TRAIL
Shortly after finding them , we came to a steep descent , as slippery as hell in the wet , and started slip-sliding our way down . I rounded a corner on the descent , and there was a cave ! We all squeezed in , getting out of the rain and wind , and with help from each other , we managed to all get our base layers on , and my gloves on properly . What a relief . I could also eat something now , having semi workable fingers again !
The rest of the night was uneventful , compared to the harrowing start to it , and I steadily ticked off checkpoints and kilometres , but shortly before dawn , I began to feel quite nauseous . I ’ m not sure what caused it – perhaps it was the earlier altitude issues , the flirting with hypothermia , or a nutrition issue . The combined effect of my nausea and the incredibly muddy conditions meant that the section of the race I had earmarked for making up time became a slow slog . By the time I started to feel a bit better , I was quite far behind my target pace , and the supposedly runnable section had run out .
Now we were heading back into the mountains , with technical single tracks , climbs and descents . Ironically , I started to overtake a few people as my tummy improved , and my headache had also disappeared . But because I had some time to make up , I made my last mistake … Instead of taking a 20-minute power nap , which has always boosted
me in miler events before , I decided to push through without sleeping . The strategy seemed to work well until I had about 20km to go . I was asleep on my feet , constantly swaying and unsteady . Sometimes I even found myself stumbling backwards instead of forwards . I ended up losing a heck of a lot more than the 20 minutes a nap would have cost . Another lesson learnt .
Distant Finish
The last 8km leg of the UTD160 is agonising , because for 6km of those 8km you can see the lights of the finish , but at the pace I was able to drag my sore and sleep-deprived body , those 8km took over an hour and a half ! Somehow , I eventually made it to the finishing straight , heard my name , encouraging shouts and some bells being rung , and trotted home to cross the line . I had started at 9am on Friday and finished just after 2am on Sunday .
With the help of some kind people , I made it to my tent , warmed up a bit and then hobbled off to a lovely hot shower . The next morning , I enjoyed a delicious breakfast – my first proper meal since breakfast on Friday – and then , what the hell , a couple of beers too ! Prize-giving followed , with the highlight ( certainly for me ) being the ceremony where each successful 100-mile finisher was a awarded an alpine bell , and then they were all rung together ! A unique and very special occasion !
Images : Anton Neethling
44 ISSUE 168 | www . modernathlete . co . za