Expedition Africa 2012

High Expectations for Expedition Africa

Louise Foulkes (ARWS) / 07.05.2012

In under 24 Hours, the second edition of Expedition Africa will begin. The race is based in the Eastern Cape of Africa and will see teams travel through spectacular coastal and inland scenery.

The area is home to the “Big 5”. Competitors will be guaranteed to see these magnificent animals, although the dangerous ones are safely away behind fences. As Race Director Stephen Muller said, “If you see a fence chest height of or above, whatever you do don’t climb it”.

Race HQ for the event is located in the water front Port Alfred Halyards Hotel. This is where all teams are staying and race briefings and functions are held.

Race Directors, Heidi and Stephan Muller by their own admission live and breathe adventure racing. After a lull in adventure racing in South Africa, the highly competitive pair decided it was time to develop Adventure Racing in their beloved country. Says Stephen, “I wanted to give teams an opportunity to have experiences similar to how I felt at my first race at the Eco Challenge in Borneo. We also wanted to create an expedition event that is challenging and achievable for both the teams and the front and back of the field.”

The directors have invested heavily in equipment for the event and firmly have their sights set on holding the Adventure Racing World Championships in the not too distant future. The head of tourism for this area has pledged to support their bid. 

As ex-racers, one of their aims is to make the expedition race as logistically easy as possible for teams to travel to. Transfers from the airport, pre and post race accommodation, logistical bins and bike box’s are all built into the relatively low entry fee. They even have hot chocolate and coffee on demand at TA's and a bike mechanic to wash and lube team bikes at the compulsory 5 hour midway stop!