Yep…I did say I was not going to write a report…right!
If I had to summarize this year’s Xterra event, I would say it was wet, wild and tough man!
The build up….
So after experiencing my first Xterra “lite” in 2009, which was short, exciting and adventurous, I decided that I needed to up my game a bit to experience the tougher “full” event. In December 2009 our AR Team Lickety Split exchanged emails on numerous occasions highlighting some of the events we were planning to do in 2010. Yep! Xterra was one that came up. 5 of us jumped ahead of ourselves and entered, not realizing that we had the December holidays and Christmas meals in between to contend with. Well with 4 of us (Adri, Mike and Con) entered for the “full” event and one (Sue) for the “lite”. It was always going to be interesting to see how much training would be done during December. With 2 of my teammates as “veteran” swimmers and the rest of us “social…stay afloat” swimmers, we needed a lot of swimming lengths at the gym pool to be able to overcome the 1.5k swim. The 28k MTB and 12k run would still be challenging but mostly it was the swim that bothered me the most. Prior to Xterra I had had only done a 400m open water swim. So with December training (runs and a little bit of cycling) and the pool training in January behind me and a tiring 1.5k swim at Homestead Lake in Benoni with Mike and Adri, the weekend before the race, I came into the race with a bit more confidence. My only concern was swimming with a bunch of other crazy, kicking, punching competitors on race day.
Wet…..
With no sign of the heavens clearing and watching the weather man daily before the race, I just knew this race was going to be an adventurous and challenging one. In fact it rained so much the night before that parts of JHB was flooded! Mike was staying overnight at the Mountain Sanctuary, only a few k’s away from the event, that I was tempted to phone him to see how conditions were there, but decided to rather pray instead for sunshine….and unfortunately my prayers were not answered…until the afternoon. The morning of the race was overcast and at times drizzling which was great accept that the weeks rain had already done its thing making the MTB route a mudbath of note. I have done many muddy MTB races (Sabie, Bonamanzi, Pecanwwod to name some) but honestly speaking, mud and me are not great buddies.
Wild and tough…..
The “lite” race started almost an hour later than planned and the “full” shortly thereafter…due to some technical issues at registration and the organizers checking out the safety of the MTB course. No problem as the weather was great and the water temp. was around 24 °C.. I think…as I normally complain if it’s too cold although I saw a lot of swimmers in wetsuits…unfair man! Saw lots of familiar AR faces (Nicky, Elsie, Heidi, Alex, Phillip, Wiehann, Tommy and many more). With our swim underway, we had to swim to 3 buoys before we headed back to dry land. I made sure at the start to avoid the “rush” so stuck to the left and off I went. For those who have not had the experience swimming in open water, when you in the water the distance looks greater then on land. Alternating between free- style and breast-stroke I managed to get into a nice rhythm (or pace). Around me were swimmers that were trying just about every swimming style they could find to get them going. One guy was swimming without his cap and another backstroke but not checking his direction. Just before the last buoy and on the home straight I experienced my first cramp on my right foot. What now…I thought… and remembered my experienced teammates telling me to lie flat on the water and stretch out the cramp. Right! easier said than done. I was also warned not to ask the life saver for his board as I could get disqualified. Well, even with the cramp I managed to swim it out. It was at this point that a lady with a orange cap swam past me. She was going at a nice easy pace and gliding well through the water. I decided then that I needed some motivation to finish this last section so decided to use some of my reserves and followed her. This worked well and was surprised to see when we got out of the water that it was Elsie. I remember speaking to Elsie at the start of the race who was equally worried and concerned as I was about swim. Once out of the water (feeling like my upper body muscles were blown up out of proportion) and our way to the transition area I nudged Elsie, taking her by surprise, and congratulated her completing this hurdle together.
As quickly as I could, I got onto my MTB to do the next leg. Saw Mike still putting on his MTB shoes and quickly wished him luck for this leg. For those who have done MTB races in this area you will know how technical this section in the Dam area is and worse when muddy. It was also here that I bumped into Heidi who was also struggling with the mud. Mostly this section had to be walked or you would quickly change colour to resemble the path you rode on. We also had to dodge traffic which also came from the front as the “lite” competitors were on their way back. Once we were out of there we headed for the Mountain Sanctuary road. This was where the work started. Besides the ascend we had to contend with, we had a rocky section which we could only be portaged. Once over that it was a descend that was rocky and tricky at times. Just before we got out of the Sanctuary park there was a water stream we had to cross. On approaching I shouted to a guy washing his bike that I was going to ride this one through. Well, he either didn’t hear me or conveniently stuck his ass out to bump me. Next moment I was lying in the water with one shoe stuck in the pedal and doing my best to avoid shouting at him. Well he apologized and then helped me up. On the other side of the stream was a photographer and had to ask him if he got the evidence which sadly he said only got me lying in the water. Still haven’t been able to check if photo is on the website. From there we came across some more muddy sections which was worse than the first lot we experienced. It was also at this point that the fine rain started and added fuel to the mud. We headed cautiously towards to the transition where we found less spectators than earlier, possibly due to the rain.
After transitioning into my trail shoes and upon leaving the water point I had forgotten my race number so I had to quickly run back before getting going again. The first 2 or so k’s was relatively easy until we got to the dam wall. At the dam wall we were welcomed by an amazing waterfall that was so overwhelming that you stood there with absolute amazement grasping the moment as much as you could before deciding to move on. After crossing the river we had to jump rocks, concrete blocks and a climb up a steel ladder. Once at the top it was a fast downhill until we had to cross the river and then walk up a steep tar road to the next water point. It was at these water crossings that we decided to clean off our dirty bodies and shoes. We crossed the main road to encounter yet another hill. The first section had to be walked and from there gradually got moving until we started descending. Once we crossed the main road it was downhill to the finish area to finish lap one of two. I was fortunate to see Mike and Adri on my 2nd lap and urged them on to finish their last leg of the race. The highlight of this leg and the race was definitely the waterfall which gave me a boost of energy for my last lap.
So, after finishing just over 3.5hrs later being welcomed by Max (organizer) calling us Xterra warriors and making us walk onto the stage to receive our medals and seeing Sue on the other side of the stage, I was excited and pleased that I had finished this awesome race.
Thanks goes to the organizers and their sponsors of this event for making this experience such a memorable one for me. For those of you who weren’t able to experience this, book this one in your diary for next year and believe me you will not be disappointed.
Xterra warrior,
Nando
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