The first big race of 2011, the Expedition Africa Adventure Race, is just four days away and Team Cyanosis are ready to race! The team, comprising of Clinton Mackintosh, Nathan Thompson, Jane Swarbreck and Nicholas Mulder have completed their final preparations and packing for this 500 km adventure along the Cape south coast. The race starts on Monday morning at sunrise in the picturesque town of Hermanus, with the winning team expected to finish late on Wednesday.
Cyanosis has had a good build-up to Expedition Africa. The last month has seen a plethora of good results from the team members. Three weeks ago, Nathan took top honours at the Joburg Metrogaine, a 90-minute rogaine around the streets of northern Johannesburg where he covered a ridiculously high 22km – this whilst map reading and answering check point questions at the same time! Nicholas and Jane teamed up and ran at a more steady pace to take honours in the mixed category as well as 2nd overall.
These results were followed up by a win at the Kinetic Adventure at Amazingwe Lodge (Hartebeespoort) the following weekend, with Nicholas, Nathan and Jane racing as Team First Ascent. Once again the Kinetic organisers, Stephan and Heidi Muller, put together a great 25km adventure race, their last before organising the Expedition Africa. The Easter long-weekend didn’t see any slowdown in training either. Jane went down to Cape Town and recorded an impressive 1h36 time at the Two Oceans Half Marathon. Nathan, Nicholas and Clinton put in some good long team rides back home in Johannesburg before competing at the Babbas Lodge mountain bike race on the Sunday, Nathan taking 4th place overall and Nicholas 6th.
The team is thus race ready and extremely eager to be up and racing at Expedition Africa. There will be an interesting balance of experience and youth in the team. Although Nicholas and Clinton have many years of expedition experience behind them, this will be the first expedition race for Nathan and Jane in such a highly-competitive team. Although both athletes have done numerous races over 250 and 300 kms in length, the additional distance is sure to challenge their physical and mental abilities. The lack of all-round experience has relegated Cyanosis to the unusual rank of underdogs in the race, one that they’ll be keen to drop however as they’ll still be aiming for a top placing. There will be some tough competition, most notably from teams Merrell Adventure Addicts and Jabberwock. An added factor to this equation is the British team Accelerate, whom Cyanosis have raced against regularly at previous international races in Portugal, Spain and Abu Dhabi.
The race is predicted to be fast and furious, with the winning team covering the full 500km distance in just over two full days. There has been much debate over which direction the race will go, but teams will need to wait until Saturday’s briefing to find out more details. In total, 22 four-person teams will line up on the start line. For updates on the race, visit www.kineticgear.co.za and their Facebook page as well as www.ar.co.za – the South African Adventure Racing website.
Team Cyanosis is proud to have the following brands supporting them:
– First Ascent outdoor apparel, Salomon adventure footwear, Petzl headlamps and Foodstate vitamins and supplements.
– Specialized bikes and accessories, Summit Cycles in Midrand, Form and Fitness sports supplements, Suunto field compasses and wrist-top computers, O’Neill wetsuits and Island Tribe sun lotion.