Expedition Africa
Expedition Africa Racers Discover Swaziland
German Cuevas/AdvFeel Communication (Edited by Rob Howard) / 08.06.2015
Teams gathered at 6.15 am at the reception for the start of Expedition Afric 2015. A soft breakfast was cooked and some organisers and press could not resist the coffee and chocolate muffins! By 6.30 am Heidi already had all the runners inside the bus, ready to travel the country highways toward the start line.
A huge granite mountain awaited’ "Sebebe Mountain". The entrance prepared for the occasion was one kilometer from the start and the road was bedecked with flags of the World Series and sponsors, it was a magnificent sight.
Communication and press staff from tourism in Swaziland were present and talked to the international and local press. The drones flitting everywhere as cameras and fans mingled in the departure concourse. Stephan counted down and the trek and the race began. Africa Expedition 2015 ... #KingdomofSwaziland.
The beginning was not easy ... a huge wall is revealed in front of the racers who start climbing steadily. The first team to reach the top was the Estonian team but only walking distance separated the teams as they started down between huge boulders looking tiny in the landscape.
Taking countless mountain roads and passing houses of mud and all sorts of other materials we accompany the racers. We pass barefoot people of all ages moving in all directions their feet coloured by the red sand that dominates the area. After consulting a few times along the way ‘Lucky Jackson’ (our local guide), leads us to CP2.
The press team is waiting for the racers at a hill of stones in a huge wheat field rising to the knee and as the runners reach the highest point we are already beginning to see the first differences.
On the way to CP2 teams were walking in the reserves surrounded all kinds of wild animals and after crossing the small canyon with some fun waterfalls and abseiling, teams begin the descent into the fast moving river. The kayak stage passes without difficulty and the Estonian team is still in the lead and behind them a group of 3 teams about 5 minutes back. They are paddling the the huge reservoir of Maguga Dam, finished in 2001 it is the deepest in Southern Africa at 150m.
The first teams arrive around 5pm at CP2, located next to the huge wall of the dam and will have to walk the distance separating the two sides. It is about 1.5 km to reach the nature centre, where they find their boxes and bicycles. In Swaziland darkness falls at 4:30 pm and after the Estonian team walks around the the stones of the dam, there appeared in the darkness the second team with their lights off. Maybe it was a tactic?
Through the early morning activity was on the 65km bike section leading to the transition where a caving stage of 4km awaited.
This was a circular route with the entrance and exit approximately 150m apart.
The first team to arrive was the Estonian team came at 01.00, taking 60 mins to complete the cave. followed by the Sweco team arrived at approximately 0300 taking about 45 min. inside the cave.
SleepMonsters
