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The Amathole Mountains take their toll

René Taljaard; Photo: Wouter Kingma / 11.08.2008

Monday, 18:30: USN left the Clifton Grange transition area at approximately 22:30 last night and arrived at Mpotshane Lodge, which is the next transition area, at 16:45 today. They completed the 45 km hike – which should take teams approximately 13 hours – in 17 hours, which means that they must have finally gotten some sleep along the way. USN is still firmly in the lead, and making their way towards the Qolora Trading Store in the Wild Coast. South African team uge.cyanosis and French team Bjurfors Adventure Racing are currently in second and third place respectively.

Spanish team, Buff Coolmax, has withdrawn from the race. The reason for their decision is not entirely clear; we do know that they got lost for three hours in the Kubusi area late last night, which forced them to backtrack to a previous checkpoint. They officially withdrew from the race at the Clifton Grange Lodge at 3 PM today. The team did say that they were very impressed with the way in which the Bull of Africa race is organised.

Teams are certainly starting to feel the strain. New Zealand/Australian team, 4TC and the Russian all-ladies team, Arena, are here at the Clifton Grange Lodge at the moment, being checked and sorted out by the medical team, and catching up on some sleep. A total of 8 teams have already moved on from here towards the Mpotshane Lodge. Compared to the bitingly cold night time temperatures in the high-lying Thomas River area, it feels like summer here at the lodge tonight. At least there’s that.

According to race organiser, Sonja Otto, the effects of the initial 70km hike over the Amathole Mountains are starting to show: “Some of the international teams are saying that it’s the longest hiking leg they’ve ever done on an adventure race. We put that difficult hike at the beginning of the race for a reason; it just wouldn’t have been feasible later on in the race.�

On a more positive note, she said that many teams have told her how much they are enjoying the race, and how beautiful they think the area is. Two teams told her that they saw buffalo and red hartebeest along the way today.

We’ve heard sobs, sighs and screams of joy. We’ve seen blisters, sweat and smiles. This is an adventure in the true sense of the word.

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