The Bull of Africa
Don\'t piss off the Rhino
Damon Goerke - Bunker Capital / Blackheart / 07.09.2008
It was our first time in South Africa so we arrived a week before the race to acclimatise and spend some time driving along the coast from Cape Town to East London which would serve as the
race base for 2008. I was competing in a team Bunker Capital/Blackheart with Kim Willocks, Rob Preston and Richard Mountstephens. There were 3 other Australian Teams competing – the Keen Torquers, 4TC and Down Under, out of a total of 43. We had a great introduction to SA before the race, getting to check out Capetown, Jeffrey’s Bay (home of Supertubes), the world highest bungy (Rob jumped), Addo elephant park and every surf ski and King Pie shop along the coast. You’ve got to love a country where the sauce is free with a pie!
DAY 1
The race started with a 3am bus ride to the start location at a golf course in the mountains. The race kicked off proper with a 10km trail run to break the field up. Kim unintentionally led off the front and looked quite nervous for the first minute until the some other teams overtook. Taking what we thought was a conservative route up a 600m climb to the first Checkpoint (CP), it only dumped us into some thick thorns and scrub which soon became the norm for us while trekking in Africa. We watched the other teams who found an easier route climb to the top and lost about 30 minutes to the leading teams after only the first hour! We cruised back into the transition area (TA) after a few hours probably just outside the top ten and jumped on our bikes. An easy, undulating ride collecting a few CP\'s brought us to a dam where we would start some kayaking.
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