Definitely Extreme - by Lisa de Speville Part 1
Augrabies Extreme Marathon (Part 1): 7-13 October 2001
A week before the race, which I'd never even heard of before, I got a call from my friend Nicola, the former editor of AdventureZone, who asked if I'd do a product review for Bivvybag - and was I going to the Augrabies race?
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My response was, "Of course I'll do the product review… what Augrabies race?"
After talking to the guy from Bivvybag he put me on to Estienne, the race director for the Augrabies Extreme, who invited me along as the race journalist.
Wow!
So, a week later I was off in a mini-van, along with other competitors, heading towards the Northern Cape.
Having been up way too many late nights before we left, I slept for about 7hrs of the 9.5hr journey.
The best way to travel.
Essentially, the Augrabies Extreme Marathon is based on the now well-known "Le Marathon des Sables" (Marathon of the Sands) held annually in the Sahara Desert.
It's well attended and is known as the marathon of all marathons.
Estienne and Steve, the other director, had both been across in '99 and decided to set up a similar "staged" event here.
Thus the Augrabies Extreme was born.
The AEM is a staged race, meaning that the approx. 250km distance is split into daily legs.
You all start together in the morning and the times are accumulated.
The daily distances ranged from 28km, averaging around 38km, with the longest leg at 71km.
This race requires no navigation as the route is marked with chevron tape by the organisers.
Competitors have to be self-sufficient, carrying all their own food for the 7days as well as clothing, sleeping/bivvy bag, first aid and emergency stuff like a lighter, smoke flare, whistle, torch etc. My starting backpack weight was 9kg, second lightest.
Some were starting with 12.5kg. Add 2-3l of water to that… it's heavy.
The only concessions made by the organisers are overnight shelters and watering points along the route about every 10km. I was drinking between 12-15l of water a day and there would have been no way I'd ever have been able to carry that.
The Saturday evening there was a briefing and our first opportunity to meet the other competitors. A field of 12, 4 of whom were foreign, it was a South African dominated event.
Bob (42), a clinical psychologist from Virginia, US and Lynn (30), a local environmental consultant and project manager were back for more having taken part last year. Barb (44), a high school teacher from Winnipeg, Canada, had entered this event as part of a fund-raising drive for a CatScan machine for her hometown. She's developed a fondness for SA, having taken part in Comrades in 2000 and 2001.
Warren (35), a civil engineer on London's underground, also has a SA connection - his girlfriend's a local from Natal. Warren is a naturally talented athlete, running 21.1km in 64minutes.
The last foreigner, Karl-Heinz, from Germany, is an absolute inspiration. Having gotten divorced at age 50, he decided to recreate his life and took up running and sports - having never done anything. Now at 64, he's a long-distance celebrity, invited to races around Europe. He's done 17 Ironman events including Hawaii and the Hawaii Ultraman. He's got 7 Guinness World records. He's done 3 double and 5 triple Ironman races and also "Le Marathon des Sables". He's also done 30 solo long distance (250 - 600km) bicycle races. Though he isn't fast, he's consistent and just keeps going. As he said to me, "Output is not a question of age."
Another interesting competitor was Geoff Hilton-Barber (54). Geoff is now blind, the result of retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder. By age 23, Geoff could no longer read or drive and over the following 10 years, his eyesight continued to deteriorate, leaving him completely blind. In his 20's Geoff took up sailing and is now known worldwide for his solo 51-day expedition from Durban to Australia. He's been a finalist in the "OutThere Adventurer of the Year" competition. Geoff also ran "Le Marathon" in 1999 with Estienne and Steve. When he decided to climb Kilimanjaro in 2000, Geoff met Lance, whose company organises guided trips up the mountain. Geoff is an absolute gem. His determination is inspiring and even barely able to walk, his sharp wit and sense of humour is ever present.
Lance (32) is no ordinary guide. He has limitless patience and a kindness rarely encountered. Talking to him about guiding a blind person, he had the following comments. "When you guide someone, you always have to remember that there are two of you and that you have to guide at the followers ability. Each person has their own needs, so when one person needs to go, the other has to go too. "When choosing route or paths to take, you can't just pick the one that looks good for you. You've got to select the easiest route for the blind person, often having to take the harder route yourself. This is certainly the case with jeep tracks or single track. Geoff walks on the track, I walk on the side through whatever vegetation is present. "You've got to communicate closely, not lose your temper, keep your conversations light-hearted and respect the other person's space because you're essentially joined for the duration of the race. We often keep quiet for long periods of time, except for instructions like, 'go narrow' or 'go wide'."
Then there was David (27), a natural therapist who'd assisted at the event last year and had again volunteered to take part as the sweeper, collecting the route markers those runners hovering at the back.
Jonathan (27), a student from Port Elizabeth had read about the race in the Runner's World, and with no particular training or experience, decided that this was something he wanted to do.
Pieter (42), an information researcher, is a 100miler veteran, having completed 17. This year alone he did 3 in the 8 weeks following Comrades.
Daniella (25), a manager at National - one of the event co-sponsors - had seen an advert for the race in her office and decided to enter.
On Sunday morning, at 09h00, we set off from the gates of the Augrabies Falls National Park on the first 36km leg.
We headed west along a dirt road for the first 15km before abandoning all roads to go cross-country to the second watering point.
We'd been warned by the organisers about the tiny flies, which we call "miggies", that were certain to bother us. So, we'd all come prepared with nets attached to our hats - like a bridal veils. Within a few minutes I discovered that a white net was a bad idea.
In the glare of the sun, I could hardly see a thing. Dark green/brown nets are definitely the better option.
As an adventure racer, I'd never done an "all-foot" event and had decided to take it easy, walk the first few days and then start running once my pack was lighter.
Trekking steadily, I caught up with Jonathan and Barb around the 18km mark passing them to join up with Karl a few meters ahead.
Also, as an adventure racer, I'm not good at following markers. I'm addicted to my maps and like to make my own route-choice decisions.
Following the instructions to "keep on the jeep track" I realised that I hadn't seen any markers for a while. Karl and I discussed this briefly and since we hadn't seen anything behind us, we decided to press on. A while later we met up with Pieter, whose footprints we'd seen - who had also missed the marker indicating the left turning.
At this point I could see the Orange River down below and a quality dirt road running alongside it.
Using the portion of photocopied 1:50 000 maps we'd been given with the route instructions, I pinpointed our location and suggested we continue ahead, turn left at the intersection onto the tar road and head towards the overnight camp, which should have been located next to this main road, a few kilometres ahead.
Barb and Jonathan followed a way behind. Having missed the second watering point we filled our bottles from a tap at a nearby vineyard before continuing.
Halfway up the hill, I saw Deon, the race physiotherapist, stop and talk to Pieter, who was about 200m ahead. Meeting up with Deon a few minutes later, we had a conversation that really confused me.
He first said that we'd already done way over the day's distance and that he could give me a lift to the watering point, from where I could continue to the overnight camp - another 15km away.
I asked why I couldn't just go to the camp, which according to the map was directly ahead of me next to the road.
The watering point would have been way to the west. Still confused I refused the ride, and walked to the watering point, joining up again with Pieter. Karl was a little way behind us. Pieter and I then walked together for most of the way getting to the third watering point a few minutes apart, joining up again for a while, heading towards the camp.
As it turns out, there was no error in my navigation. The map, not being meant for use - because we should have been following the markers - had the "x" marking the camp in completely the wrong place, on the main road where the watering point was located. No wonder I was confused and disorientated!
Back at camp, my 5l water bottle close at hand, it was time to lie back in the shade, elevate my tired feet, indulge in a massage and contemplate the extra 10km we'd covered on this first day.
Karl came in a while later. Jonathan and Barb took an alternate route, having not turned onto the main road. Estienne found them and directed them to camp.
Geoff, Lance, Daniella and Jonathan appeared to have taken the same route.
After a long, cold sleep, the sun dawned on day 2, which we'd elected to start at 6am, taking advantage of the few cool morning hours.
With mid-morning temperatures reaching the upper 30's, the longer you were out there, the more strain you would take.
Without exception, all the runners agreed that this was by far the hardest day of them all.
The sweltering temperatures and gruelling trek up the dry bed of the Molopo River, trapped in the never-ending gorge, was mentally and physically exhausting.
Like walking through thick beach sand, your progress is slow as you're unable to take large steps, sinking deep into the sand with each step. Also, the route up the gorge is unmarked, so with no map, and no end in sight, you've got no idea how far you've got to go.
Having only been walking up the river for a short while, I met up with Jonathan, who was backtracking - hoping to find someone behind him.
Since the instructions had said that we were to walk up the river, it was the only option - so he joined me and we walked together.
After what seemed like hours… in fact it was hours, the vegetation started to change.
There was a whole mini-field of very tall reeds - taller than me by far. The gorge also narrowed, with huge boulders blocking the way.
Jonathan decided at this point to take a rest in the shade. I decided to keep going, wanting to reach the watering point as soon as possible.
Looking for a way through the course reeds, and stumbling over the rocks, I heard someone calling. Karl had stopped ahead, resting in the shade on river right, having decided that the way ahead was impassable and that he'd missed a marker leading him out of the gorge. Since both Jonathan and I had seen nothing behind us - and we'd been looking expectantly, the only alternative was forward.
Anyway, I'm an adventure racer and nothing is impassable. We decided to stick to river right, skirting along a rocky path - our path obstructed on the left by a toxic looking pool.
Anyway, after leaping up and down boulders, we got to an area where it looked possible to hack our way through the reeds, and we needed to get through to get to the stairs I'd spotted cut into the rock on the left of the gorge. I led the way, pushing over the reeds so that we could walk on them. But, under our feet were rocks… and gaps. Just as I turned to face Karl and warn him, he stepped into a gap. Fortunately, as he fell he pushed over the reeds, landing on a soft mattress. But, he landed belly up on his bulging backpack with his head down slope and his arms and legs flailing. He looked just like a tortoise on its back. And, I got the giggles… With the weight of the backpack, gravity holding him down and absolutely no handholds, he could barely lift his head, much less turn himself over.
And, I confess, I just stood there, trying not to embarrass him any further and at the same time laughing uncontrollably.
Once the tears had cleared from my eyes so I could see him again, I managed to get my hands under the top of his pack to help him up by giving him a good ol' heave-ho. We pushed the last couple of meters through a reed forest, me leading the way - still laughing.
Estienne and the gang manning the watering point at the Riemvasmaak hot springs were there to greet us. Karl emerged with a big smile on his face, saying to Estienne was that it's good to stick with me because I "find good route". Poor man, I'd gotten him "lost" on the first day and sent him blundering through the reeds on the second.
We refilled out hydration bladders, shouldered our packs and once again set off on the final stretch, first along a dirt road through the small town of Riemvasmaak and then back up the Molopo River bed.
Camp was a welcome sight, cheered in by the other runners and medical team - who treated me to my first dose of methyolate.
I'd always avoided the stuff, but in some macho, peer-pressure induced state, I subjected myself to the damn near equivalent of having a white-hot poker attached to my heel.
The one and only time… I'll stick to my syringe or needle and thread when it comes to blisters.
Sleep was comfortable on the soft riverbed sand, but incredibly cold - reaching 4C during the night.
Since I was product testing for BivvyBag, I'd taken along some warm leggings and a thermal top, and no sleeping bag, which really wasn't sufficient.
So, in the early hours of morning Lynn, also in a bivvy bag and also freezing, and I awoke, hopped into the same bivvy bag, pulling the other one over us, along with the tent's flysheet and managed to get more sleep.
The result of our thorough product testing is that two size 34 females can fit in one bivvy bag and with synchronised movements can roll-over.
But, unless one person goes higher than the other, you can't sleep on your back because two sets of hips are too wide.
Finally, nothing beats body heat.
As happens daily, the sun rose, awakening the start of day 3.
- - - end of part 1 - - -
Posted by: Admin on Nov 03, 03 | 2:27 pm |
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