What an awesome race! Spectacular views, LOTS of hills (they don’t call it the Valley of A Thousand Hills for nothing!), great technical trail, fun for the kids, and of course my Adventure Obstacle Training family!
When the gun went off Claude Eksteen & The Merchant guys shot out of the blocks like bullets and I simply tried to hang on for as long as I could. Eventually I settled down into my own pace and ran along side my fellow “bailie” races Dewald Van Wyk & Clive Edwards for a while, nearly wiping out on the Ninja steps in the process…
About 4 or 5kms in I tried to drop the hammer a bit and managed to pull away and catch up to Kwanda Mhlophe and some of the other merchant guys. In the process I figured out I am pretty good on the uphills, making up time, but still need lots of work on my downhill trail running (Either way – it was good training for OCR World Champs in Oct).
When I arrived at the tyre drag (which was pretty hard core) I really dug deep and managed to overtake about 5 guys, putting myself into 4th or 5th coming into the hill carry… But again Kwanda Mhlophe and the boys flew past me on the downhills, and then I stupidly fell off the last obstacle rig and had to do it again… by that stage I was pretty spent and crawled my way up the last hill to the finish. The picture of me coming out of the danger noodle thingie sums up pretty well how I felt – absolutely exhausted, but absolutely happy!
I’d been a bit sick all week and didn’t feel myself going into the race, so all things considered, I’m very chuffed with my effort and finishing 7th place behind Claude Eksteen and the Merchant guys.
It was also so great to see the racers from Besnapped , BattleRush and OCT South Obstacle Course Training take the drive down to Durban for one of our races. OCR is growing in SA, and its great to see more events, more people getting involved, and the standard of racing going up and up…
Of course a huge shout out to Claude Eksteen & Trish Bahlmann for all your support, coaching, encouragement and input. Not only are you guys machine athletes, but you are wonderful people too! Also have to thank Salomon Sa for your support and gear! Those S-Lab Amphibs were AMAZING and my new favourite shoe!
Report Credit : Tom Basson
Photo Credits: Graham Daniel