The Bull of Africa
The top teams are in; everyone else feels the pressure
René Taljaard; Photo: Anja Aucamp / 15.08.2008
Many of these teams were transferred onto the “short course� today, as there simply isn’t enough time left for the athletes to complete the entire course before the race officially ends at 9 AM tomorrow morning. Essentially, the short course features the same main destinations as the full version, but the time-consuming detours – such as the one to the abseiling checkpoint after the Seagulls transition area – are eliminated in order to draw a straighter line from point A to point B.
Saying that teams were disappointed when they found out that they cannot continue on the full course would be an understatement. Words cannot quite describe what it was like to see these people who have come so far at that moment when they heard that they haven’t come quite far enough.
Some were speechless as they just sat there on the carpet of the Seagulls Hotel staring at something only they could see. Others argued:
“We have to continue on the short course from here on�, explained Douglas Guertin from USA team Dark Horse, “We made it four hours before the cut-off time at the previous transition, so we thought we were running on schedule; that was until we got a message from Hano at the first or second checkpoint after that, telling us to come straight to Seagulls.�
“It’s very disappointing, but we got off to a bad start; we lost about 20 hours in the first 48 hours of the race and I knew we had too much time to make up,� he continued to say, “So it isn’t too bad for us, but other teams are coming down the beach from Mazepa Bay now and finding out that they have been short-coursed.�
South African team, New Balance/The Real Thing – who have welcomed the remaining two members of Guatemalan team, Nahuales, onto their squad – is one example of such a group. “We want to do the full course,� said Sean Hutchinson, “We arrived here one minute late at 8:01 AM and have always been on schedule so far in the race.�
When race organiser, Hano Otto, was asked to comment on the situation, he replied by saying: “It’s unfortunate, if I was there I would have allowed them to carry on, but the marshals had strict instructions to put teams on the short course after 8 AM; it was not for them to use their own discretion.�
Elaborating on the topics of cut-off times and the shorter course, Hano went on to say, “For their own safety we can’t still have teams out there tomorrow night – we have no choice but to enforce cut-off times and put them on the short course.�
He used the comrades marathon as an example to illustrate his point – the man in charge of firing the gunshot that signals the end of the race turns to look the other way long before the time comes to pull the trigger.
“What of the team that arrives at 8:02 AM, or the one that comes in at 8:05?,� he emphasised, “This is an international event and obviously these courses are not designed for a 100% finishing rate – it’s supposed to be a challenge and we have to draw the line somewhere.�
Teams who finish the short course before the end of the race at 9 AM tomorrow morning will be ranked and recognised as “short course finishers.�
All the teams have already passed through the transition area at Mazepa Bay and have moved on towards the next transition area at the Seagulls Hotel – teams who arrive there after 6 PM tonight will not be permitted to continue.
The Bull of Africa 2008 Top 10 Official Teams:
1. USN (South Africa) – Finished: Wednesday, 9:56 AM
2. McCain Adventure Addicts (South Africa) – Finished: Wednesday, 16:15 PM
3. Bjurfors Adventure Racing (Sweden/Denmark) – Finished: Wednesday, 19:06 PM
4. Blackheart/Bunker Capital (Australia) – Finished: Thursday, 6:09 AM
5. Lafuma-Sport2000 (France) – Finished: Thursday, 11:17 AM
6. McCain Adventure Fanatics (South Africa) – Finished: Thursday, 11:56 AM
7. Pepto Pro (South Africa) – Finished: Friday, 3:41 AM
8. Keen Torq’ers (Australia) – Finished: Friday, 7:04 AM
9. Epitact (France) – Finished: Friday, 7:20 AM
10. Extreme Outdoors (South Africa) – Finished: Friday, 9:52 AM
TREK/URUGUAY was the first unranked team to arrive at 9:26 AM today (an unranked team is one with only three members or one that has merged with another team). They were followed by the winners of the all-ladies category, Russian team Arena, exactly two hours later at 11:26 AM.
Two official teams (four athletes that are doing the full course) are still on their way towards the finish line. Nine teams of four members each are currently on the short course, fifteen teams are unranked and a total of five teams have withdrawn from the race.
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