---

First Leg - 20 km Hike

Cindy Van Zyl / 02.09.2002

Start – PC1: Mountain Zebra National Park – Zirk’s Punch Point
4.00 am. Raw excitement, freezing cold, blazing headlamps, last minute kisses and well wishes and the gun goes and you know it is the point of no return – it has started, finally! We half-jogged up a jeep track and turned left into the hills. Soon the 22 teams were scattered all over the mountains. Within the first two hours of the race both Riaan and my headlamps failed and we stumbled along in the dark. Kobus led us straight up the rocky mountain to Zirk’s first PC where we clipped in 6th. (Ed. Zirk is the Race Director)

PC1 – PC2: Zirk’s PC to Valley Punch
Behind us the first light of day seeped through the orange and pink clouds. Below us lay the vast wind-swept panorama of the Winter Berg. We were making good time and opted to contour down the mountain rather than bust our legs on a steep descent to the valley; after all, this was only day one, leg one and there was still much ahead. At PC2 we clipped in 8th.

PC2 – T1: Valley Punch to Mountain Zebra National Park
From PC2 we followed a smooth jeep track to the Park. Teams came charging past us, but we refrained from running and focussed all our energy on launching the first bit of Boer/ Soutie banter. By day four the good laughs would reach gigantic proportions; it was to be our ship that would carry us through the rain and mud and snow. But that was still far away and we had a dark zone to beat. At T1 we clipped in 13th; time was ticking fast…

See All Stories On This Race