This was the first time the team raced together in this particular combination, although the guys did race together at Double Moon earlier in the year. For this one, the Team comprised of Brian Gardner (aka Briyani), the original member of Team Red Ants, Christiaan Greyling (aka Ystervark), Landie Greyling (aka Generaal Greyling) and Alex Pope (Pop e blister). The team was well balanced with mostly equal strengths, two top navigators and strong on foot.
We had come to Expedition Africa very fired up, and keen to mix it up at the sharp end of the race. Being part of the AR World Series in 2012 made it even more of an attractive race for us to compete against the world’s best.
Position: 2nd
Total race time: 75 hours and 3 minutes
Distance: 500km of grueling tough stuff AR
Course breakdown:
|
Leg discipline |
Km |
Our pre-race predicted leg time (with Transition time included) |
Actual race leg time |
Transition time (after leg) |
| Run |
17 |
02:30 |
01:46 |
00:07 |
| Paddle |
23 |
03:15 |
02:31 |
00:06 |
| Hike/run |
23 |
03:30 |
04:08 |
00:16 |
| Paddle |
17 |
02:45 |
02:12 |
00:17 |
| Hike/run |
18 |
03:00 |
03:23 |
00:06 |
| Paddle |
23 |
03:15 |
04:04 |
01:03 |
| MTB |
82 |
08:00 |
06:40 |
00:21 |
| Hike/ropes |
3 |
02:00 |
01:56 |
00:18 |
| MTB |
47 |
05:00 |
03:18 |
05:02 (midway) |
| MTB |
129 |
13:00 |
11:54 |
00:22 |
| Paddle |
20 |
03:00 |
03:38 |
00:13 |
| Hike |
58 |
15:00 |
17:01 |
00:50 |
| MTB |
44 |
04:30 |
03:33 |
– |
| Totals |
504 |
73:45 |
66:04 |
09:01 |
Leg 1 – 17km Run (setting the pace)
On Monday morning at 5:45am teams were transported with Ciskei taxis from their cozy hotel rooms to a cold start at the Bathurst Toposcope for the adventure of a lifetime. A typical African landscape greeted us with cows scattering away from a hovering chopper. This start was selected as the race organizers wanted to illustrate the entire course from this bird’s eye view.
We set off at a steady pace, immediately leading the orienteering section and collecting all the points before we took the safer option from OP6 to Transition (T) 1, taking a path on the map, instead of along the shores of the Bathurst Stream Dam, where there was “an unknown shortcut”. This 3km safer option put us 13 minutes behind Merrell at T1, who knew about the shortcut path from the locals. Never-the-less we had a quick transition, (still unsure of our position) and set paddle to the water with haste!
Leg 2 – 23km Paddle (Hang in there)
It takes about 1 paddle stroke to move these heavy red ships 1m forward in fast flowing water. So it’s not hard to calculate that we had to force our paddles about 23 000 times into the Kowie river in only the first of the four paddling legs. We were moving fast, now aware of our competition just a few hundred meters ahead of us. We paddled along this water mass showcasing the best lodges on the river banks. Due to an unfortunate stomach bug we had to stop for quite a while before we cruised into CP1 at Halyards Hotel. We were very disappointed that the sea section of this leg was cancelled due to 3m swells. This had us running through the town of Port Alfred to the original planned transition at Kelly Beach. Another quick transition and barely touched our fully stocked race box. These race boxes were about to become our best friends and saviors in the next couple of days!!
Leg 3 – 23km Run (Already! Why are we doing this?)
We set off on a run from the Kelly Beach in Port Alfred towards Kenton-on-Sea, which many local people have never attempted in their lives! This hike leg took us over the most beautiful green rolling hills, past the Glendower rock beacon tower and many herds of happy looking cows… reminding us of scenes on the Wild Coast. We settled into a steady pace as we pushed on towards Kenton-on-Sea. The last obstacle of the leg being a quick swim across the wide, strong flowing Kariega River. We immediately got washed into the lagoon due to a strong incoming tide, and had to battle with heavy backpacks to get our exhausted bodies to transition on the other side.
Leg 4 – 17km Paddle (Elephant sighting)
We started this leg just after 4pm, with the tide pushing in, knowing that we still had a long way to go before sunset. We changed paddling combinations from the 1st paddling leg, with Landie & Brian now paddling together, and managing to keep up with Alex and Christiaan. About 4km down the river we unexpectedly paddled upon a herd of elephants enjoying their afternoon next to the river. We briefly stopped to savor this beautiful moment and appreciate our amazing country. For one small moment, the race was no longer priority! Cruising slowly past these peaceful giants is a moment we will never forget, and certainly an AR moment for the memory banks! The rest of the leg passed by stroke for stroke without too much hassles, except that Landie got extremely cold when the sun set. Luckily transition and dry clothes came quicker than expected, just before the light faded!
Leg 5 – 20km Run (Moonlight hiking)
After a quick recoup in transition, we put on the pace again and ran off into the moonlight. The navigation at first was simple, only having to follow a gravel road. However, after about 2 hours it got quite tricky. We lost a bit of time looking for the path that leads to the river when a dense fog settled in the bright moonlight. Fortunately we didn’t lose motivation and with some good navigation we found the path along the river, and spotted Team Merrell’s headlamps on the river, already on the next paddle. We greeted them with a whistle and carried on for what seemed like forever until we reached our happy place, Transition 5. With no crate and no mercy we made this a quick transition.
Leg 6 – 23km Paddle (MudMonster!!!)
When you ever think “This is hard” – it will only get harder. As we start paddling in a dense fog with a bright moon, thoughts of paddling 23km’s in the next few hours were hard to accept… and at that moment we hit a mud-bank… which stretched for the next kilometer! This certainly tested our sense of humor, as we got wet and muddy all over dragging our boats through the mud! We finished this leg at 2:15am, exactly as planned by our clued-up navigators, but pretty tired, cold and wet. To top this paddle, we had to carry the boats uphill to the Bushmans River Town Hall transition area. By this time, we were in full song: “I want to ride my bicycle….”
Leg 7 – 80km MTB (The crash)
After a fairly long transition with a hot chocolate and good food to recover from the cold water we dashed out with our mountain bikes, 3 Panniers and a Giant. We decided on no sleeping for the first night and with the right mindset we set a steady pace. Up and down, corrugation, sore bums, sleepiness and so we went on and on with no stop until we saw the first farm worker in the pitch dark on his bicycle we realized that day break is near. At this moment Landie took an unfortunate crash on a downhill due to the hard corrugation suddenly becoming a sandbank. Her helmet shattered into the form of a puzzle and there we sat… all 4 in the middle of the road. What now? A quick check with a headlamp in her eyes showed no signs of concussion and tough and competitive as she is we carried on after a quick dusting off. The concerned farm worker on the bicycle brought the crash under a farmer’s attention and he drove all the way to check whether we were all fine. Still wonder if he could see the sleep deprivation in our eyes, and wondered, “What are these people doing here so early in the morning?”
Leg 8 – Ropework & Kloofing (So, this is why we are doing AR?)
This was a world-class setup with bridge crossing that got the adrenaline engines going again! Brian broke the fear with crossing first, but falling twice off the line! Giving the rest of us the jitters, and no hope of a safe crossing… Luckily we learned from his mistakes and balanced ourselves safely across and zipped down the 50m abseil. Thankfully not making history on a famous bridge; that already claimed 34 lives before.
After an exciting how-steep-can-it-get kloofing section we arrived back at Transition just in time to see team Olympus riding into the rope work transition.
Leg 9 – 47km MTB (Lekker downhill)
After having successfully completed the rope work section, we were back on our bikes pushing hard. The first few km’s of this ride were uphill, but soon that all changed, and the long flowing downhills (and midway camp) were within sight. We don’t know whether this was real downhill or just the image of the Midway camp that kept us focused, but we managed to reach midway camp one hour ahead of our schedule (bringing us into Midway camp at exactly 15:42 on Tuesday afternoon), and were relieved by the complete oasis of food and luxury that we received here!
On arrival at midway camp, our bikes were whisked away from us for a spit and polish by The Cycle Asylum. These guys did a great job getting our bikes clean and lubed, ready for the longest MTB stage of the race. With 5 hours compulsory stop at Midday camp, our strategy was in place: eat, re-pack, shower, sleep for 3 hours, get-up and race!
Alex and Brain, having not set an alarm, and hoping to be woken by the marshals (who they gave strict instructions to wake them up), were instead woken up by a furious Generaal Greyling who stormed into their room asking why they are still sleeping when we only have 8 minutes left until 5 hours was up!! Despite trying to explain their predicament to the Generaal, and blame shift to the marshals who didn’t wake them up, she was having none of it, and told them again that we have 8 minutes to get out of there and not waste precious time! Enough said, let’s just say Alex and Brian have NEVER woken up, and jumped on their bikes in such quick time!
At 20:42pm our 5 hour holiday was over and off we went… (not before Alex forgot his backpack, but at least realized 100m down the road!)
Leg 10 – 128km MTB (What a sunrise!!!)
We knew the 128km bike was going to be a long one, and heading out of midway camp into the black of night, we were under no illusions. The kilometers rolled by fairly uneventfully, and we found the Nav very straight forward all the way. Then, our one and only mechanical of the race, the Ystervark had a gear shifting failure. His entire shifter had come right off, and we spent half an hour putting it all back together with leatherman in hand (after searching for a small nut on the road for 10 minutes!). We finally got it sorted and were back on our way. The early morning hours and kilometers ticked by until we were greeted by the most amazing sunrise. The sky glowed orange for 20 minutes before the sun finally showed up. It was a fantastic sight, and one which spurred us on to Hamburg with much enthusiasm. We did attempt what looked like a good short cut at one point, but this ended only 200m down the jeep-track, when it turned into a dense little cattle track. We however hastily aborted that plan, and headed back to the main dirt road.
We pushed the pace for the last few km’s into Hamburg under the watchful eye of the hovering helicopter, whose rotor blades make the adrenaline pump!
Leg 11 – 20km Paddle (An electrifying experience)
Arriving into Hamburg after the long ride, our plan was in place: Christiaan and Brian would jump in the boat for the 20km paddle while Landie and Alex sorted our kit, packed the bikes and plotted the route forward for the long 60km trek to come. With the tide pushing out, it was an uphill battle to CP22, some 10km upstream, but once that was negotiated, the downstream ride was great. We passed Olympus coming up while we were on our way down, which charged us up to push harder! Being low tide as we got back towards the river mouth, we were forced south around the islands to CP 23, instead of the more direct route north of the island. Which would have all been good and well had there been water in the channel at high tide!
Our path to CP 23 was not all that straight forward, as Christiaan would find out… As we beached on what must have been our 10th sandbank, Christiaan hopped out of the boat, but was no sooner screaming his head off and jumping his way back into the boat after being electrocuted by what must have been an electric eel! At least that gave him the power (no pun intended) to get going paddling again!
Eventually, after much boat pushing, dragging and choice swear words, we were back at T9 and ready to tackle the 60km trek that lay ahead.
Leg 12 – 60km Run/trek (No Comment)
This leg was already branded as the epic one at race briefing. As the race progressed, transitions happened faster seeing that we got to know each other and our way around the boxes. We left transition at about 1pm, having carefully selected food and gear to give ourselves a fighting chance on this epic leg. The first few km’s went by amazingly quickly as we headed out of Hamburg and onto the beach. Soon we were heading inland again, bush whacking our way up a kloof and towards CP27 at the farm dam. This leg was going well for us, and the Nav was spot on, with the only major obstacle once again being the never-ending thorn bushes – the nastiest thorn bushes you have ever seen, the type you normally avoid at all cost, but we quickly learnt that there was no time for circular routes! We bundu bashed through leaving a trail of blood drops as we slowly progressed through the area. We finally reached the beach section, but only after traversing through a game farm that thankfully had a friendly owner who unlocked the gate to the most beautiful coastline. We were fortunate enough to do this long beach hike with a striking sunset across the breaking waves as we made our way to the checkpoint where we were greeted by a couple of hospitable locals. Here, we quickly changed our socks, filled up our water and refueled our bodies. So off we went onto the only easy section of this leg, running on the tar road for about 3km, making the most of the daylight.
The sun started to set, and if only we knew then what a long night this was going to be… Landie was all chirps and hummed her favorite childhood songs to keep the morale up (or maybe it was due to Brian’s magic pills…!). We clipped the next couple of check points without many problems. It was however towards CP 32 where things started to get extreme on this leg. The navigation was tremendously tough, initially having no moon to display the ridge and contour lines. With one path splitting into 5, it was almost impossible to find the right one. The two navigators remained incredibly calm and patient with the other two not-so-patient team members, and as soon as the path turned the wrong direction (determined by exceptional compass work), we headed back up the same path to go hunt for “the one”! The following few hours comprised of numerous déjà vu moments, walking up and down the same paths, crossing rivers and climbing up steep hills.
We finally reached the top of the last hill at CP 33, from where on we knew it would only be downhill to the last beach section. By this time, everyone had blisters and the pain increased with every step. But, Generaal Greyling showed no mercy, and motivated the team to keep on running on the flats and downhills. We managed to keep a good pace until we reached the hotel on the beach for the second last checkpoint of the leg. What a relief, and after a brief stop at the swimming pool, off we went on what seemed to be the longest beach hike of our lives. It was about 4am, and the sleepmonsters started creeping in badly, as this was the second night without sleep… With only the moon and the waves as company, we strolled along the beach, trying our very best to stay awake, some of us succeeding, others getting our feet wet, caught by a surprise wave. We eventually reached the end of the beach and glimpsed the lights of the Fish River Sun Hotel in the distance. We struggled along for another 1.5km over the golf course until we reached transition. The feeling of bliss was overwhelming. We replenished and recouped, changed into cycling gear, and just as daylight broke half an hour later, we had no choice but to ignore the pain and push on to the final leg!
Leg 13 – 43km MTB (Contour lines are deceiving…)
Team Red Ants were now like race horses sensing the finish. We were quite shocked by the amount of super steep uphills encountered on this leg, but managed to ride them all, as the feet was too sore to push on the uphills. At least most of the uphills were followed by some great downhills and smooth gravel roads as slowly the kilometers ticked by. The team were welcomed by the camera crew 10km from the finish, which made this last bit all the more bearable. Finally, we rode into Port Alfred, having one last downhill to the finish. It was heaven when we at last spotted the Halyards Hotel. Greeted by local supporters and the organisers, along with a bubbly bottle of champagne, this second place overall is a sense of achievement one absolutely cannot describe!
Expedition Africa was an unbelievable adventure for the Team. We worked very well together, with no hiccups or problems along the way. It was a privilege to have been part of such a professionally organised AR World Series event on our doorstep, and the experiences and lessons learnt will be with us forever. AR pushes your body beyond what you thought was ever possible. It takes you to places many people will never see in their lifetime. AR makes you feel alive and makes you appreciate the smaller things in life. Thank you to Heidi, Stephan and everyone from Kinetic Gear who was involved with this amazing event. Thank you for your unbelievable effort, commitment and time put into this event, we will treasure the memories and experiences in our hearts for days to come!
See you all at Expedition Africa 2013!
Author: Brian Gardner | Team Red Ants | Expedition Africa, 5-13 May 2012