The Eden Challenge - Oct 2002
Team Energy has a Winning Way by UCT Monday Paper
The 200 km Eden Challenge adventure race
in the Riverdale area last week was won by Team Energy, whose members call Fish
Hoek, Glencairn and Hout Bay home.
Starting at the lovely Grootvaderbos
Nature Reserve at 4 AM, the team had to negotiate kloofs, cycle over the
mountains and descend into the hot, dusty Klein Karoo. They then bundubashed
through the fynbos back over the mountains, cycled to the Goukou River and
paddled into the night to Stillbaai. This was followed by a bit of coasteering
(navigating along the sea coast) before the final ride through the Reins Nature
Reserve where the sandy terrain necessitated pushing the bikes at frequent
intervals. Team Energy finished in 26 hours and 21 minutesarriving in time for
breakfast at the Reins Nature Reserve, followed by a much deserved mid-morning
snooze.
But Team Energy does not rest on its
laurels from just one race. Two weeks previously, Team Energy (represented by
Jean-Paul van Belle and Caroline Brawner) won the open category of the worlds
first paddle orienteering event, the Polaris Paddle
Challenge, at Theewaterskloofdam. And this last weekend, Team Energy (this
time represented by Trevor Ball and Jean-Paul) won the open category of the
first Real Cape Adventure Challenge a new mountain bike/paddle/trail
running/orienteering series.
Note: Team Energy = Trevor Ball, Ugene
Nel, Caroline Brawner & Jean-Paul Van Belle (dept of Information Systems UCT)
The Eden Challenge Race Report by Caroline Brawner
Team Energy decided to do the Eden
Challenge for two reasons: we had a free entry because we had won a previous
race also organised by Jan Heenop and we had evidence that it would take place
in the Heidelburg/Riversdale/Swellendam region. This part of the country makes
for a close, convenient race plus it is an area we all wished to explore further
as its towering mountains, steep kloofs and varied vegetation are so beautiful.
The race was due to start at 4 AM on
Friday, 25 October so we left Cape Town in 3 vehicles, from 3 locations, at 3
different times on Thursday afternoon. As usual, everything worked out despite
the chaos that always accompanies team organisation. We were very fortunate to
have 2 brand new/latest design Swift paddleyaks (a cross between a kayak and a
surfski) sponsored by Johan Loots but were delayed an hour because the second
boat wasnt yet finished!
All the teams converged at the
campground at Grootvadersbos by evening, got tents put up, and cooked dinner
before gathering around a big fire where Jan gave the briefing and gave us the
maps. Then it was back to camp to organise gear and plot the points. We had 3
navigators of a sort. The chief navigator was, of course, the famed Jean-Paul
van Belle with Ugene Nel as his dependable backup man. In addition, we had
Gunter Spilhaus as our chief second who would double check their plots and
search out other possible routes and details once the team was in the field.
Unlike some previous races wed done, good navigation on this race would be
critical.
After a few pictures and with music
blaring, 14 teams raced off at 4 AM. It must have been quite a sight as 56
headlamps bobbed along the mountain trails, through forests and along exposed
edges of a huge kloof. Wed like to go back someday and see this kloof by
daylight but it was quite a spectacular and eerie sight by the light of a
moon. A few mistakes were made by various teams even by the time it got light
about 5:30 and Team Energy found itself in 4th position at PC3 where
the teams split. Trevor and Ugene practically flew down the abseil and through
the kloof while Jean-Paul and Caroline descended a steep hillside and made it to
the transition about 10 minutes before the others. Our seconds plied us with
fresh fruit and sandwiches and slathered us with sunblock as we changed into our
cycling kit. With cheers of encouragement, they sent us on our way.
It was a very quick transition for
Trevor and Ugene which may have been a bit too hasty: Trevor forgot to take his
wet wetsuit top out of his pack. A few klicks down the road Trevor realised his
mistake because his pack was so heavy. For a while we made fast progress on a
relatively straight flat road but then turned off on a road that was never
intended to be bicycledit had endless huge, long ups and downs. The downs were
great but you knew youd just have to go back up again. The scenery was stunning
but the exertion required of the terrain did take away from our appreciation of
it. Many hills were so steep that we had to push the bikes. Somewhere along
here, as the sun was picking up strength, Trevor was suddenly immobilisd by
cramp in both legs. Jean-Paul took all of the required emergency gear out of
Trevors pack and Ugene got the heavy wetsuit. Trevor drank a Rehydrate but
suffered the whole rest of the 50 km cycle leg. It was a long, hard cycle to
get to PC5 where there was a little pool at the edge of a honeybush farm.
Trevor and Jean-Paul knelt at the edge and dunked the entire top half of their
bodies into the pond to cool off. The cameramen who had routinely been filming
us through the morning thought this was great and went in for the close-ups.
Trevor then announced that cold water on the head was better than sex!
Keeping cool was the name of the game
nowthe temperature wasnt extreme (remember, temperature readings are taken in
the shade) but the sun was very intense. The guys took extra bottles of water
not to drink but to keep pouring over their heads to keep cool. This procedure
was followed several times as we pushed our bikes up the last hill from which we
descended into the brown, dry Klein Karoo. The spaces were so wide open here
that we could see teams many kilometres ahead as well as those following far
behind us. A few more long ups and downs brought us to the anxiously awaiting
seconds parked in the shade of gum trees on a farm. We hopped off the bikes,
drank as much as possible, ate what we could (we didnt feel like eating much in
the heat but knew we needed the energy) and changed back into our running kit.
Jean-Paul checked the map with Gunter and then we were off.
Trevor had largely recovered by now but
Caroline was not having a good day and battled up the mountain through fynbos
that was well taller than she was. It was beautiful, with many plants blooming
in a rainbow of colours, but it was steep, hot and there was not a hint of a
trail. Since the required race bibs were bright yellow, it was quite easy to
see other teams peeping through the vegetation, each team taking their own
route. The saving grace was that there was a cool breeze at the top and we left
the Klein Karoo behind as we descended steeply down the other side where we
eventually found a trail. This whole period of time was one of passing and
being passed; we were in 4th, 5th and 6th
position several times each.
We could see the Korintepoort Dam where
we were heading and were able to find a trail right through the forest that
surrounds the dam. This put us ahead of a couple of teams that had taken longer
routes and we arrived at the transition/PC8 in 3rd position. It was
here we got the maps for the rest of the race but first two team members had to
swim about 20 metres out to a boat and get our passport stamped. While the guys
plotted points, Caroline took advantage of the extra time to take a cooling,
cleansing dip in the dam before changing back into cycling kit. We actually had
a quicker transition than many teams because Jean-Paul and Ugene only plotted
what they needed to know until the next transition because Gunter would plot the
rest while they waited for us.
Off
again over hill and dale, speeding down and pushing up many of them before
finally descending to a fairly flat 20 kms or so that took us into Riverdale.
At one point we had to stop for a herd of cows to cross the road and got out our
sarmies. Thats when it became clear that sandwiches were not designed to be
eaten on bicycles bumping down rough jeep track. We did manage, however,
without spilling too many of our sandwich ingredients on the road. Caroline was
feeling very sorry for herself by now and was slowing the team down
considerably. Though her aches and pains were actually nothing extreme, she
made a complaint to Trevor. In true Team Energy fashion, Trevor did not indulge
this self-pity but rather stated that Someone at the end cares.
Even after all the races weve done, we
are still learning. We had been cycling along not as a group but spread out and
with Caroline struggling to keep up at the back. When another team flew by us
in tight formation, we saw the advantage of this strategy. So, we tightened the
ranks and, especially in the longer, flatter sections we were now encountering,
Caroline drafted behind the guys. We were trying to get a far as possible
before the sun set because there was some tricky navigation about 6 kms beyond
Riverdale. Just as we found the turn, we stopped to put on our lights. These
included our two super lights that each provide about 10 metres of daylight!
Unfortunately, at this point, the small dirt tracks were so sandy or/and rocky
that we pushed the bikes more than riding them. There were also a few more
Mount Everests to push up before we finally started the descent to the
transition at PC12. There was twice as much bike pushing in this race than any
other wed done but at least there was no bike carrying, which has become all
too common in recent adventure races.
Now came Team Energys biggest coup:
Jean-Paul found a short cut along a fence line that shaved a good 10 kms off the
route. Once again, we arrived at the transition before teams that had passed us
earlier. Our seconds provide for our needs with their usual cheery efficiency
which included some good caffeine laden coffee to keep us awake. Soon we were
off again for a short run down to the Goukou River. On the way we passed Team
Kinetic who had been in the lead for most of the race. Only later did we find
out why they were walking slowlyand actually stopped to sleep right after we
saw them: their strongest team member had fallen in the very first leg of the
race and had concussion! How he managed to finish the race is truly amazing as
he was apparently quite out of it much of the time.
The next transition was unassisted,
meaning our boats were waiting for us but not our seconds. The problem was that
the put-in point was a tangle of water hyacinth so thick that it was not
possible to paddle through. It was here that we encountered Team Hunters Dry
who had had to wait 40 minutes for their seconds to find the transition point
and give them their boatsand now they couldnt get them onto the water.
Fortunately both Gunter and Ugene di the race last year and remembered that
there was someplace a few hundred metres down where there was access to clear
water. So, with Caroline carrying 4 paddles and a dry bag and the three guys
carrying the two Swifts, Team Energy bundubashed their way to the waters
edgebut not without many false paths and backtracks. By now, Team Drifter had
also arrived and had sussed out the situation so we jumped in our boats as fast
as possible and expected to have the other teams, which are stronger at paddling
than we are, to soon come flying by us.
Instead, we had the river to ourselves.
We didnt use torches despite the moon being obscured so it was very dark. We
were as much surprised by the local wildlife as it apparently was by us: several
times ducks took off in a panic with our boats practically on top of them and
several times whole shoals of fish shot away from our boats, creating a quite a
wave. A few fish even jumped right over the bow of Jean-Pauls boat. The
paddling was fast and easy except for the fact that the river was so shallow
that we frequently had to get out to get ourselves off sandbars. Most of the
time Caroline didnt have to get out of the boa because shes so light that once
Trevor got out, the boat floated clear. When on one occasion, she had to get
out and didnt move fast enough, Trevor voiced his annoyance with This is not a
picnic! Caroline, who never finds kayaks seats comfortable in the first place
and who was rather stiff and sore after nearly 24 hours of constant biking and
hiking, responded with the apparent non-sequitor Im nearly 46 years old!
She should have known betterTrevor at age 36 feels great and assumes that if he
keeps fit he will feel the same way at age 46. Those of us who have passed the
famed 40 year boundary know that what your parents told you is actually true:
after 40 the aches and pains become more significant and recovery is slower.
The import of all this was totally lost on Trevor and Caroline received even
more ridicule and verbal abuse than she has become accustomed to!
The thing was that we had now moved into
first placea complete surprise to Jean-Paul and Caroline who were woefully
undertrained and had never intended to seriously race. But Trevor could now
smell victory--which is like a shark smelling blood. He was now determined to
get us to the finish first by any means possible. At the mouth of the river at
Stillbaai, we got out of the boats (some faster than others) and dragged them in
the surf zone a few hundred metres down the beach to the transition at PC14.
Into dry clothes, a quick feed (more of the tasty warm pasta wed had back at
PC12 and more coffee) and we were off for a 10 km jog down the beach.
Occasionally we had to run between some rocks when a high wave came up and we
hoped that the tide would make it even more difficult for the teams behind us.
We ran at a steady pace and calculated wed reach our destination in 1 . It
seemed a daunting task to ask our exhausted bodies to run continuously for 90
minutes but we were stimulated both by our first place position and by the
energy of the waves crashing nearly at our feet.
We found the house on the beach almost
exactly at the time and place we expected and stopped for a quick break. After
we climbed the hill from the beach, we looked for the PC but it wasnt where we
expected it was plotted and we assumed that the marshal hadnt gotten there
yet. So we found the jeep track and ran/walked up that for 8 kms till we
arrived at the next transition. Back on the bikes (this was getting quite
monotonous) for the final leg, about 22 kms. By now, Trevor was certain we were
only minutes ahead of the other teams and cycling is our slowest discipline so
he wanted up to push to the max. Trevor is a real people personhe understands
what makes people tickso he tried every trick in the book to get Caroline
angry. This has had great results before as her adrenaline starts pumping when
shes angry and suddenly shes cycling passed Jean-Paul (who would give Lance
Armstrong a run for his money!) Finally, Caroline could take it no longer, when
he said he didnt want her to freewheel on the downhills (when one can rest a
littlebut this is when Caroline falls behind because she weighs so little and
thus has no momentum). Caroline exploded, the adrenaline flowed and the pace
picked up considerably. Ugene and Jean-Paul know to stay quiet during these
times and even had trouble stifling their laughs. The adrenaline doesnt last
long but Caroline was wide awake now and, like a horse, could smell the barn.
After a few more pushes up steep hills
and through sand through Reins Reserve, Team Energy reached the tarred road
that took them 5 kms speeding downhill to the finsh line. It felt so good to be
finished although we werent as tired as after most 200 km races because it had
only taken us a record breaking 26 hours and 22 minutes! In fact, we got to the
finish before Jan and before the TV cameras so there really wasnt much fanfare
although someone managed to find the bottle of champagne.
We had booked accommodation for Saturday
night and were most grateful to have a place to shower and nap in comfort. We
went back to cheer in other teams as they arrived. We were pleased that we had
missed the heat of another day and spent Saturday taking it easy, socialising
with the other teams and organising gear. About 7 PM, we went to the lodge as
the TV crew had requested for an interview. It was then we discovered that a
claim had been laid against us by Team Hunters Dry who had come in second, over
two hours behind us. We had not physically gone to PC15 even though we had
clearly done the whole course and Jan had told us hed seen us at PC15 (in the
dark we hadnt seen him up on the hill above the beach). Jan knew wed done the
whole course but we hadnt found the checkpoint so technically we could be
disqualified. Team Hunters claim they spent a long time looking for the point
which, it turns out, Jan had misplotted. The third place team, Drifter, had the
same problem but did eventually find the PC because, in part, by then it was
daylight.
It was quite a mess but all three teams
didnt want to create a big controversy and didnt want to discredit Jan in any
way because we all felt it was an extremely well organised race. In the spirit
of good sportsmanship, it was agreed that the top two teams would share the top
position and split the prize money of the top two positions. The third position
of Drifter didnt change. Its unfortunate that since sponsorship and prize
money have put an extra burden on teams in the last year of adventure racing,
the first few positions are always disputed now. We are happy to share our
first place because we know that Team Hunters Dry is a strong team that worked
every bit as hard as we did. And we know that since adventure racing is full of
unknowns and the unexpected, the tables could be turned the next time.
The prizegiving was followed by
breakfast and everyone was glad to be driving back home well rested. Jan went
off to preach a Sunday sermonI wonder if he included anything about his
adventure race as some sort of homily to his congregation? We learned a few
things and we had a great time; we hope Jan will continue organising races of
this calibre.
(We also learned that some teams are so
desperate for female team members that they pay them up to R2000 and they treat
them with tender loving care. Im actually surprised Trevor hasnt tried to
sell me off to the highest bidderhe tried to trade me for a cow with a Zulu
herder during Quest 2001!but I think he realises no other woman would take such
abuseand its even worse with Ugene in on the game now! Perhaps I should put
myself on the market and see what kind of price I get? Any bids???)