levels the playing field as can be seen from the results for the past few years.

With an early race start at 4am the next morning there was not much socializing. Pretty soon the Country Club was deserted and everyone left to prepare themselves to enter the arena; natures own Coliseum.

As the race set off I was aware that there would be no dawdling today, these guys were serious, the pace was fast and furious.

The day was amazing. At Snowden all the racers had an Easter egg and a short break in honor of our fallen comrades, great men like Paul Mitchell and Philip Swanepoel that were role models to me and many of the racers.

With perfect weather and a fast field I got into Balloch; the end of the first stage; before nightfall. What a treat for the first time I as race organizer got to enjoy the ambiance and camaraderie of warriors around the camp fire during the truce of night. Margy Frost again fed the gladiators and their family and friends with her by now famous Shepard’s stew. With a later start for the Mountain Bike leg the competitors enjoyed some socializing under a perfect sky with the Balloch cave in the background to provide comfort and protection if needed.

The cycle leg that starts with a heartbreaking climb up and over Lundeans Neck started like day 1 fast and furious.

I soon caught up to Lucas one of Marty’s prodigies who prior to this event had never ridden a mountain bike for more that a couple of kilo’s. Here he was facing 135km of tough cycling terrain and I really thought he was in for a tough time. Boy was I wrong. He soon discovered the Lance Amstrong dancing on the pedals trick and stood every climb without sitting down just dancing on those pedals away from me and the other back markers until I lost sight of him until the end.

I as sweeper had a little character building experience when with about 50km to go my rear derailleur for some unexplained reason got sucked into my spokes and shattered into a blob of unusable aluminum. Thanks to the help of Jaco from the Merrel team I was able to convert my bike into a single speed and spin my way to the finish. Definitely a character builder.

Again I got to the end of stage 2 early due to the quality of the field. I embraced old friends – the village elders of Mdlokovane Village. This little rural village is literally at the end of the road. Beyond its boundaries there is nothing but wilderness for kilometers and kilometers. A remote part of our country. We arranged the porters to carry the kayaks down into the Orange River Gorge ready for the start at first light the following morning.

After the formal work was completed the Warriors once again enjoyed the truce brought on by nightfall and around the campfire war stories were shared and a great meal was enjoyed in the Sticks. Lizby once again put on a fantastic spread.

Day 3 and the warriors wound their way like a serpent down to the waiting kayaks at the bottom of the gorge. When we arrived at the mighty Orange I was expecting a torrent of water after the huge amount of rain that the area had experienced in the weeks prior to the race. We found a low and meek Orange that would make paddling the 60km to Aliwal tougher than expected.
It was again a pleasure to accompany the back paddlers to the finish at The River Side Lodge in Aliwal North. To see them conquer their demons and dig deep to grind swear and swim their way to the end always fills me with awe.

At the Lodge warriors finally could let down their guard the battle was over and they were successful.

Once again the race was an amazing success. I know that with Garmin by my side and this event constantly attracting the best of the best and the other courageous warriors who dare take on the Garmin Wartrail we can only get better.

I would never attempt organizing an event of this nature and in this type of terrain if it was not for my Marshals, assistants, medics, caterers and land owners.
They make it possible for us to experience the Garmin Wartrail. Thank you guys for everything you do for the event.

Garmin Wartrail is held to create awareness and generate funds for Aids Orphans and Home Based Care for those affected by the Aids epidemic in the region that we traverse. Its great that a company like Garmin is part of this amazing event making it possible for us to alleviate a little of those suffering from the effects of this devastating disease.

Well done to Andre Gie and Jeannie Bomford for taking the 2009 individual titles. Well done to Martin and his guys Thomas and Tom for taking the team title and a special well done to Lucas for being the first ever development athlete to complete the individual Garmin Wartrail after being thrown in the deep end.

Look out for the Garmin Wartrail on Super Sport thanks to Andrew King and his D4 Production Crew. See you next year.

Adrian

Extreme Ironing

New Years 2008

Extreme Dinner party on top of the Drakensberg next to the tugela falls, dropping 1km down.

TAR: Deutsche Bank Mauritius Cycle Tour

We arrived on the island and it was dark already, but what a relief seeing all the island's lights from the 747 as we came in for a landing. It was the start of the amazing race (1*) also known as T.A.R. and me and my dad was doing it as a team. In our luggage both of us had our road bikes packed into our old bull boxes witch came in quite handy.

Our first encounter with the locals made us realize we are no longer in Africa, the french Mauritians don't know how to pack a minibus taxi, so after we explained to them that we were from Africa and helped them pack our bikes, we were off. Driving with a Mauritian taxi driver at night can be quite a rush, they floor the petrol, especially in the smaller streets, and it feels like you are driving with a kamikaze pilot at times, but they get you where you want fast.

Next morning... we woke up in paradise, staying 10m from the beach it was an idyllic location where we spend days just lying on the beach, carbo loading with pina coladas and Mauritian rum. As my good friend Mark Twain said: "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius"

On race day we were taken by taxi from grand bay (north island) to the start at blue bay (south island), the island is quite big as it took us almost 2 hours to get to the start. The race route was 100km following the eastern coast line of the island from south to north, not going over the big mountains in the middle of the island.

The race started with 6 starting groups A-F with +-1000 participants from all over the globe. The scenery en route was very interesting as we went through rural fishing villages with all the locals cheering us on in french 'ale-ale!!'. My dad saw a Mauritian chasing a big lizard with a stick
over the road while i waved at the little children and took photos.

As we rode the terrain and coast changed all the time from rocky coast lines in between mountains to idyllic coral reef beaches without any waves to beaches with big j-bay waves, they have it all. We also rode past a weird section were you see strange volcanic heaps of rock appearing at random places in a sugarcane field, this was caused by volcanic activity when the island was formed.

I stayed with my dad all the way doing this amazing ride and we arrived at the "arrivée" french for finish as a team. Life was good and we spend the rest of our days tanning on the beach and snorkeling after pipe fish and other beautiful fischies in the clear turquoise blue Mauritian waters...

Da Mauritian Mummy

(1*) The Amazing Race, sometimes referred to as TAR is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race

PS: The island is not flat and has quite a few high mountains overgrown with tropical trees and plants and would make an awesome location for an AR with sea paddling between islands in the calm sea and mountains to climb, they even host a mountain bike festival (http://www.otayo.com/mountain%20bike%20festival.htm

).

Bull Of Africa 2008 - Transkei (7 day non-stop Expedition AR)

http://www.bullofafrica.com/

By Eugene Kelly (One of my Team Members)

We cannot come up with enough superlatives to describe my BOA 2008 experience, and here the credit can all be showered upon Hano and his team. Amongst all the teams we as the back-markers are the hardest to please and most definitely the hardest to manage from a logistics point of view. For my experience I’m sure I am not alone in saying that I am eternally grateful.

At times despite being literally days behind we were still allowed to test our mettle against the very same course obliterated by the top teams. We as Team Nubi did not short course ourselves but instead, like a few other like-minded teams – The Girls, Katbergers and Thule who we grew to love, we plodded on against the best Hano had to offer:

Through the maze of Lantana snares and Thorn, prickle, spike and spine barriers we did toil, our blood spilled on the very same soil trodden by USN and Mccain albeit a few days before.

We learned every lesson BOA 2008 taught (Yes this is synonymous with making every mistake there was to be made), but we came out all the stronger. Our team stayed intact despite all the hardships, and for this I am proud to say I was a part of it! In a race where there is such a high dropout rate, the personal and interpersonal discovery is so immense, it blows my mind every
time I think about it.

In preparing for a race of this nature, through the endless shopping trips, training sessions and umpteenth worries, one starts to wonder whether it is at all worthwhile. Then the AR Gods throw yet another curveball in your direction in the form of an injury, just to further test your commitment. This is in between all the team struggles that took us almost a year to overcome. So this is why as Hano said the biggest challenge of all is to get to the start line!!!

Eugene Kelly

Vit-T-Go Afriman Duathlon 2008

A duathlon with a difference, the Vit-T-Go Afriman Duathlon 2008 was hosted at Maropeng, the Official Visitor Centre for the Cradle of Humankind.
I did the Afriman: 14km Run 80km Bike 7km Run, and it was fun.

http://www.maropeng.co.za/index.php/calendar/entry/vit_t_go_afriman_duathlon_2008/