Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 120, July 2019 | Page 65

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It proved a steep learning curve for three newcomers to
adventure racing when Team Proudly PE took on the A1 Castle
Lite Adventure Race at the Gariep Dam. – BY KEITH BUHR
S
o when three novice adventure racing wannabies decided it would be a
cool idea to enter Expedition Africa (EA) 2019 – Rodriguez, a couple of key
requirements immediately came to mind. First, we needed a navigator/
AR ‘old-timer’ who could share their experience, guide us novices, and most
importantly, make sure the team did not get lost… too often! We found exactly that
in Piers Pirrow.
The second was for the team to “test their metal” at a ‘practice’ AR event that was
a) tough enough to be called a ‘real’ adventure race, b) would play out most of
the dynamics that make adventure racing what it is, and c) would allow the team
the opportunity to understand what will be knocking at their feet come the 1st
of September at EA, especially from a mental, nutritional, equipment and sleep
deprivation perspective.
Looking at the 2019 race calendar, one race stood out, due to logistics, timing
and just the sheer “toughness” forecast for the race, the A1 Series Castle Lite
Adventure Race held in June in the Gariep Dam region. I write region here, because
in the end we raced in parts of the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Free State.
DATE WITH DESTINY
Driving from PE to Destiny Lodge (the location of the start and finish, and an
amazing venue perched alongside the Orange River), provided the team with the
first lesson: Navigation is more than just following Google maps, as our phones led
us into a farm field and a game fence… on the other side Destiny Lodge. But as we
would find out later in the race, adventure racing is often a case of realising when
one has gone wrong and taking the hard decision to turn around, backtrack and
start again… which we had to do to get to our start venue. The second lesson we
learnt was that navigating in the dark is very, very different to daytime navigating!
We arrived at 6:30pm, registered for the race, and under the watchful eyes of
Piers, we began the “learning experience” of packing and getting our equipment
ready for the forthcoming 30 hours of racing. With alarms set for 4:30am, we tried
to get some sleep prior to the coming adventures, only to find that minus-three
degrees welcomed us to the morning! Yes, minus three! Dressed in many layers of
“whatever we could find,” we carried our boxes to the start line, listened to the final
race instructions from race director Adrian Saffy, and then lined up at the start line,
with nerves-a-plenty!
Leg 1: An 11km trek that started with a brisk jog along the dirt road exiting Destiny
Lodge and then veering off into the bush to find our first control point (CP), which
was at the top of a “koppie.” More like a mini-mountain, but hey, it might’ve just
been the cold legs and uneven ground that led the mind to think “what the $#%&
have we got ourselves into?” Three CP’s later, we entered Destiny Lodge again to
begin leg 2.
One of the most
valuable lessons
was what and
how to pack
Leg 2: A 76km MTB that took us into the Gariep reserve. An awesome experience
that, had we not been riding as hard as we could muster, we would’ve been able to
take in fully the beauty our beloved country has to offer, from an amazing sunrise
across the Gariep Dam, to the endless herds of antelope that crossed our MTB
tracks. Instead, we were focused on trying to ensure the most efficient directional
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