Bull of Africa
Midnight approaches... teams filter in
Lisa de Speville / 26.06.2005
CP12 is awake and lively with the near-simultaneous arrival of unranked teams, Cyanosis Powerade and Balance Vector. They’re in 4th and 5th place respectively (if you ignore that they’re unranked), 5hrs behind Cross Sportswear.
Cross checked into the CP12 bike-hike transition at 16h00. They’re relaxed, rested and efficient. With their bikes packed quickly into their boxes they made the most of this compulsory 45-minute stop to eat and laze on the lawn.
Leaving the bike-river trekking transition at 18h50 on Saturday evening, they headed down to the river. Expecting the river’s flow to be reasonably mobile they inflated their pack-rafts, which they’ve been strategically carrying. But, because the river is hardly moving in this stretch they only floated down to CP9, the first of three checkpoints on this stretch. “The stream is not good,� said Per Vestling. “I think we lost 2hrs.�
But, what you lose on the slide you gain on the merry-go-round… Their forethought and planning did pay-off. Unlike the teams ahead – and those behind them – Cross escaped the freezing water crossings, floating across on their pack-rafts.
On the river they bedded down for a 30-minute cat-nap but warm and comfortable they slept for 2hrs. Later on, just across the South Africa/Namibia border they stopped for 30-minutes at a local store to buy sandwiches. Well aware – and unconcerned - that when they left CP12 at 16h45 there was no chance that they’d complete the trek to the abseil and the abseil with enough time to make the darkzone team captain Mats Andersson said (with a smile), “We’re looking forward to the abseil because after that we can sleep more�.
It has been a long wait for Cyanosis Powerade and Balance Vector. Cyanosis has decided to continue now – when their 45-minute stop is up – progressing down the abseil and across the river to the paddle put-in (400m downstream) where they’ll sleep until the darkzone lifts at 07h00. Balance Vector will sleep here at CP12, leaving at 04h00 for the abseil. They have officially checked out but are staying here to sleep.
In contrast to the general comments from teams regarding the rugged nature of this environment and how hard it is on the feet, Cyanosis’ Erica Terblanche says she finds it softer on the body than regular mountainous terrain. Until now they have had few big climbs as their routes have followed the river, dry riverbeds and meandering contour-hugging tracks. She also mentioned the temperatures. “You know, the temperatures have actually been perfect for racing. Not too hot, not too cold. We’re just feeling as beaten up 48hrs into the race as we have in other events. But, this is a ‘Hano race’ so we’re expecting a sting-in-the-tail.�
Balance Vector’s Nathan Fa’avae’s response was opposite. “Brutal. This environment is brutal, especially the rocks under your feet. We also pushed our bikes for a long way in sand on the biking leg and trekking with biking shoes always trashes your feet.�
I quizzed the teams on their food status. I was interested in whether they had packed sufficient supplies to get them through to this first food box. Cyanosis said that they still had so much food that they hardly needed to touch their food box. Balance Vector began rationing 15hrs before reaching the CP as they were running low.
Ah… as I’m typing Halti has just clocked in. We’re also expecting DueSouth, The North Face and Martin & Scheepers/Pinegold shortly. We’ve also just received times from CP11 for the first 8-or-so teams and are updating. Phew! I’ll send more news in the next few hours…
Oh, before I log off… in the wee hours of Sunday morning the marshals at CP10, on the river trekking section, were treated to a “Team Mazda Salomon delight�. The marshals had built a warm, blazing fire on the riverbank, clearly visible to approaching teams. In Mazda’s case, they heard them coming before they saw them – alerted to their presence by Michelle’s shrieks as she entered the icy water to cross over. It was obvious that they would gravitate to the fire. Walking up to the gathered group John Jacoby announced, “’Scuse the nudity�. On the other side he’d stripped off – waterproofing his clothing - and wanting to warm-up and dry-off he walked up to the fire to stand buck-naked in front of the dancing flames – and the wide-eyed marshals. The tv crew radioed through to the next CP, telling the female CP marshal to light a big fire and to sit in front of it to wait for Mazda to arrive…
ENDS
SleepMonsters
