Bull of Africa
Brazil’s Roberta Recoder shines during FAAP’s agonising race
Mark Gray / 29.06.2005
“Wake up, wake up� they screamed believing that she may have been sliding into a coma.
“I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. My mind was going crazy. We had been planning this race all year and I couldn’t cope with the idea that we might have to quit because of me.�
It then dawned on Roberta that a long rest would not necessarily cost them the race.
“When I recovered I knew I could keep going with time to pull myself together during a 7-day race,� she said.
South Africa’s Netcare 911 paramedics said Recoder had not suffered from asthma. Rather she had developed an allergic reaction to dust, displaying similar symptoms. Her coughing and throat constrictions gave her to have panic attacks, which caused more dramatic constrictions. Passing out is the mind and body’s coping mechanism, which forced her to relax and regulate her breathing.
Recoder hails from a relatively dust-free region of Brazil and her body did not have time to adapt to the alien desert environment of the Richtersveld.
But adapt she did – albeit slowly - and the team continued to plod though kilometers of sand until Panza developed shin splints and severe tendonitis.
Recoder explained, “When I saw him get weaker, I got stronger for him but this was hard because he is a superb athlete and I have never seen him get tired or weak. The problem was that there was no end in sight. It was not as though I could tell him to hang in there because we have only 15km to go – it was more like 70km on this section and another night out in the cold�.
They strapped Panza’s foot and pushed on but he said ‘I can’t do it anymore’.
FAAP called it a day at CP9. Cold, wet and miserable it seems that they no longer had their sleeping bags, only their fly-sheet. Luckily the marshals had built a fire around which they slept until morning.
This Brazilian university team completed 215-kilometers of this 580-kilometre race in 68-hours, trailing 2-days behind the leaders.
The Bull of Africa taught the team much about themselves and about competing in a team. “We need to learn more about team dynamics but we will be back again,� she said.
ENDS
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