Expedition Africa 2012

Expedition Africa Begins!

Louise Foulkes (ARWS) / 07.05.2012

Teams have set a cracking pace on day one at this year’s Expedition Africa. 

It was an early start as teams lined up to catch a bus to the start of the race, a 20 minute drive away. Here they formed huddles of 4 as the shivered waiting for the start. It was unfortunate that the skydivers who were due to jump bearing the Expedition Africa Banner were forced to cancel due to low lying fog. None the less the helicopter buzzed, local dignitaries spoke and Stephan, the race director blew triumphantly on a Vuvuzela (think very loud trumpet that the South Africans were so fond of at the Soccer World Cup) to finally start the race. 

Leg 1 was a 17km Orienteering leg where teams had to collect 6 Orienteering Points (OPs) in any order. The first 4 were spread throughout the historic village of Bathurst, OPs were placed in two of the towns landmarks, South Africa's oldest licensed pub and oldest church. 

After obtaining these it was time to leave civilization and head into the Veld. Veld is a term used by the Africans to describe leaving the built up areas. Here Team Red Ant took a direct route to the next OP and arrived 2 minutes in front of their closest rival, Team Merrell. Merrell and most other teams chose to take the road to this point. 

Their lead was short lived as Team Merrell took a direct route to next transition, taking a chance on following an overgrown path that

This could have been a costly decision if had been too grown over as some of the vegetation is impenetrable due to trees called thorn trees. These nasty trees wield 2 inch long spikes, wreak havoc on bared limbs and slow teams down to a crawl. 

Merrell finished this leg and hit the water for the 23km paddle with a 16 minute lead on the rest of the field. They were graced with an out-going tide which gave them a further edge on everyone else. The tide changed part way through the morning meaning mid to rear teams were slowed right down. The tide was so favourable, they managed to speed their kayaks up to 9.8km per hour.

This is a considerable feat considering their top speed is meant to be around 7kmph.  At the end of this leg teams were supposed to paddle out beyond the break wall and into the surf. This was cancelled due to high seas, probably a good call as the river entrance is considered the second most dangerous in the whole of South Africa. Red Ant finished this leg 13 minutes behind the leaders and team Olympus was 13 minutes behind them.