Adventure Quest Africa (2)

Jabberwock’s Adventure Quest

Cindy Van Zyl / 02.09.2002

The Adventure Quest 2002 lured us with its siren call. We heeded its promise of adventure with a bitter-sweet mixture of hope and fear. This was to be Team Jabberwock’s first Quest and in fact our first race longer than 230 km. “Cometh the hour, cometh the man�: with butterflies in our stomachs we were looking forward to the most gruelling race Africa could offer.

And with these thoughts lurking in our minds we prepared for the race. In a feverish flurry race boxes were packed, meals prepared, 4x4’s serviced, bikes checked and checked again, wetsuits borrowed, boats and paddles arranged, race registrations concluded and inordinate amounts of cash spent on additional cold and wet weather gear.

We also had to do quite a bit of cajoling to convince Brian (the fourth element of the Dragon’s Wrath race earlier this year) to join us for the Quest. Brian’s wife was expecting their second child and chances were that the baby could make her appearance while daddy was battling the elements in the Eastern Cape. After much deliberation and careful calculation the Soutie agreed to join the Jabberwocks for yet another epic race.

On Saturday, 13 July, team Jabberwock, comprising of three Boers (Kobus, Riaan and Erica), one Soutie (Brian) and three support-crew members (Cindy, Craig and Cindy), arrived at the Mountain Zebra National park. There was an uncomfortable chill in the air; the high wispy clouds trailed across the bleak sky like a forewarning. In the registration offices the tension was tangible.

The race briefing held much surprise. We were not going to make the long haul to Storm’s river or East London after all, but were going to spend the entire race in the bitter cold of the Winter Berg. After a marathon plotting session of four hours the route emerged clearly from the maps: 475km, eleven PC points and ten Transitions to the Finish. Five days of blood, sweat and tears lay ahead of us.

At 23:00 we crawled into our tents to lie with thumping hearts until the next morning; the race was scheduled to start at 4:00 am...