Expedition Africa 2014

Seagate Hoof It - While Most Kloof It

Rob Howard / 26.05.2014

If you follow adventure racing you’ll understand the first part of that title, though possibly not the second. 

Seagate have done what they often do and blasted into an early and impressive lead, leaving even other world ranked teams in their wake. They were out of TA3 with a 3.5 hour lead over second and third place, having slept for 90 minutes, and powering away on their bikes.

Meanwhile most of the teams were much further back along the course on the first long trek of the race which finished with a canyoning stage ... that’s the kloofing.  In S. Africa canyoning is often called Kloofing (from the Afrikaans word 'kloof', meaning 'gorge' or 'ravine').

There is not a lot of news to come out of the canyon so far, and a fair number of teams have not even begun the descent yet, but the leaders found it harder than expected and that’s a bad sign for the rest of the race pack.

Of all the race disciplines canyoning tends to have the most marked difference between the quick and the slow, and for good reason.  It requires an extra burst of strength and endurance, and a lot of technical know-how, which is built on past experience.  All the faster teams have more of these attributes and skills, and it shows more on the canyoning sections which they seem to effortlessly find a down, while others take many hours longer, and often come out looking worse for wear.

You might wonder if teams can find another way, maybe by climbing out of the canyon, but the route and rules specify they have to stay in there – there are no work-arounds allowed!  Word has it that Race Director Stephan Muller wasn’t keen on the kloofing himself, and was known for finding a way out as soon as possible when he was racing ... and there is no one harder to outsmart than than a poacher turned gamekeeper!

It’s going to be day 3 of the race before most teams come out of that canyon ... by which time Seagate will be most of the way back to the transition at the end of the canyon, as it serves as both TA3 and TA6.  

The leaders are currently on leg 6 of the race, an MTB stage which has been lengthened. This was due to the shortening of the following paddle descent, with the more technical sections and the dark zone taken out. 

More cycling and no dark zone means Seagate are not likely to slow down. They are being chased by Haglofs Silva and Tecnu, who are close together, then the top two S. African teams, Painted Wolf and Merrell Adventure Addicts. After that comes a big gap back to Arverne Outdoor of France and Cyanosis of S. Africa.

Then there are more big time differences to the teams in the canyon through the night, or still to get there.

You can follow all the live coverage at http://www.kineticgear.org/

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