Where to begin writing…
I’ve been out and about and away from the midway transition since this morning. I swung past T5 first. On the road we saw Sweco riding fast and strong. Not even two minutes later Omjakon came flying past – looking very focused.
Then, in transition we found Merrell Adventure Addicts in transition and facing a tough decision. SanMari Wolthe’s feet are trashed.I didn’t see them as they’d already been tended to but Donovan Sims says that there’s barely a toe without a blister. Aside from the pain and agony that she is going through, this had a big impact on the team’s speed, especially on foot. Don says that they were moving at 24min/km on good, open tracks.
Speaking of Donovan… When I got there he was lying down on the lawn, the wound on his leg being attended to by one of the race medics. He got this gash (left shin, below knee in the nice fleshy meat to the outside) when he came off his bike before T2 – the first cycle (the team had missed a CP and went back to get it – this was when he fell). People at the transition report – reliably for sure – that when Merrell came in, Don’s wound was “fizzing through the layers of bandage”. Needless to say the medic did some intensive cleaning and disinfecting – anaesthetic free. I gave a brave Don my hand to squeeze as the medic wiped and prodded and cut.
But, what Don says is even worse is his left calf. When he came off the bike the pedal swung around and slammed into his calf muscle. He’s got a haematoma happening there.
According to Wiki…
“Hematomas can occur within a muscle. Some hematomas form into hard masses under the surface of the skin. This is caused by the limitation of the blood to a subcutaneous or intramuscular tissue space isolated by fascial planes. This is a key anatomical feature that prevents such injuries from causing massive blood loss.”
His calf is rock solid and he says that every step and pedal turn works and elongated the muscle and works on the haematoma. Though the gash has been sore he says this actually worse.
“If we continue, then I carry on,” he says, “but if we don’t then it is probably better to get these sorted out”.
Talking to Don about the hike he said it was seriously challenging. They spent time looking for a way out, heading up from CP26 (keeping in mind they did the full hike with CP26 – Keith’s Bush Camp) included. This was at night and they bashed around until they got up. He says it was a bit of a bugger that teams approaching could see their headlamps and just take the same route. Such it is. There was no trail, he says, so they just bashed their way through.
The team is obviously disappointed to withdraw but such is the nature of this sport.
Then we headed up the road to the base of the abseil point, which is a beautiful waterfall cascade of four or five drops. The climb up is pretty steep, on typical grassy tussocks with a dash of rock scrambling. At the base of the first waterfall we spotted Capestorm WCAD. I didn’t get to speak to them then as they were across the other side of the stream from me but they looked A-ok. I did see them later as they came into T5 looking really, really good. My gut feel (not from number crunching) is that they have probably been one of the most steady and consistent teams in this race – together with Olympus and Castle Lite – both of whom where not far behind.
By the time WCAD were down the first drop we were on our way up again and as we got to the top we saw Olympus coming down towards the CP. They’re all quite tired so it is rather funny watching them getting into their harnesses. The minds are crunching quite slowly.
Alex Wagner was saying that this stage was very tough and challenging in the dark. Aside from being pretty tired, the team is in excellent spirits and they’re all in pretty good condition. Obviously sore feet and legs, but good. This is Kelly Hess’ second adventure race ever and although her legs and feet are sore, she’s all smiles. Alex says too that Tim keeps falling asleep. He is being teased mercilessly by his teammates.
Next up, Black Diamond. We continued up to the top of the plateau and saw two teams approaching. First was Black Diamond. I don’t know the teammembers with the exception of James Lea-Cox, who is their navigator. They too were looking surprisingly good and strong on foot. James reiterated the difficulty of finding their way but they seem to have had a good, clean route.
Black Diamond and Castle Lite left together last night. James and Adrian Saffy figured that two heads would be better than one. I think they spent most of the hike together, splitting apart later. Castle Lite are looking a little worse for wear. Adrian is dead-man-walking. He only slept for 1.5hrs at T6 (within their 6hr mandatory stop) and he can barely keep his eyes open. He spent his time in transition prepping their maps, packing bike away and such. He’s pretty wasted. There’s no doubt that they’ll spend some time at T5 to sleep for at least 90 minutes. The others can get Addy’s bike and stuff ready. Their cycle route is already plotted so no need for any map fiddling.
Christo Viljoen has been struggling with diahorrea since during Wednesday. He’s not the only one as I’ve heard of a number of other racers with upset stomachs – vomitting sometimes added to the mix. Christo hasn’t been able to get much down, even water, so he is feeling drained. Craig Powell has been carry Christo’s pack while he recovers. Christo said he tummy was starting to come right so he’ll get some food in at transition – his first food in almost 24hrs. He’s an experienced, strong and steady racer so he’ll no doubt return the favour to help his teammates as he recovers his strength.
Laura de Haast, in Castle Lite, is the wife of Mike de Haast, from Pure Adventures. They were way, way back and I heard from Heidi at around 07h30 that they hadn’t even reached CP14 at Tugela Rapids! The marshals were waiting for them. Laura asks after him when I see them and I’ve had little to no news for her. We’re all curious about what that team has been doing. [Looking on the KineticGear FB page I see that as of 5hrs ago or so the team was cycling through to T4 – so they finally made it off the water!]
On Addy’s navigation… Christo says Addy has been absolutely spot-on, even in his sleep-deprived state. Addy has guided his team through beautifully. Castle Lite, and Black Diamond (and WCAD) were on the modified trekking leg with CP26 eliminated. Even so, Christo says it was challenging and that in the dark teams are going to really, really battle.
After seeing them we headed down. Dark clouds overhead and the afternoon not far from drawing to a close.
Piet van Tonder, a local racer and brother of Ina du Preez (Fox on Fire) drove through from Lesotho last night to surprise his sister. He just caught them at T4. He came through to the abseil this evening so we quizzed him as to the location of teams on the tracking.
“Popcorn,” he says. “It’s like popcorn up there with teams all over the plateau.”
I see from tracking now that they are off the abseil and heading for the last CP on this trekking leg.
There’s no doubt that this short hike is tougher than the first. I’m not sure it is because they’ve got so many kilometres in their legs and are physically and mentally fatigued; or whether it just much harder going – navigationally too.
Silva Haglofs are on the final trek – a 25 kilometre stretch from the Sterkfontein Dam to the finish back at the Orion Mont-aux-Sources Hotel. Stephan has said that this is a really stunning hike – not that they’ll see much in the dark. He spoke of difficult but open terrain that the teams can traverse to get them through to the end. This hike could take Silva 4-5hrs to complete. They’ll be in later tonight.
You’ll notice that teams are paddling a bit differently to how the line is drawn on the tracking. That CP has been removed and so the route is straight across the dam. About 6km, I’m told. Every team coming through here will do this same paddle.
The photographer than I’m travelling with, Soren Nielsen, is here to photograph Merrell Denmark. They left midway camp to start this hike around 4am and with the hike taking a good 16hrs, we knew we wouldn’t catch them today. So Soren has kept me company as we’ve cruised the route. His team’s tracker hasn’t been working since T4 so we’ve got no idea where they are. They left T4 sandwiched between PennyPinchers and Rusty.
That’s the news I have for you. With the field so spread and teams out in the mountains for a long, long time (inaccessible) I’m only seeing a smattering of teams here and there. I’ll be here again tonight, heading out to hunt teams again in the morning. Till then.