Expedition Africa

Making it to Mid Camp

Rob Howard / 09.05.2013

Through the night and into day 4 teams have gradually been arriving into Mid-Camp, all with their own stories to tell and decisions to make. According to the marshals on duty the teams’ moods and spirits are “either still really positive or very down and past caring when they get here – there are no grey areas!”  They do of course have the time to take a hot meal (a microwave mix or pasta and meat with lots of salad and bread), rest or sleep, or even shower if they want, after which any low spirits revived a bit.

This morning Hakuna Matata arrived and their team seemed to be a mix of low and high.  They had completed almost all the mountain biking to date in the dark and one comment was, “I never want to sit on a bike again!” Unfortunately a knee injury meant the trek wasn’t now an option and that meant more mountain biking as the team decided to skip a stage and head off on the 163km ride!  At least they will set off on this one in daylight.

Shortly after the Beast of Ballyhoura/V Graph team arrived looking in good shape and high spirits, but desperate for a drink. “We’ve not had anything to drink for the last 5 hours,” said Paula Keohan.  “We just couldn’t find anything and tried one of the hand pumps, but the water smelt bad and we dared not drink it.”  The race had large bottles of coke to slake their thirst which they all grabbed before tucking into a meal.

This team have had a tough race. “We got lost trying to find the Rockeries pass on the first night” said Ivan Park, “and had to camp out for 7 hours in the bitter cold, so we’ve been trying to catch up ever since.  We were not even camped horizontal, but on a slope, so didn’t really rest at all.”  Nigel Mckernan added, “I think that was the worst nights I’ve had in a race.”

Later on they stopped again, while paddling on the river, but again were really too cold to sleep, despite managing to light a fire. “We simply could not see where we were going,” said Park. “The mist was so dense our lights were just reflecting back and we were drifting along waiting to see what we’d hit.  We stopped on an island, but only got maybe 20 minutes sleep.”

Mckernan said the navigation during the night on the bike ride to reach mid-camp was very tough. “There are tracks marked but they could be so narrow it was impossible to see them, even if you were stood on top of them!”  Park added, “Whenever we look at a stage and guess how long it will take we are way out, it takes much longer!”

They are making the most of their journey despite their trails.  “The sunrise on top of the Drakensberg that second morning was truly amazing,” said Mckernan, “and then on the paddle were on a straight stretch of river when the sun rose straight ahead of us – it was amazing with the mist rising off the water.”  Keohan added, “Riding past giraffe and zebra was really special too – what an experience!  And all the people are so friendly – I think we are tired as much from waving as from anything else!”

Despite their lack of sleep the team didn’t intend to stop, wanting to get on around the course. They did wonder whether they could finish now, but were not letting anything dampen their spirits and showed no signs of injury. “We are just going to keep on keeping on,” said Park.