Expedition Africa

Decision Day

Rob Howard / 08.05.2013

There comes a point in most expedition races where decisions have to be taken to keep everyone moving around the course. Changing circumstances, differing abilities and limitations on the resources of the race organisation all combine with the fatigue of the teams and the realisation for some that the original course may be beyond them. This is normal in a big race and the organisers at Expedition Africa have been responding today to get as many teams as possible around as much of the course as possible.

As the leaders set off from mid-camp they were already 4 hours behind the predicted race schedule and took far longer on the second trekking stage than expected. This followed more teams than expected being caught by the dark zone at CP14 (before the rapids), slowing down the second half of the field and stretching out the race.

As a result the Race Director decided to take out CP26 on the second trek for later teams (while ensuring this could not affect race positions), reducing the trek by around 3 hours or more.  He also helped later teams by marking a good track on the master maps that is in a difficult area, something they will be very grateful for.

Elsewhere around the course circumstances determined decisions. The water on Tegula River dropped over a metre, making transition of the rapids difficult and causing damage to boats and paddles, so the last teams were stopped and moved by vehicle to T3 to resume.  They were restarted in time order to keep race positions.

With almost half the field getting a 13 hour stop at CP14 for the dark zone it was also decided that when they reached mid-camp those teams did not have to make the 6 hour stop and would continue straight on with the course, moving them forward.  The first team this affected was Team 23 (Rustproof) and as they want to get around the course they were happy with the decision. (In practice most teams stopped and slept anyway.)

Rustproof had a difficult night on the rapids, tipping out then struggling to swim back upstream to their boat, and got lost with 1km of the mid-camp, taking a much longer route in after going back in the wrong direction.  They still had to stop to eat and mark their maps, and also asked the bike mechanic to look at their brakes – but still moved on much more quickly than they’d expected to.

Another unpredictable circumstance which affected the course was the theft of some of the CP’s on the long bike stage (leg 6), which necessitated changing the course. This also allowed it be made easier, taking out more rural areas and replacing them with a more direct road route. (The controls were just boards with numbers on, but were still moved or destroyed.)

There are contingencies too to the paddle stage  (leg 7) as the reservoir there is known for fierce winds due to its exposed site, and depending on conditions this stage could potential be shortened to avoid dangerous cross winds. To ensure all the teams did the same thing this was shortened by taking out one CP before the leaders arrived.

And of course there are the problems teams have to deal with, some of which are insurmountable, such as injury. The first team to pull out (that I know of) were the international team Skandia, with an ankle injury to Jan Beguin forcing the team to stop at mid-camp.

As the race moves into its second half and the leaders close on the finish there will no doubt be more revisions to keep the race running smoothly, but whatever happens the organisers will do all they can to keep everyone moving forward towards the finish.

For full race details on all teams see the live race website at http://www.kineticgear.org/