Adventure Quest Africa

Missing the Cut-Off

David Ogden - Team Manager of \'International Adventurers\' / 30.07.2002

The morning dawned crisp and cold with sleet in the air. The team rested well despite the cold –2C and Jody seemed much better. The next question was would they make the halfway cut-off and we were told that if the team missed it we would have to transport them some 90K by road. As there was no room in the Landrover, I would need to collect my hire car from Cradock. There was also the question of how Jody would fare following a swim in the cold water. I managed to get a lift back to Mountain Zebra in one of the Drifter vehicles, along with a Brazilian team member, whose team had abandoned the race following an injury to the girl in their team.

I returned at about 14.00, having collected new Duracell batteries to replace local ones which lasted all of five minutes, to find the team already in transition in 20th place. They were preparing for the mountain bike leg and racing to get to the cut-off at 18.00.

The team set off, last in the field, however a number of teams ahead were unranked. The scenery on the way to the next transition was fantastic with rugged mountains tinged with snow. T6 at the top of a pass proved to be the coldest transition 0—2C plus wind-chill. Only the support crew for ‘Power Bar’ were there, awaiting their incomplete team, and they provided us and the marshals with a hot drink and filled a thermos as we waited for our team.

The cut-off deadline passed and at 20.51 our team arrived in 17th place, tired and cold, with Jody absolutely exhausted. They piled into the car and Landrover for warmth, while Grant strapped the bikes to the rack, and then we were off for the long drive to transition 8 to continue the short course. We drove past transition 7 where the bulk of the teams were set up, before arriving at a junction, near a bridge, marking the start of the next kayak leg. We set camp at 01.13 (12th place) near the edge of a graveyard. The leading team had already passed through and team ‘Drifter’ were due to depart in the early hours. The third place team was expected to arrive during the night. Teams doing the short course had to wait until the third placed team had passed so we inflated the boats and settled down for the night.