Moolmanhoek Race Reports
By: Brian Gardner
The Red Ants have been back to Moolmanshoek for the past 3 years, and never got the good results the team had hoped for… this year, we wanted to change that record! Our team was rather patched up, as most of our "regular" members could either not race, or were racing on other teams for the weekend. Our team thus consisted of Nicky Wolff, Gert Foster, Ryan Hodierne, and me, with James van der Merve as our trusty second. For three of us, this was just another racing weekend, but for Ryan, this would be his first Adventure Race; one which he and all of us WILL certainly remember!
The "prologue" - Check Point Joker..
Well, the mere name of this CP said it all… a joke… After briefing on Friday evening, Hano announced the co-ord's for what he named "CP joker", a CP which was not more than 3km's from camp, and could be approached by either bike or on foot. This CP was to be punched before race start at 5am the next morning. After plotting the CP, it was decided that Ryan and I would take a quick cycle (without cycling shoes, just takkies on SPD peddles), and without the map!! Gert wanted to stay at camp to plot the race route for the following day, leaving us to navigate into the darkness of night on a hand drawn pencil sketch of the vicinity… enough said… What for most teams was a short 45 minute expedition, turned out to be a 3 hour one for us. Lets just say we over-shot the "gully" that the CP was situated in by some 2km's and ended up bundu bashing with Adrian and Gerry from Team Sterling in another gully for some time; until we decide it was too risky, and headed back to send Gert (with the map) out to find it. On our way back, we spotted other teams lights in the correct gully, and managed to follow them to the CP (conveniently situated in the middle of a dam…) For Ryan, it was a truly epic start to AR, getting lost in the dark without a map; on his very first leg.
The real race - K-way / Salomon 65km AR
Whist most teams had a good nights rest, we managed only a few hours, as a result of our previous nights escapade. The start was a short drive from camp and it would be on foot. With all the top teams represented, it was sure to be hard, with a fast pace from the start.
With a prompt 5am start, we were off on a fast paced run along a road through a game reserve to CP1. Arriving at CP1 in a slippery gully we were in a joint lead with 3 other teams; clipping the CP quickly, we headed off right away, gaining 100 odd meters on the following teams. We ran hard and eventually reached the exit of the game reserve (which was via a ladder over the high fence) in first place. Our pace picked up, and we found a quick route down the mountain and onto the flat plains below, making our way to CP2 on top of a koppie just off the map.
At this point; teams were scattered far and wide across the grassy plains leading to the koppie, as there were various route options both to the base of the koppie and up it as well. We decided to head for the dirt road and run towards the koppie, as we thought it would be faster than hiking through the long technical grass. This ploy seemed to pay off for us as we found an easy passage up the side of the koppie from the North-eastern side, while most teams apparently took a more difficult route up the western side of the koppie. With the CP clipped, we descended like demons, and soon met up with Teams' USN, Sterling and Moolmanshoek all running to CP3 and the start of the cycle.
A super quick unassisted transition saw us back in first place and flying along towards the hike-a-bike leg at CP4. Team USN were hot on our heals all the way, and caught up with us on the first section of the hike-a-bike around the Rhino enclosure and up the gully to CP4. The hike-a-bike leg was nothing short of epic! We managed to stay in the lead whilst pushing, pulling and practically throwing our bikes down the mountain! USN, Moolmanshoek and Sterling were right behind us most of the way down to the mountain. Gert unfortunately picked up a puncture on the hike-a-bike down the mountain, and as soon as we hit the dirt road we had to do a quick fix, allowing USN to slip by. A change of tube, blast with a bomb, and we were back on track, chasing USN down!!
We pushed super hard for the next 13km's of fairly flat cycling next to a railway line, with Ryan and I doing a fair share of pushing and pulling Nicky along. With 2km's to transition, we finally had USN in our sights, which kicked us into over-drive! We stormed up towards them, and riding into transition we were within 10 meters of them! Arriving slightly behind USN meant a slight delay on the kit check, giving them a narrow advantage.
James, our second, was rearing and eager to get going for his 10 minutes of fun… a quad bike ride to CP6! In this little task, two members of the team; one of whom must be the second (who drove); used a seriously fast Suzuki quad bike to cruise up a steep hill to get to the CP in a cave! I went with James, and boy did it feel good to be finally moving forward without using your own power!
We hurtled back to transition, where I didn't even get a chance to sit for 2 seconds, as the rest of the Ants had filled bottles, had a quick bite to eat, and before I knew it, we headed out 3 minutes behind USN on the last hike to the abseil. Arriving just after us in transition was Team Cyanosis, and now the real battle for the top 3 places was on! The final hike towards the abseil, took us up and over a peak about 2300 meters above sea level. There were various route options to choose from to get to the CP at the trig beacon, but ultimately which ever one you chose, it was VERY steep!
We once again hiked hard, determined to make up time, with Nicky hanging on to my tow rope with dear life all the way up the mountain! Our fast pace was starting to take its toll on Nicky and Ryan, as they felt the pain more than ever on the last climb to CP7! Regardless, we pushed on, as Cyanosis were now hiking hard behind us, and gaining valuable time. Our possible dice with USN for first place now seemed all but over…
Cyanosis took a different line over the mountains from CP7 to the abseil, which meant they caught us with a couple of hundred meters to go to the abseil point. From a heated dice for first, it was now a dice for second… As there were two abseil lines, both teams were abseiling man-for-man at exactly the same time, making it all the more likely for the dice to come down to the very last leg; a 2km horse ride from the abseil to the finish!
Now… as we know, riding horses isn't like riding mountain bikes, they have a brain, and tend to lose concentration at the worst possible time! Nicky is one of those people who really doesn't like riding horses, and it was just her luck she got a horse that doesn't like being ridden…This horse took off at a pace which most more experienced jockeys wouldn't ever try! And the screams which accompanied it were heard for miles! The neck-a-neck horse race between us and Cyanosis could only be described as "Moolmanshoeks very own Durban July!" What a race!! Cyanosis eventually piped us on the line, to take second place overall behind USN, with us only 40 odd seconds behind them in 3rd! Our final race time was 6 hours and 29 minutes.
Well done to everyone who completed the race, a truly demanding and tough 65km course was laid out by Hano! We'll be back next year, with horse riding skills polished, and ready to jockey (excuse the pun) for top positions again!
The Suzuki Sunday Sprint AR
Like most sprint races these days, this one was fast and furious from the start! Starting on bikes, we flew (literally) down a main dirt road to CP1, accompanied by Team Cyanosis, with all the rest of the teams close behind! With sharp thinking, and quick navigation, we clipped CP1 first (which was just off the road; meaning a short run to get to it) and were back to the bikes in first place. It didn't take long for us to be joined again by Cyanosis, Distance, Due South and USN for the bumpy, rocky ride via CP2 and 3 to the start of the hike at CP4.
Arriving only seconds behind the leading teams at CP4, we were first out on our short circular hike due to the fact that we changed SPD peddles from the previous day's race to cages for this race! We passed about 3 teams changing from cycling to running shoes in transition! It was here our luck ran out… we made a stupid mistake of doing the circular hike the wrong way round (i.e. we went from CP7 to 6 to 5 and back to the bikes at CP4, instead of from 5 to 6 to 7 then back to 4…) This cost us big time, resulting in our disqualification at the finish, for not getting the CP's in order… our own fault!
Despite getting back to CP4 (bike drop off) in about 7th place, we still managed to keep positive and race hard none the less! Being behind Team Moolmanshoek (the locals) at this point proved to be very rewarding! This MTB leg was fast, but very bumpy, and we just ended up following Team Moolmanshoek all the way to the small dam for our short swimming leg, arriving at the dam in joint second place with Due South, Sterling and Moolmanshoek. Cyanosis and Distance who were first and second to finish the hike, were no where to be seen…
USN were once again streaking ahead, and had just finished their swim when we got there, leaving us with it all to do to try and real them in. A short (but ice cold) swim and we were back on the bikes, surprisingly having passed everyone in the water (surprisingly because everyone in our team except Ryan doesn't do the swimming thing!) We flew off once again in second place, but were soon passed by Sterling, as Nicky was having trouble with cramps in her quads.
Now we diced for second in yesterdays race with Cyanosis, and were about to do the same again, this time with Team Sterling! The bike from the dam to the finish was not more than 4km's, and Sterling had put a good 200 meters between us and them with about 800 meters to go in the race… would we catch them?
The next couple of minute's are somewhat of a blur, as my legs were burning so much, I can't quite remember anything! All I know is we pushed so hard than we eventually caught Sterling on the line, but they edged us by half a wheel length! We were once again relegated to third… While I collapsed in utter exhaustion at the finish! Again, what a race!! Well done Sterling!
Final comments..
Team Red Ants are back!!!! After a rather dismal 2005 AR campaign, we hope to do a lot better this year, and Moolmanshoek showed us that things are looking up! Well done to Team USN who ran away with both the races, you guys really worked hard, and deserve the victories. Hano, thanks again for organizing another brilliant AR weekend, Moolmanshoek will always be one to remember!
Finally, our thanks must of course go out to our sponsors, Sandown Mitsubishi, for all their support, and backing. Without them, we would be unable to compete and have as mush fun as we do! Thank you guys!
May 2006 be safe, happy and full of adventure for all Adventure Racers out there!