*
*Prelude*
'Are we gonna do it?', Pablo asked.
'We might as well', came the answer from G-man without even thinking about
it.
I was already entered for the Transbaviaans the next weekend, and it's
probably not the wisest thing to do two sleep-deprived xtreme-ish events two
weekends in a row. But the 10'th SwaziXtreme was also going to be the last,
and I had some unfinished business with that race. When Theuns chose
kilimanjaro above racing with his favourite team, we roped Mummy-man in.
G-mans sister and brother-in-law was going to be the seconds.
But 2 days before race-day the seconds' kid landed himself on a drip in
hostpital, and we were frantically searching for last-minute seconds. At
18:00 on 5 August, the day before we left, we were still Secondless in
Swaziland and making all kinds of plans to second ourselves. By some miracle
we sourced 2 lastminute seconds that seemed very willing (and even eager) to
be our slaves for the weekend. One of them still had to collect his passport
the next morning ... but the race was on.
Anyway ... so we got at the race venue long after dark. Excellent feast that
Darron organised for us ... then race briefing. It was gonna be a long 3
days. Did we train anough? oh well - too late now. We decided to only go for
the compulsory points and take the 2-hour penalty for missing the optionals
- to try make the distance more doable.
*Day 1*
Hike about 10 kays
Cycle about - 40?
Paddle about 15 kays on a canal; includes a 21-point turn to get into the
flume
Hike 7 kays
<*sport *people go to bed, *pro *people continue>
Hike 20 kays
Bike 40 kays
Race started 6 on Friday morning. Was great to see so many familiar faces
out there: the D&D team of oupa Gerrit & Brendan, team Bad Medicine, lickety
split. The stronger teams collected OPs while we went for CPs only, so we
were fortunate to see teams like Jabberwock out there!
Here's Pablo carrying his bike over the last obstacle just before the paddle
- G-man rode some of this, but he was in front of me so i couldn't get a pic
of him - for some or other reason Mummy-man and Pablo refused to ride it.
At the start of the night-hike we took a wrong route, so decided to use an
aardvark-hole to get under the electrical fence, rather than going back the
1k. Here's mummy beneath the fence with g-man and p keeping him away from
the shocking part of the fence.
There were lots of warnings about hippos and crocs - Red Ants caught us
while we were taking this picture - we kept up with them for about a kay -
then their lights disappeared in the distance.
We hiked for a very long time, then climbed a mountain and hiked some more.
Finally got to the bikes. seconds left some cheesies and a packet of
biscuits with the bikes - much appreciated and quickly devoured. We tackled
the downhills - but the sleepmonster attacked me badly, so I don't remember
much of this. We did sleep for 10 minutes or so, i think. 'Twas daylight by
the time we reached the camp again. Requested breakfast from the seconds
before we quickly collected the last MTB CP for thsi leg (while other teams
were still discussing where it should be) and then tucked into bacon and
eggs. we started day2 about 2 hours late.
*Day 2*
Cycle about 10k very scenic, flat and on mostly singletrack - yaay
River paddle about 25 kays with crocodiles, rapids and a few swims
Hike 20 kays in the rain and most of it in the dark - but it felt like 50
kays
<*sport *people go to bed, *pro *people continue>
<*pro lite* people decide to skip the night-bike and night-hike in the rain, and rather get some sleep>
The first cycle to the river-put-in was very enjoyable. the sun was up, the
sleepmonsters gone and the eggs & bacon went down well.
River paddle was great!
The boat was heavy, so the portages was tiring. We fell out a few times, and
seemed to be a sandbank-magnet - but a very enjoyable paddle. Met up with
team Numa Optics who had a shoulder-incident in one of the rapids - we were
exchanging names, contact details and painkillers when the race helicopter
noticed the patient under the space blanket, so we could leave the scene and
fall out of our boats again.
A short rest, then onto the hiking leg. a very pretty rainbow and dark skies
warned of a wet night. Soon it was night again. Sleepmonsters came out
again, but there was no chance of powernap - we had to keep moving to keep
warm. A convoy of seconding vehicles past us with the bad news that the
transition was still 8 kays away. It felt like 20.
We finally arrived to a hot potato-and-minc-meal prepared by the
lastminute-seconds. yum. chocolates, and then decision-making-time: do we
want to go mtb, then hike, be out there in the rain all night .... or maybe
do the sport-thing and sleep. We opted for sleep. seconds drove to where the
next campsite would have been and pitched camp. too soon it was morning -
the 3rd day.
*Day 3*
hike 20 kays
bike 80 kays
how hard could this be?
To soon it was the morning of day 3. Having not done 2 of the pro legs, we
were now on the *SwaziX Pro Lite* course. Here we arrive on a soccerfield -
not much navigational skills needed here, we were escorted to the point.
A beautiful hike with some spot-on navigation by Pablo and G-man - we even
managed to collect quite a lot of optional points :) Here they are
discussing a particularly interesting option:
Then we went down into the kloof - here's g-man on one of the more technical
descents:
We waited for a long time at the jumar - about 3 hours. Could have caught
some sleep - but it was daylight and we didn't feel any need after last
night's 4 hours. Here's the Gigima-guys checking out the girls on the jumar
A quick jump in a pool, a very pretty hike out of the kloof, and we reached
the transition before sunset. The seconds had a hot meal ready.
Here's Handsome in his seconding outfit - we never saw the pompom-dance,
though, cos we arrived too late :(
We fitted lights. Navigation was going to become much more difficult with
roads that aren't on the map, raod ont he map that dont' exist anymore, and
villages where there were nothing 20 years ago when the map was printed.
So off we went. Some excellent navigation from G-man to find the first
control that was blown over by the wind. Then down a very technical rocky
descent that the Trance kind of didn't want to ride. Saw Red ants briefly.
Then up ont he other side, equally rocky and technical - so we had to carry
the bikes up. More excellent navigation from Gman fr the next control.
Finally out of the gorge, met up with Alex P (Cipralex), then onto more
ridable roads. The rest of the night is a blur - we might have slept once or
twice for 10 minutes at a time. At some stage I became aware of light again
- it was the 4th morning.
*Day 4*
*
*
Actually, this was still part of day 3. but the sun was up, we were on
cattletracks and it was a beautiful day. WE were tired and feet were swollen
in protest to the abuse, but the map looked up - no more hike&bikes and no
more deep gorges. Sometime during the morning P got had to fix a puncture.
Here we are taking a break jsut before we discovered the puncture - kind of
tired.
Red Ants and Cipralex caught us about here - we did see them a few more
times before they disappeared off into the distance. Then we disappeared
into the distance too - it was such a good sight to see the finish venue!!!!
*Prologue*
We had to pack & leave immediately to try catch G-man's flight back to
C-town. The seconds drove us back - none of us were in a state to drive. We
missed the flight anyway :(
- Would I have liked to complete the full race (and not convert ourselves
to the 'light' option?) No. I don't think i'm made for these extreme events
- the sleepmonster is not my friend.
- Would I race with G-man, Pablo or Mummy-man again? Absolutely! Well,
maybe 'race' is too strong a term ... but i'd tackle any adventure with any
of them any time!!! Not only for their endurance and physical ability - nor
for the excellent navigational skilles (we managed to stay with far stronger
teams on that last night-leg, because we always knew where we were) - but
most of all for their ability to handle sleep-deprived people (read: me) -
for their very strong wills to face whatever, and endure it (cos complaining
won't help) - for their calmness even when there's no hint of a second the
day before the race, for their ability to adapt to any situation and see
solutions in everything - for being so tired, yet still being so kind and
funny and helpful and resourceful - *team Yoshimi -* *you guys rock!*
- Would I recommend posting desperate please on the mailinglist for
seconds? hell yes - hours before we left, we still haven't confirmed any
seconds - and those that we got, were super! thank you Heinrich and
Handsome, not only for the hot meals and being our slaves, but for the sense
of humour, for innocently asking if we were considering getting any optional
points, and for keeping yourselves busy when we took to long to get to
transitions.
- Life is Good!
