Sarah Hearn
THE team was lost and tired. It was dark and very cold. They were days from the start and light years from the finish, trying to find a checkpoint using a map that promised a hill when they were in a valley. The navigator frowned and turned it around again. The rest stood listlessly, dumped their backpacks, massaged their legs, unwrapped another muesli bar. They had passed these huts three times already.
Little village children grouped around them and chattered amongst themselves. Finally one brave girl tugged on a filthy race shirt and demanded to know: “Why are you doing this to yourselves? Are you serving a punishment, or what?”
A true adventure race always sends participants out there where tourism brochures wouldn’t dare. This year’s Expedition Africa– an annual 450km unsupported, unmarked, multi-day and multi-discipline endurance event, was played out in the Kingdom of Swaziland, where “even the flat parts are hilly”. Twenty four teams of four cycled 290km along district roads and forests, ran 115km over and around mountains and across nature reserves, kayaked 45km down rivers and rapids, squeezed 800m through a labyrinth of underground caves and plunged one kilometre down a canyon of icy waterfalls. Non-stop.
No seconding is allowed, so once given the briefing, teams must plan and pack the boxes that will be dropped at transition areas by the organisers. Making sure paddles will be found at the start of a river leg and cycling shoes are with the bicycle is a vital part of a successful trip. Knowing what to do with the needle on a compass is another as they must navigate themselves to checkpoints using only the maps provided.
The Swazi nation’s people howled with laughter at these bedraggled clumps of strangers passing through, not understanding at all what they were doing, yet cheerfully willing to assist. Stories abound of villagers roused from their beds and walking kilometres in their pyjamas to help groups find obscure pathways; of meals and mattresses offered, and best of all, sound advice: “Just remember, if you get tired, take a rest.”
The Expedition Africa events have a reputation for toughness and tactics. Previous editions showcased the freezing Drakensberg mountain range, the sweltering beauty of the truly wild Wild Coast and the splendour of the fynbos-covered southern Cape. No matter in which region, racers interact with our country’s natural environment on a grand and intimate scale, traversing areas that have remained uninhabited for a reason, encountering wildlife and experiencing authentic moments of pure exalted joy and absolute despair.
Each team is mixed gender and operates as a unit, as strong as their weakest link and as weak as their strongest ego. Although it is a very personal journey to discover just how far one can haul one’s own body when all the dashboard lights are flashing, there is no place for false bravado and secret suffering. Four people must work harmon-iously to find their overall optimum pace and decide if, where and when they need to stop and eat or sleep in order to keep moving efficiently. Four people cannot synchronise their peaks and troughs so they learn to communicate and compromise, feeding into and out of a communal bowl of energy by helping and being helped. It’s raw and honest human interaction brought about by the desire to fulfil a common goal. The physical and mental dark hours prompt questions of what it is that makes legs keep moving forward when both the body and the mind think they have had enough.
“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” American author Napoleon Hill examined the power of personal beliefs and the role they play in personal success. His century-old books offered the secret of how to get rich – which is why they remain popular to this day – but can easily be applied to an adventure race, and consequently, life. He presented the idea of a “definite major purpose”, something that, during an expedition, focuses and drives each participant to the end. Paradoxically, this often causes them to experience post-race blues when that purpose – to finish – has been achieved.
Seventy two hours and 30 minutes after starting off straight up the sheer sides of Sibebe Rock, the largest single granite slab in the world, the Merrell Adventure Addicts brought the South African flag proudly across the line to win the event for the third time. Just 15 minutes later the Estonian team crossed the finish. It would take a further 76 hours until all the teams had come limping in, wild eyed and triumphant.
Adventure racing is not outside the realm of the ‘ordinary’ person. At these events high profile world champion teams share the quest with any group of like-minded mates who decide to give it a bash – who enter not to come first but to try to finish. One cannot arrive fresh from the couch, but provided one is competent at the three main disciplines, the real entry ticket is simply putting four people together who believe that it is possible. “Only by working harmoniously in co-operation with other individuals and thus creating value and benefit for them will one create sustainable achievement for oneself.” In his famous book, Law of Success, Hill’s words promised a fortune.
The tangible reward for finishing an adventure race is just a medal and the growth of new toenails. But the true value is the realisation that our own limits are set at an unfathomable depth. Having travelled to the furthest regions of themselves, participants return with an awareness of their own potential and an inspired self-confidence. To sustain this and be able to apply it to every aspect of one’s life is the true prize.
South African team Merrell Adventure Addicts, currently seventh in the world rankings, will be competing in the Adventure Racing World Championships in Brazil, starting a 700km route tomorrow.
l Expedition Africa 2016 will explore the surrounds of Knysna. Information and entries: www.kineticgear.co.za. For Merrell Adventure Addicts: www.advaddicts.co.za