Garmin Wartrail
Team Cyanosis at The Wartrail Challenge
Nicholas Mulder/Team Cyanosis / 29.03.2011
Last weekend was the 12th running of the Wartrail Challenge, a 250km staged multisport race in the Witteberge region of the Eastern Cape. After a four-year hiatus, Team Cyanosis' Nicholas Mulder travelled down to compete in one of the best multi-day races in the country. Here is his report...<b>60km Mountain Run - Lady Grey to Balloch</b>
This was my 4th running of the Garmin Wartrail and once again, the 60km first day trail run from Lady Grey to Balloch was decisive in the overall result of the race. 77 participants were on the start line at 4 o'clock in the morning and it was immediately obvious that the Wartrail had become extremely competitive since I last ran it 4 years ago.
After a quick sprint to get through the first narrow gate and across a swollen river outside town, the pace settled down on the climb up the hiking trail to CP1, the microwave tower. I found myself setting the pace for the second bunch, after 6 athletes got away early on, pushing a record-breaking pace up the hill. I had set myself specific target times to achieve for each section of the race that were based on my previous personal best. I wanted to finish the run in about 9 hours, which would beat my PB by over half an hour. I was thus happy to let the gap grow and conserve my energy for after CP1 when the route left the hiking trail and continued cross country.
Shortly after CP1 the gap to the leaders had grown to just over 5 minutes. I was still content as my split time showed that I was well within my targets. Shortly thereafter, dawn came and I was able to pack away my headlamp. I'd decided to use the Petzl Myo XP as it great lighting so as not to loose the hiking trail in the dark, yet was light enough and compact enough to carry without problem for the remaining 7 hours of the race. The route enters a fascinating section of the Witteberge range at this point, where the fastest route constantly hops from the left to the right side of the range, with some interesting crossings of the main fence line that follows the ridge.
At one stage the lead bunch found themselves climbing too high, allowing for me and Tommy Booth (who'd been running with me since the start) to catch the six leaders. The lead bunch proved to be quite competitive, with various people constantly testing each other and pushing the pace for short periods of time.
At one point just before the Olympus checkpoint (CP2), Nico Schoeman put in a good interval, stringing the leaders out again. Graham Bird, Donovan Sims, Craig Carter-Brown and Paul Moketi went with him, whilst myself, Tommy and Hanno Smit settled in as the chasing pack.See All Event Posts
