Leaving Johannesburg late on Friday afternoon (6 May), we practiced sleep deprivation by driving through the night, arriving at Onrus caravan park around 11:00 on Saturday morning.
After a trip into Hermanus for the best fish and chips in the country, followed by registration, Saturday afternoon was spent getting kit organised and socialising with other teams. The first race briefing took place that evening, with team introductions, and maps for the first half of the race were handed out. Wayne and Rob did a thorough job of plotting routes, sticking maps together and waterproofing.
On Sunday morning, we had a compulsory kit inspection and started packing properly, spending a lot of time putting our bike boxes together (reinforcing and waterproofing with duct tape and black bags) before brunch. The bike boxes acted as a third race box, as we could put all our cycling kit and any clothes in there. This proved valuable as our two race boxes were filled to capacity.
I packed our race food into zip lock bags, carefully dividing it into 4 days, while the guys attended the midday Q&A briefing. It was decided at the meeting that the use of social media would be limited, as the organisers were concerned that cellphones could be used to access GPS. This scuppered our plans of keeping friends and family up to date throughout the race – we had developed quite a Twitter following. However, because the phone we planned on using for Tweeting had no GPS capability, it was decided that we would tweet, but only in transitions, much to the relief of our families. We enjoyed Twitter for another reason though, as we were able to keep up to date with what was happening at the front of the race. We watched the battle between Merrell and Cyanosis with interest.
Sunday afternoon was spent carefully packing our backpacks and race boxes, after Rob put together a race plan outlining which box we would see where and what food/clothes should go into each. Food packs had to be re-packed into 6 bags as it made more sense to have a bag per 12 hours, not per day. We carefully estimated times out on each leg, but were proved wrong throughout the race!
On Sunday evening, we were given dinner, followed by a final race briefing and early to bed.
Leg 1: 14km Hike
Blown away
Race day (Monday, 9 May) dawned cold and windy. 22 teams were bussed into Hermanus and sheltered in the doorways of shops while waiting for first light and the start of the expedition. With the wind howling, Kinetic called off the ocean paddle and the first leg was adjusted slightly so that we started about midway through the first hike, and had to hike down the coast towards Onrus, before turning back up into the hills of the Fernkloof nature reserve where it felt like we were going to be blown off the mountain.
We took it easy on the first leg, restraining ourselves from running and keeping up with the other teams. This proved a good strategy, as some teams that went out fast blew later on in this massive race. Pacing is everything.
We finished Leg 1 in 16th place, with a group of teams in sight as we got onto the water for the shortened paddle on the estuary.
Leg 2: 16km paddle (it was meant to be 26km)
Wind, waves and weed
Paddling into a heavy headwind, we had a stormer of a paddle, passing 6 teams. Sitting in the front of the Fluid sit-on-top, I enjoyed the big waves. Boat handling skills made all the difference. Wayne and I generally led the way, with Rob and Alec – the heavier boat – riding slip just behind.
At the top of the estuary, we struggled a bit to find the channel that would take us into the river, from where it was a slog up to Stanford, which felt like it was taking forever to arrive.
The paddle took us 2 hours 45 minutes.
Leg 3: 36km hike
“Romantic” beach hike
We quickly discarded our wet clothes in transition, trying to get away before the teams behind us arrived. We had only taken 2 mins out of Rust Proof.
A quick loop around Stanford and a stop at Spar for supplies led us onto a flat sand road that followed the river back down towards the coast. The first half of the hike was easy going on hard district roads, although our feet were starting to take strain. We set a steady pace, not too fast. Do It Now came jogging past about half way down the sand road, and
Bad Medicine caught up to us when we stopped to rest our feet. By the time we got to the gate of the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, 2 teams had caught up to us, as Alec stopped to duct tape his feet. The first CP on the beach was at Sopie’s Klip, a beautiful spot.
We played cat-and-mouse with these teams throughout the beach hike as it started to get dark. Some of the other racers took off their shoes to walk on beach, but we elected not to. I’m still not sure whether this was a good idea or not. By not stopping to take off our shoes and then again to clean feet of sand before putting shoes on again, we saved time, but walking barefoot may have given respite to our aching feet. As we entered Die Kelders, the outer suburbs of Gansbaai, we were all in serious pain, the guys battling with blisters and me with a pain in the arch of my foot. Rob had to pull me along by the hand in order to keep up.
We struggled through the suburbs and onto the beach path with another team close by, and led them to a CP on a wooden bridge. The other team found a better path out, while we bundu bashed through fynbos, and would’ve snuck through someone’s backyard to get back to the road if the burglar alarm had not gone off. Needless to say, we found another route.
We made it to transition ahead of the other two teams, where Aderick the medic made a warm bath with anti-inflammatory gel for our aching feet. Instant noodles and tuna were awesome before we headed out for the epic 140km ride at 22:20.
Leg 4: 140km cycle
Ever heard of Elim?
We started out relatively fast, until we turned onto sand roads and the mist descended. Going was pretty slow after that, as we wanted to pace ourselves for the long ride ahead. We passed Do It Now sleeping next to the road, but they passed us again just as we stopped to rest.
Tuesday, 10 May
At about 01:30, we set up our emergency shelter next to the road and wrapped up in our sleeping bags. As we were getting comfortable, a team rode past and commented on our tent. Unfortunately, condensation meant that we were all wet and cold. Only Wayne really got some sleep. After about 2 hours of shivering, during which another team came past, we packed up and moved on. The shelter is nice but takes too much time to set up and take down.
Just as it started getting light and we hit the halfway mark of the ride, we turned onto the tar road that took us towards the coast again, heading for a lighthouse in Quoin Point Nature Reserve. We followed an 8km jeep track through the dunes to get there, and it was tough going, with numerous dismounts (sometimes voluntary, sometimes not) in the soft sand. Letting our back tyres down a bit helped, but I found it exhausting.
The view at the lighthouse was stunning as we stripped off our thermal layers, and we could see seals just off the beach as we continued along the soft sand track to a caravan park, where we filled up with water. I was very relieved to get back on to proper roads.
The last 50km or so of the ride seemed to take an age. It was hot by this stage, and we were feeling the distance. We passed through Elim and took the wrong road, which cost us about 20 mins, and then through Wolvensgat, before heading up a big hill. I’d never heard of these places!
As the transition drew nearer, we all started to fade in the heat, and going was slow. This was the part of the ride where all the hills seemed to be concentrated as well.
We were delighted when Wayne said that there were 4km to go, but then realised that we’d taken an incorrect turn and had to back track a bit.
It was a relief to reach transition in a barn just after 13:00. The 140km cycle, although it was more like 150km, had taken us 15 hours.
We spent nearly 2 hours in transition, moving slowly because we were tired and wary of the monster hike ahead of us. In this time, we had a 30 min nap.
Leg 5: 47km hike
Misty mountains
Striking out from the dairy farm just before 15:00, we could see the radio tower for which we were aiming, only there was no evident path to get there, so we bundu bashed up the mountain (slow going) until we reached the contour path, which took us to the trig beacon for a CP, and then to the radio tower where the road was. We came across Do It Now (unofficial as they only had 3 members) between the trig beacon and the radio tower, going in the opposite direction. They had started the hike about 4 hours before us, and then got lost on the way up the mountain. Ouch. They picked up 2 new team members though, as a ridgeback and a schnauzer had followed them up the mountain
We started down the good quality road as it was getting dark, and decided to stick with it down into Napier rather than stay high and bundu bash to the next CP in the dark.
This proved a good move as we wandered into Napier at about 20:00 and stopped for a burger and chips at the only restaurant still open, called ‘Gunners’. The locals took a great interest in us.
We headed off into the night on the Elim sand road, and turned off when we came to a fence that would take us up the mountainside towards the CP. There was a track to follow for a while, but we soon had to bundu bash through the thick pine trees in order to stay next to the fence. It was steep and slippery as it had started drizzling, but we made it to the top to find the game fence that our fence intersected, and the CP. I felt sorry for the teams that had chosen to go over the top and track the game fence, rather than approach it from the bottom like we did. We heard that the path was treacherous up there. It took us a while to get down to the main road again, as we took a wrong turn.
We battled a bit to find the next CP at a farm gate, which was just off the main road. We were expecting it to be right on the road, but it had been placed inside the gate and a little to the side – a hint that we should follow the jeep track that it was marking.
Wednesday, 11 May
By this stage we were exhausted and there was some sleep walking taking place, so we elected to have a power nap before starting up the jeep track. We took refuge as best we could against a pile of logs, Wayne in his bivvy bag and Rob and I under a space blanket. It worked so well! We were toasty warm.
Feeling slightly refreshed, we started up the jeep track that led straight to the trig beacon where the next CP was. However, the mist came down and we could not tell which peak on our left was the highest, so we blundered off the track through the fynbos in the freezing mist – twice – in search of the trig beacon, which turned out to be 800m further along the track. We learnt that sticking to the road as far as possible is always a good option.
Shortly after finding the trig beacon, we felt the need for another power nap, and curled up in the fynbos. When we started to move on, the mist was thicker than ever and we were battling to find the right path with no means of orientating ourselves, so we gave up and decided to sleep until dawn when navigation would be easier. So we got about 3 hours sleep on the mountain that night.
At first light we backtracked to a place where it was open enough to see the surroundings, only to discover that we had been going in the right direction when we decided to call it a day in the dark. We had done a loop, and walked back through the field in which we had slept before we got onto the right road.
We dropped down on to the main road, along which we’d walk for a few kilometres before turning off again. It was when we stopped on the main road to take off our night-time layers that we encountered Bikes’nWines on their mountain bikes. They were then lying in 6th place, and had left the midway camp an hour previously. It was good to stop for a chat with racers who had done what we were about to do. They gave us some good advice about the remainder of the hike – that the gorge was the quickest way down the other side of the mountain, depending on how our legs were feeling – and told us about the pasta and malva pudding that awaited us at midway camp.
Then followed a long, rolling trek on a jeep track to a radio tower, from where we dropped down into the gorge that Bikes’nWines had mentioned. It was seriously steep and technical – very hard on sore legs. Rob had hiked in his new Innov8 boots, which caused his knee a lot of pain. We all battled down that steep gulley into Salmonsdam Nature Reserve.
Once back on the main road, the camera crew followed us for about 15 mins as we hobbled towards midway camp, filming us and asking questions. It was hard work not to grimace on film.
Midway camp
We arrived at midway camp at Beloftebos wedding venue – a really beautiful spot – at13:03, to cheers from Stephan and a crowd of marshalls. It was a relief to get there after 21 hours of hiking. Do It Now and Rust Proof came in about 45 minutes after us.
We rushed to get our bike boxes packed as Stephan had to take them straight away, then we tucked into our pasta, coke and malva pudding, which unfortunately did not fill our hungry stomachs, so we raided our cup-a-soup rations.
Then it was time for me to sort out my kit, pack bags and fill water bottles while Rob and Wayne sorted out the maps for the second half of the race. Aderick layered our legs in cooling gel before we lay down in our tents for about 2 hours sleep.
With half an hour before it was time to leave transition, we finished packing and Aderick strapped my and Rob’s knees. He bribed me for the rest of my pink kinesiotape, having gone through about 20 rolls of tape already.
Leg 6: 105km cycle
Dream-riding
We headed out from midway camp feeling refreshed. We made good progress despite a quick stop to test and get Rob’s blood sugar right and then a broken chain (Alec fixed it in 5 minutes), until the darkness and mist got the better of me. Mesmerised by the small spot of light in front of my bike and the smooth roads, I struggled with sleep monsters through most of this leg. Rob had to ride behind me and push me at stages in order to keep from riding off the road. We stopped for a power nap in an abandoned shed and again on the side of the road after we realised that we had missed a turning.
Wayne got us back on track after a slight detour, and we made our way through Greyton and Genadendale, where a nap was required on a the church doorstep, as I had just fallen off my bike for the second time while sleep-riding. Wayne judged it too dangerous for me to continue in that condition.
Thursday, 12 May
Do It Now caught up with us at this CP, and we cycled with them most of the way to the next transition. I seemed to have found some energy and pushed my pace in order to stay awake.
We got into transition at a barn on Uitvlugt farm at about 05:30, with Do It Now arriving shortly after us.
We packed our bike boxes, had some warm soup and hot chocolate (thanks to the gas cooker that we left in the race box) and slept until sunrise.
This 105km ride was nightmarish for me, and trying for my team, as I slowed the pace down to about 11km/hour. I have never experienced sleep monsters like that before!
Leg 7: 23km hike
An apple a day
We started at about 07:00 in thick mist, as Do It Now continued sleeping. Turning off the main road onto a good farm road, we made our way up and up and up.
This was one of the highlights of the race, as we climbed through endless apple orchards, munching on the freshest, better-than-Woolworths-tasting apples that we picked off the trees, while looking down onto the mist-shrouded valley and up into the clear sky. We had to peel off layers as we hit the sun line, though it was still freezing in the shade.
There was a brief moment of panic as Wayne thought that we had missed the first dam CP and had to go back down again, but it turned out to be higher up. We hiked along good roads past a quarry at another high dam, and then headed into the pine slopes where we met the very friendly farmer on his quad bike, who explained to us in detail how to get to the dam at the top of the mountain, and even drove there himself to show us where it was. He also explained how to find the jeep track that took us to the head of the gulley where the kloofing section was.
There were moments of doubt as we wound along this jeep track, and then some disagreement over how to get down into the kloof, but we got there eventually. After Alec and Wayne had a dip in the cold, clear pool where the ropes team was camped (what a beautiful spot), we scrambled down the gorge, doing two short abseils and a ‘pendulum’ swing cross a flat piece of sloping rock. It was tough going. Philip and his team had had to forge the route through the kloof and set up the abseils from scratch. Great job guys!
With Rob’s knee giving trouble and Alec sleepwalking, we made our way slowly through the grape vines into Villiersdorp, where we stopped for toasted sandwiches and slap chips, and bought rolls and tuna for dinner.
From there it was what felt like an endless walk along a tar road to the Theewater Sailing Club.
Leg 8: 14km paddle
Cold and wind
We arrived at transition just after 16:30 to find Energy, the team in ninth place, just getting off the water. The paddle had taken them 4 hours and the wind was pumping. Stephan had since shortened the paddle and given us a new map of the dam, as many teams had battled to find the checkpoints.
We rushed to put on as many warm and waterproof layers as possible and get onto the water while the light lasted.
I paddled with Rob, and Wayne and Alec followed. Paddling into a head/side wind was tough going, but we found the first CP on the bank with relative ease. Then it was back towards the bridge with the wind behind us. Rob and I had fun surfing the waves, getting to the CP as the light faded.
The wind had calmed down but it was still blowing as we headed back to the sailing club, and we froze.
At 19:20, we found Eric the photographer at the takeout of the paddle and we rushed to get the boats out and back to the warmth of the transition while shivering uncontrollably. Thank goodness for the hot showers at the club.
After warming up and putting on dry clothes, we dismantled our bike boxes and had some soup, followed by tuna rolls.
Fearful of another night fighting sleepmonsters, I pushed for a nap in transition. The guys wanted to carry on, but we were all tired, so we lay down on the mattresses for about 45 minutes sleep, wrapped in our sleeping bags that we had left in the race box.
Getting up was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Seriously.
While the guys sprang up to get ready to go, I could not move. I had to call Rob to literally drag me out of my sleeping bag and put me on my feet. The only thought that got me going again was that we were close to the finish. Only three legs to go!
Leg 9: 70km cycle
Homeward bound
Leaving transition at 22:20, we made good speed on this cycle. After a 140km ride two days before, this felt like a breeze. I had a Play energy drink near the start of the ride (I bought 2 in Villiersdorp as I didn’t want to slow my team down again, and shared the second with Alec, whose turn it was to wrestle sleep monsters) so was feeling strong.
We made good progress and I felt like I had finally got my temperature control right – pulling up sleeves and undoing the zips in my windproof jacket on the uphills, and then closing up again on the downhills.
We turned off the main road at Botrivier, disappointed that the shops were closed as we would’ve loved a cooldrink – and maybe a Red Bull.
Friday, 12 May
We continued on rough farm roads under a bright half moon, until we hit a main road and decided on a final power nap in a ditch next to the road. I must say that Rob and I were so impressed with our space blankets.
There remained a few steep hills to climb before we reached transition. At one CP we encountered a klipspringer that was disorientated by our lights.
We reached Hamilton Russell wine estate at 04:40, after bumping into Team Energy on their way out.
Leg 10: 7km hike – orienteering
Through the grape vines
We were freezing at the transition, and a kind marshall made us some coffee while we huddled around a fire before heading off on the final hike leg.
I was sleepwalking, and we had to lie down under the trees a couple of times for a few minutes rest, but we made good progress as Wayne and Rob navigated to all the CPs without incident. The sun rose as we turned back from the furthest CP towards transition, where Rust Proof (in 11th place) had just arrived.
We moved quickly in this final transition, as we knew that we were so close to the end.
Leg 11: 8km cycle
Relief and fulfilment
The ride down into Onrus was freezing, but we didn’t care as it took us less than half an hour.
What a relief to reach the finish line at 08:15 on Friday morning, greeted by cheers and Heidi’s “Mooi julle!” We had taken 97 hours to finish this expedition.
We were given tea, coffee and pizza and we sat down to report our experience to Heidi. My first priority was to get clean, followed by breakfast and sleep.
What an amazing and fulfilling experience. Thank you Heidi and Stephan for all your hard work in making this race happen and supporting us the whole way. Your love of the sport is evident and we are happy to be a part of it.
See you at Expedition Africa 2012.
Author: Amy Witherden | Team P.S.Hawkstone | Expedition Africa, 9-14 May 2011
Team PS Hawkstone: Wayne Smith, Alec Avierinos, Robert Crichton, Amy Witherden