Kinetic Double Moon Adventure
Double Moon - The Hard Way
Ico Schutte / 15.03.2017
A couple of days have passed since we stumbled across the finish line of the Expedition Africa Double Moon adventure race. Most of the aches and pains have gone away and all that remains are the (mostly) sweet memories of an epic weekend in the mountains.
Kinetic Events hosts the Double Moon adventure as a stepping stone for those endurance athletes that are looking for a good training ground to prepare for the mighty Expedition Africa 500km adventure race. This year the Double Moon race was held in the Magoebaskloof region of the Limpopo province in South Africa, also known as “the land of the silver mist”.
Driving towards the Magoebaskloof Orion Hotel for registration my senses started to tingle as I noticed the magnitude of the Wolkberg mountain range. I knew we were in for a spectacular adventure.
As with all adventure races we only got the race route the night before the start. Discussing the breakdown with my teammate Carel van Heerden, a very experienced adventure racer, we concluded that the real race would only start with the last 3 legs. The race was broken up in the following legs:
Leg 1: 4km trek 119m elevation gain
Leg 2: 13km MTB 316m Elevation gain
Leg 3: 19km Kayak
Leg 4: 9km MTB 274m Elevation gain
Leg 5: 20km Trek 1350m Elevation gain
Leg 6: 43km MTB 1391m Elevation gain
Leg 7: 37km Trek 1587m Elevation gain
Leg 8: 40km MTB 1555m Elevation gain
Now that is a total elevation gain of over 6000m, higher than Kilimanjaro. The distances are merely indicative as teams are required to navigate to the checkpoints on their own and their route choices may impact the distance they cover.
Armed with all this information and our maps we set out to our cabin at “die Kothuis”, a serene spot overlooking the mountains and dams of the area. We spent the next couple of hours plotting our routes and sorting out gear, clothing and food for the adventure, packing all we will need in the resupply boxes provided by the organisers.
Friday morning we woke and discovered why it’s called the land of the silver mist, a truly spectacular panorama. As racers gather under the start banner eagerly awaiting the gun that will set us off into the mountains, and Heidi starts counting down the last seconds I looked at Carel and asked, “Do you have our passport?”.
This was to be the start of our comedy of errors for the rest of the race. We scrambled to get hold of our passport (a vital piece of paper to document the checkpoints on) before we could start the race a couple of minutes late.
The first leg was short and fast and we worked hard to make up time, by the end of the cool little trail run we had worked our way back up to 5th position overall and settled down into our stride. The next cycle leg took us to the Ebenezer dam on the Groot Letaba River. This area has significance to me as my mother was born here and we spent our holidays as kids waterskiing on the dam. But today we would slog it out on our kayaks for a 19km paddle.
In an effort to keep shoes dry we decided that we would paddle barefoot as we would not need to get off the boats, however when we got round the bottom section of the dam we realized that there was a big shortcut that would require you to carry the boat across a small peninsula. Although we discussed it on our way out we did not give it the attention it deserved and only on our way back did we attempt to carry the boat barefoot across, only to discover that it would have saved us a huge chunk of time on the way out too. At this point of the race we decided that our mantra would be “then it would have been too easy”.
A short bike leg with a super fun forest descent took as to the Magoebaskloof Canopy Tour where we did two ziplines across sparkling rivers and water falls. Here again I decided that the race was not hard enough and forgot my helmet at the transition area which meant I had to run back to transition to get my helmet before we could get onto the ziplines. From there teams had to negotiate a steep scramble out the canyon to continue onto the 20km hiking leg. Although only 20km this hike had some nasty surprises and probably became the undoing of many teams.
Our route choice took us bush whacking through a valley that was littered with black jacks and various other stingy and sticky plant things. “Fortunately”, we had a couple of hours to remove them from our clothing and hair as we proceeded on this demanding trekking leg. The trek included a very significant climb, I briefly remembered Stephan (the race organizer) mentioning something about some fallen over trees but this we found was more like a mass tree suicide as most of the trees had fallen over in a storm. We had to crawl underneath, climb over and walk on (Circus Charlie style) fallen trees. A true sense of humour tester and extremely slow going. Apparently there was another way around the trees but then again “it would have been way too easy”.
Further into the trekking leg we decided to venture off the trail and take a “tiger line” shortcut over the hill, opening a gap to the teams behind us. This however was short lived as a slight navigation error made us miss the CP (check point) and we had to back track up the cliff again to collect it. Arriving at T5 (transition 5) we were slightly exhausted as this trekking leg was much harder, and took much longer, than we expected.
At T5 we were supplied with new maps for the rest of the race, we took the time to eat a good meal and plot our routes. We left T5 and cycled into the sunset for what would be a pretty staunch ride, literally pretty and staunch! Navigation on this cycle leg was reasonably straight forward and the brutal climbing was well rewarded with a super long and fast descent down the Forest Drive 4x4 Trail, being even more fun flying down the switchbacks at night. I certainly love my Cannondale Flash with the lefty upfront!
We arrived at T6 shortly before 11pm and after 16 hours of racing your body is ready for sleep. However, we had to soldier on and after a good feed and a nice cup of coffee we left transition at midnight to start the massive 37km trekking leg on the De Hoek (Magoebaskloof) Hiking Trail. Typically a 3 day hiking trail for normal humans we were attempting to do it in less than 12 hours.
The hike was “split up” into 3 sections by the hikers’ huts and was a well-marked route. Although some teams complained that there was no navigation on this leg it was still one of my favourite sections. It was very technical terrain through majestic forest, criss-crossing creeks, skirting around sheer cliffs and multiple water crossings.
We had started the hike strong, holding good pace, but by 3am we started running out of steam. We decided to have a short 20 min powernap at one of the huts. I awoke shivering after cooling down and for a brief moment considered spooning my tall dark and handsome team mate, but decided against it as I didn’t want his girlfriend to be jealous.
When you are cold there is only one thing to do and that is to keep moving, so we got up and got going. I donned all my Mountain Hardwear layers and we set off back into the dark and eerie forest. The sun peered over the mountains and I could feel my spirits lifting as the rays warmed my skin. This 37km hiking leg was always going to be the hardest for me as I am from a cycling background and find the trekking legs very tough.
This had been the longest trekking leg that I have done in my Vibram five fingers and although initially I was concerned, towards the end I had no problems whatsoever. I was very stoked that my feet had gotten so strong over time! We did the 37km trek in less than 11 hours, very pleased with our performance.
Only one more leg to go – a short 40km bike ride to the finish! Yeah right……
The fatigue and lack of sleep was starting to take a toll on me mentally and I made a very silly navigation mistake costing us about 5km of extra riding. After this there was another difficult spot that had most teams baffled and after going up and down the hill trying to find the right way we eventually gave up and found another route further around that added about 3kms with a nasty climb before we could locate the checkpoint.
At this point we decided that life was “too easy” and opted for a very adventurous (read: treacherous) route choice straight down the mountain. We were having a blast sliding and skidding our bikes down the firebreak when suddenly right before me I noticed a massive thorn bush. I just barely stopped in time and then warned Carel. We found ourselves in a predicament as the rest of the way down was overgrown with thorns and going back up the mountain was just stupidly steep, so down we went.
Scratched and bleeding we finally found a road again and made our way to the next CP. This would signal the end of the navigational challenges but the beginning of the biggest climb I have cycled in years.
Pure lung busting leg-breaking climbing awaited. At some point about half way up I looked down to my right and I am sure I saw the tip of Mount Everest. And just to make sure that the climb wasn’t “too easy” Carel “decided” to lose one of his cleats on his shoes.
Elated we crossed the finish line at 17h 44mins, a proper 35 hours of racing! Although we made a bunch of small navigational errors (definitely racing some extra kilometers) we still managed 2nd in the male pairs and 5th overall!
Massive congratulations to all the competitors who took on this mammoth race! Some special mentions: Team “further and soon” with David and Llewellyn Rodgers (father and son of 12 years old) for completing the 100km race, and the legendary team “Bloed en Omo” with Abel van Der Merwe at 65 years old. Now what is your excuse?
This was my 3rd Kinetic Double Moon event and I must admit it was brutal & beautiful and by far my favourite of the three. Although my body tired during the race, my mind was refreshed and yearning for more adventure. Nothing else left to do but enter the 500km Expedition Africa …
For more information and full results please visit www.kinetic-events.co.za they host an amazing range events from 25 to 500km adventure races.
As always, I have to thank my supporters:
Vibram Five fingers – www.thesavage.biz
Club Cannondale SA - www.cannondale.co.za
Fluid Kayaks - www.fluidkayaks.com
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