Race report - Part 1

I will write the race reports in two parts, and here is the first part.

The day before the race we had to go through our race kit with the medic and race director to confirm we had all kit we needed for the run. The atmosphere in the camp started to build and there was a lot of anticipation in the air. Last session we needed to go through was with Fran, the guide. Fran is an ex-special forced in Namibia and a man of few words. He went through the maps we had been given covering each of the six 20km stages. Each map was a high-level satellite image of each stage where we could see the overall feature of terrain. I went to bed filled with anticipation and nerves.

I got up in the morning and made my final preparations. Bringing on the fully packed back-pack made me truly feel the weight on my shoulders in more way then one!

Stage1
At 9am local time we all lined up. Fran took out his Magnum 44 and with a shot in the air we were off. As promised to Ben I headed off strong and was leading the race (ok let's get real here, I led the race for about 50m before Tom overtook me and soon left me trailing in the dust). The first stage was a fairly easy terrain with low bushes on hard gravel. We had markers that we followed and half-way through the stage I was feeling very strong and went onto follow a road towards the first checkpoint, CP1. I was following my tactics of walking all hills and a slow jog in between. I averaged about 8km/h and reached CP1 in 2h 30min. I was the third person into the checkpoint and I was feeling strong.


Stage 2
After a very quick stop (I only had a quick bit of an energy bar and re-filled my water) I was off again. The heat of the day really started to take a toll and after about 1h into the second stage I started to feel that I could not keep running. I was starting to feel the first signs of heat stroke (head ache, difficulty to find saliva to spit and starting to feel a bit wobbly), and I was forced to start to walk rather then running. We entered a part of the second stage where we were running through a dry riverbed with high hills each side of the track. Andy had put his watch down on the ground and measured 46 degrees (115 Fahrenheit), so it was no chock I was feeling the heat. Towards the end of the stage I saw Andy and after about 45min trailing him I caught up with him just before CP2. At the checkpoint I drank lots of water and stayed in the shade to cool down and after about 20-30min break me and Andy hit the road together. At the start of stage 2 I started to really feel the weight of my backpack. The 12kg was heavier then what I was used to and my left shoulder started to hurt badly. Throughout the stage the pain was there and I tried to carry the backpack in any way possible.


Stage 3
Andy had problems with his bladder and although he wanted to he could not wee. Increasing pressure made him stand double at times and I tried to stay positive and tell him to look forward and we would do the stage together. The track took us to the Messem Crater. An absolutely beautiful landscape greeted us and we walked in silence for much of the way. Having said that I think that we both enjoyed the company after about 6 hours on our own.


We could see CP3 from miles and miles away. The day was coming to an end and just before we reached CP3 the sun went down behind the mountains and the darkness was coming quickly. At CP3 I took off my backpack and my body started to cramp. Stomach, calves, thighs etc, it all seem to cramp up as soon as I sat down. Me and Andy had kept together and we decided to cook a warm meal to get new energy into our bodies. We took our time to prepare for the dark stages of the race. After about 60min we were on our way again, and by this time we could not see anything ahead of us without our head-torches. As with the previous nights, the moon was not out and the darkness was very real.

We had been on our feet for about 10 hours, and we were now about to head out into the darkness. So far I was taken aback with the weight of my backpack and with the heat of the day. It was truly a monumental task we had ahead of us. I had covered 60km, but had still 60km to go. Maybe Ben was right, 60km in my legs, and 60km in my head. I just hoped that my head was strong enough *smile*.