Expedition Africa
Expedition Africa 2015 in "The Kingdom of Adventure"; Race Review Part 4
German Cuevas/AdvFeel Communication (Edited by Rob Howard) / 15.06.2015
Merrell Adventure Addicts were the first to reach one of the hot spots of the race. By 3 or 4am in the cold night they marked one of the controls located by a reservoir in the mountains, midway on the last trek, between T8 and the finish
After crossing a wet muddy area that covered their knees they came to a point where Stephan said in his briefing that teams might have to get into the water.
The reservoir narrowed at this point and the distance between the beach where the control was located and the other side was over 100 m I think. It was hard to tell in the dark. They had two options. Swim or walk around, which would take them approximately 1.30 hours.
We couldn’t confirm what happened, but it seems the lead teams decided not to swim. Later we went to the place and while it was not appealing at night it was different in the daytime. There was a school on the other side and from the early hours of the morning you could hear all the children playing and singing. Watching the videos and photographs taken in the hot day this seemed to be a happy place for the teams, a kind of water park where some even charged into light wetsuits, carried specifically for this point.
From here the route was confusing for the first teams and the team of Estonia reduced the gap to Merrell to make it a close race. Meanwhile, other teams kept coming to T8. Teams were more than a day apart, and were cutting sections, while others stuck it out to try for the full route.
In this race there were all kinds of teams, experts, strong teams who staged an intense struggle in the mid pack and teams that really were suffering the whole race and really didn’t know what they were getting into.
7.30am at the Lugogo Sun hotel, around the pool there is activity. The Sebebe (National beer and collaborator of the event) and Pizza indicates that soon something will happen. The last control is on the side of the golf course next door. The hotel manager is warned by radio ... They are already here!
It is a cold morning in Swaziland, but the last steps Merrell Adventure Team Addicts are fast. You can already see the red tape across the finish though there are not many people there. The team are happy and satisfied, their objective achieved they are the winners of Expedition Africa 20 15 in the Kingdom of Swaziland. Their prize is a $7,000 entry for the World Championship in Pantanal Brazil.
But that is later in the year, now they just have to relax and celebrate with friends and family.
While they were munching their pizza the Estonian ACE Adventure team appeared through the trees. They were just 10 minutes behind after a big race for this team who were early leaders and achieved their best ARWS result.
After a couple of days hovering around the hotel as teams come across the line and making visits to the course, we got up early. The weather was hot, about 25 degrees, and in a few hours the pool will be full of runners sunbathing.
We are told that there are only two teams still on course and one has only two racers. The pair seem to have been lost for days, but the other team is still on the full course. Some of them have serious trouble walking but they are still in the race. I go to meet them with my camera and they are happy to see me, it means they are near the finish. Their clothes are full of red dust and mud and the emotion shows on their faces. The final control had cost them so much effort and they are relieved to arrive at the hotel after 6 days.
They are directed across the golf course and are given a puzzled look by players told to waid, but they are in their own world the world of adventure racing and only think that this will end in a few minutes, exhausted but with a huge smile on their faces.
I delayed a bit and listened to the distance a roar of cheers and applause. All the racers who are in the pool and in their rooms came to congratulate Team Bittereinder on their success. (The name means Bitter End.) They too have their beer and pizza, as the first and other teams, perhaps even know them better.
To close the race there was a moving ceremony at the convention centre with the Prime Minister in the first row of the audience. He expressed his desire to see the race come to Swaziland again and the organization thanked the people and the country for their fantastic support. There were pictures and videos of the race to see. The best and most emotional part of the evening was when race organiser Heidi asked the racers to tell their stories of the race.
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