Keane's views on Swazi

Keane raced Swazi PRO with Team Numa Optics. They had many challenges to work through, coming out of the race with new friendships.

I had the great opportunity to race with Team Numa Optics. My team mates, Sam,Waldus and Karel were awesome partners. We entered the starting line without ever racing together or really knowing each other. But we got along very well from the day we met each other, two weeks prior to the Swazi.


I started off the race in high spirits and excitement knowing that I'm about to tackle one of the most rewarding AR races. Our first leg started off well and we got into transition within our planne time. The following bike leg carried on much longer than expected. We went for all the optionals not knowing what would lie ahead. We missed one OP and spent two hours looking for it. Finally got it and moved.

Seven hours into the race, Karel started to have some serious issues with his knees, which slowed us down to walking speed. He wanted to stand back and forfeit the race. We encouraged him to carry on,which he did but only for another hour when he really started to battle. The final decision was made by the team and Karel unfortunately opted out of the 2010 Swazi X Pro on day one.

We managed to carry on pretty strong from there. Going through the various legs staying focused on our goal and kept on pushing through all the challenges.

On the second paddle leg I suffered a serious injury. We were approaching a rapid when we over steered the canoe and capsized it. In this process my left hand got stuck to the canoe and pulled my shoulder out of joint. I ended up drifting downstream for about 50m when my teammates pulled me out. I went into shock and the guys covered me with a space blanket to try and keep me warm. After about five minutes the helicopter landed right next to us and airlifted me out to the transition area. My shoulder got "popped" back into place and I took a 60 min nap.

When I woke up I was determined to carry on and finish the race. We missed the last two legs on Day Two and started off on sunday for the final two legs. We decided that it would be fine for me to carry on but to rather skip the rope work section to prevent any further injury to my shoulder.

We were looking forward to the final leg and I was excited to carry on with the race. We managed to cover 40 km of the last leg when Waldus started to suffer from ITB. At this point Sam informed me that we should stop and give our seconds a call to come and pick us up.

This meant that we have reached the end of our race. It was a difficult decision to make and one I hopefully would never have to make again. It was a sad moment for the three of us, coming so close but yet so far.

All in one nutshell:

• We had some serious set backs in the race,with Karel's injury to my shoulder to Waldus' ITB.
• We formed a strong bond early in the race, which was important to us knowing that we hardly knew each other.
• My personal highlight of the race was when I got numerous opportunities to navigate.
• It turned out to be an extraordinary learning curve. One I will never forget. My list of lessons learned is endless.
• It was a rough and tough race, exactly what I expected.
• I had a great time with a bunch of great guys.

Thanks again guys for an unforgettable experience.

Keane Ludick

Swazi (E)xperiences (Lizelle v/d M.)

Lizelle v/d Merwe took part in Swazi Xtreme in a novice team guided by experienced racer Stephan Muller. With 10 years of adventure racing behind him, there was no better person to lead Team Kinetic to victory. This is Lizelle's experience:

Xtreme is one word that summarises the whole event for me. Each leg was long, each leg was a battle, each leg was tough, each leg was wishing for transition, each leg was grace from above and each and every transition AMAZING. On the bike legs I wished for a hike, on the hiking legs I wished for a bike, on the paddling legs I just wanted to get out of the water and wished for transition. Against all this, I can definitely recall a smile, adrenaline and giggles on each and every leg.


I am still trying to make sense of all the legs, the flow of the race and when what happened. As a novice racer in the Swazi Xtreme race, I had no idea what to expect. Luckily for us, we had the most experienced AR racer in our team as navigator and knew from the start that we would be in good hands. I expected the worst as I could recall horror stories told by past Swazi Xtreme racers.

From the beginning we could feel and see that Xtreme is definitely the word that would summarise this event. Bike & hike distances were a mindset change for me as kilometres started to become irrelevant as every leg started to become a survival to get to the next transition. Every transition was a uplift for our team, as we had the best seconds in the whole wide world, thanks Heidi, Shauni and Oom Louis. Together with long distances, I had to fight the sleep monster on the third night. Falling asleep on my bike, was no pleasant experience, but definitely a wake-up call!

You only realise in what state you are when you look at your teammates, look in their faces and realise the funny things they are doing and saying. The words: “If you think you can’t go further, then you are only halfway” became such a reality for me during this race!

Highlights for me would definitely be the little pool of water we found on top of the mountain during a midday 'kloofing leg' in extremely hot weather. Stephan and I wet our clothes in the pool after almost dehydrating and felt so much better after this. Another thing was the school children gathered around us and looking at us as if we were aliens from another planet. Luckily the children were full of energy and pushed me up the hill with lots of giggles and enthusiasm. Then a swinging scary bridge was a good way to keep the adrenaline pumping on a 93km bike leg.

The rest of the race is a bit of a blur as I cannot recall what came after what. BUT who can forget the last leg, pushing bikes down a mountain and then on the other side up in an area where you wish you never find yourself again!!!

However, our team kept the 'fort' and slowly but surely we were putting the kilometres in the bag, and still waiting for the last, quick and easy 30km we were promised to the finish line. However a warm welcome and celebration was waiting at the finish line, as we were the first official team to arrive. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME it felt to be at the end!! Although I only realised the WIN a little bit later.

And now, how do you explain to people what you went through? How can you ever look at life the same? How do you expect people to understand this? It has been a life experience and character building, which you can only share with teammates and people who went through the same suffering!!!!!!

Thanks for everyone involved in making this event my most memorable event ever. Thanks for all the hard work and time that went into the organising of such a big event. Thousands of thanks to the best teammates ever, thanks for pushing, dragging, carrying and helping me! Thanks Stephan for spot-on navigation and not making me go more miles. Thanks to Danie, wow where do you get your strength from! Thanks to my husband, who made sure I was fine the whole time and who prayed for us the whole time. To our seconds, never could we have done this without you guys, you knew exactly what we needed when. Thanks for making transitions quick and AWESOME. Thanks for serving us the way you guys did!

Lizelle van der Merwe, Team Kinetic

Scouting for a venue and organising your own adventure race

Adri's team, Lickety Split, are organising an adventure race later this year. They have put in a lot of time and preparation scouting and planning this event. Adri tells of her experiences and learnings and her forway into navigation.

I joined Team Lickety Split in April 2009, not really knowing anything about the sport other than you get to see our country at its beautiful best. My more 'mature' team members slowly introduced me to terminology such as "transition", "legs", "checkpoints", "optional points", "breakfast stop", "elevensies" and a whole lot more on the joys of life outside the city.

Navigation/map reading was always something left for our 2 very capable navigators in the team. But I am curious by nature, and like to know whats happening, so I signed up for one of Lisa's navigational courses on a July week night from 18h30 - 21h30.

For almost a year Team Lickety Split shared their 'call' to organise their own race. And it wasn't till January this year that one of the team members visited a calm and un-raced territory and claimed it as our race area for the event we call: Balele Tracks.

How do you scout for an area to organise a race??? I'd say it's more a question of how to connect-the-dots and curiosity about the area that urges you to organise a race. You find a good start/ finishing spot and then start networking with local farmers and the tourism board, who are generally very keen to help promote the area and assist in the organising of the event.

So, with most things in place and maps organised, we set out to 'do' our own race on the 17th & 18th July. This was a 'fool-proof test', with me as the novice navigator.

And wow, what a joy. I really enjoyed it. Picking routes, reading the topographical details and comparing it to what I see around me. Working out the average time spent on foot per kilometer (bikes are easier with spedo's. And pedo's... I havent tried yet). Explaining to my team what I plan on doing next and where we are heading. As much as I like to know where we are, I now had to keep the team in-the-loop too. Communication is so important in this sport to make sure everyone is on the same page and that they have the same goal in mind.

So yes, I broke the ice with regards to navigation and can only encourage others to take the bull by the horns and deal with it once & for all!

Your racing will be a whole lot different, your Sunday afternoon stroll in the local park will be different. You'll see the (mostly) logic behind the roads in and around our country and how these roads largely follow topographical lines, etc.

Here's to navigation and organising your own race!

       Adri van der Westhuyzen

Swazi Xtreme (Lisa)

Lisa's report on her race at Swazi Xtreme is on her blog at http://adventurelisa.blogspot.com/2010/08/final-swazi-xtreme.html

Swazi Xtreme (Lizelle S)

This weekend was the 10th and final Swazi Xtreme. We all raced, in different teams. Lizelle Smit raced in a mixed pair with experienced racer, Nathan Thompson. They were the first placed pair. Lizelle has written of her experience at this race, her first multiday adventure race, below.

Must say, my body has never in my life ached this much, but can feel I am getting some of my strength back...hopefully. Must say I absolutely love telling all the stories about the race to all my friends and family. It sounds so hard core, guess due to the fact that it was a hard-core race. Here is a brief report on my experiences.

The Swazi Extreme was an event of ALL firsts for me. I did my first ever three-day non-stop event, my first proper river paddle, my first jumar and finally my first ever cliff jump. In a sense, I expected this race to be hard, being the Swazi and all, I had no idea however, it was going to be PURE TORTURE at some stages.

This event made me realise that no-one can ever be able to predict what will happen in an event. If the distance before the event states 250km, don't bargain too much on that figure. Luckily, with my more experienced racing partner Nathan Thompson, we were able to push through the painful moments, which mainly came about the last day, to
acheive a first place in the pair category. This race for me was about finishing at any cost, even if it meant I had only one hour of sleep throughout the event. I think in some stages the lack of sleep helped me to get over the fact that this was a HARD race....as I saw some cool elephants, big crocs and massive frogs jumping around, all of these minor illusions definitely gave me some funny moments to look back on.

At the end of the day my racing partner had to pull me through and he did it flawlessly, I realise that racing in pairs is a lot harder than it seems, especially if you are a girl, having to carry your own weight and all, yet I managed to do it. I have done some tough races in my life but this one was by far the most challenging. Having being able to finish it gave me the largest sense of acheive thus far in my life. Now trying to recover, I think back and all I know is that all the pain and suffering was WORTH IT!! Plus being pampered by loved ones afterwards makes it even more worth while ;)

I dare say that I look forward to planning my next adventure, as I am now, without a doubt, a complete adventure racing addict... hopefully I will remain one for the rest of my life, which in this sport may not get me to a 100, but who cares if you experiece the amazing things we have at Swazi Xtreme and to have met people that you otherwise would not have.

       Lizelle Smit

Lizelle (the other one) on racing

Lizelle v/d Merwe was also at Kinetic Full Moon and the Diamond Dash Duathlon.

These are her experiences...

Full Moon

Full Moon made me realise that AR is an addiction. During the race, sometimes I ask myself if it is a good addiction, BUT after the race you realise what SATISFACTION there is in completing a race where you went through hard tough times, freezing your bones off, getting lost and fighting the sleep monster. What is AR without these things? That's why we do AR and not just running or cycling events. IT IS AN ADVENTURE, NEVER KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT!

Full Moon was definitely an adventure for me and good preparation for longer races coming up. I am always amazed with the areas and terrain that we go through. The human body can do so much more than what prepared for. I know there is a saying: never look back in life, BUT I think that during a long adventure race you have to take time to stop and look at the terrain, hills, mountains, miles and areas you have overcome. For me, this makes the road ahead so much more rewarding and any mountain or hill ahead then looks so much easier!

Also a highlight of the event, is socialising, gathering and chatting to people that also went through the same experiences over the past 24 hours. I always learn so much from just listening to what worked and what did not work for other teams and then comparing it with our own experience.

Diamand Dash Duathlon
I woke up the morning with a bit of a flu, but decided to still race just for the exercise of it. We kicked off at 09:00 with a 8km trail run. At +- 5/6 km we realised that there were no arrows and bunting on our road anymore. So it kind of felt more like an adventure race for me, but the duathlon and trail run people were not so pleased. So we backtracked until back on the road.

I got to the transition and off I went on the 21km mountain biking. Slowly but surely I battled my way through the 21km, as it was very technical and lots of sand. You had to fight for every metre. I fell twice (thought I broke something in my knee!), but up I went to complete the last few kilometres of the biking leg. I didn't see any ladies the whole way, so I thought that I am definitely at the back and have to gear up a bit. So pushing a little harder, I eventually saw a girl and passed her just before the end of the biking leg.

Heidi said she would like to get in some exercise for the day, so the two of us went for the last 2km run. Not realising what my position was, we cruised with lots of chats. In the last 1km the girl that I passed on the cycling leg passed us and off she went to finish the last bit. I CAN KICK MYSELF, because what I didn't realise was that the girl that has passed me was now in 1st position. I ended up in 2nd place and that girl was 1st.

So I learned from my mistake: THE RACE IS NEVER OVER UNTIL YOU GET TO THE FINISH LINE!! Another thing I have learned is that you always always always have to give your best up until the end, no matter what you think your position is or even if you think you are last, just keep on going and do your BEST. The Duathlon was good exercise, but still do I love adventure racing so much more.

Lizelle's racing experiences

We've all had quite a lot of racing recently with Kinetic Full Moon and Ystervark - both overnight races - and Diamond Dash all happening over the past four weeks.

Lizelle (Smit) has written the following about her recent experiences and lessons learned about adventure racing from these races.

During my recent adventure racing endeavours, I learned that one can never use the saying, 'this is going to be easy'. Doing predominantly on-road triathlons for the past four years, I am used to thinking of 80-120km races as being short and relatively fast. Hence, mainly a 4-5 hour race. What adventure racing has taught me is that distance cannot be measured in time. It can take up to 12-19 hours to complete 'short' distances.

I realised that advenutre racing is filled with elements of surprise, such as a freezing night-time paddling legs, steep kloofing sections and amazing abseils, which we experienced in both the Full Moon and Ystervark races. It is a sport in which you constantly wonder where you are heading and whether you are in the right place; especially if you are hanging off a cliff at 2am. Yes, this sport has no marked routes that you can practice before hand or get used to. Routes depend mainly on your navigators.

This sport is very much a team sport; without the help of your team, there is no way you will complete the race. There is no such thing as ME or I, only US and WE.

At both Full Moon and Ystervark we were faced with the task of taking on the winter cold head-on. Usually in triathlons one is scared of swimming in water that is 20C without a wetsuit. In adventure racing we were in water that was 8C and we had to carry on racing, with soaking wet clothes, in outside temperatures that were below -1C! 

At Full Moon I thought,"this is the last winter event I will EVER do". Yet two weeks later I found myself at yet another cold and wet event (Ystervark). Luckily, I had my very supportive boyfriend Charl, who was more than willing to join me for each event, and one of my favourite racing partners, Nathan.

In triathlons you are always aiming to better your time but I found that with adventure racing it is a matter of ensuring that you manage to cross the finishline (no matter what your time is), with all your team members.

Perhaps it is the thrill of finishing and the feeling of accomplishment you get after you have had some of Mother Nature's bum-kick sessions, that gets you addicted to the sport and makes you look forward to the next challenge.

Ropes skills workshop morning

Yesterday we were in for a treat! Ryno Griesel (Team Cyanosis; and from Gravity Training) organised a basic rope skills course for us. He recruited a number of Gravity Training instructors to assist; we were not short of personal attention - very special indeed!

Ryno started off by going over some basic kit - harnesses, carabiners, slings... thing commonly used in adventure racing. A really fun component of the course was the 10m and 20m emergency rope and what to do with it. This sounds kinda arbitrary but it is definitely something worth paying attention to in your race preparations. Also, it is one thing to lower someone down on a rope, but how then does the last person get down AND retrieve the rope afterwards.

Ryno demonstrates things to do with your emergency rope

Ryno also taught us useful and essential knots like figure 8-on the bite, Italian (Munter) hitch, bowline and an alpine butterfly. The latter can be used as a makeshift harness too!

My apline butterfly. Lizelle in the background making her knot.

On a low wall we simulated 'going over the edge of an abseil' using three different devices - Figure 8, bug (belay plate) and a Petzl Stop. We also learned the techniques to lock off these devices. Cristelle, Jaco and Susan supervised and guided us through each step.

Then it was on to the high structure (old drive-in screen), which had been rigged by Gravity's instructors, Jaco and Louis. We climbed up three times to abseil with two devices and a Munter hitch (on a pear-shaped carabiner), locking off mid-air before completing the descent.

As I haven't jumared for ages, I did a quick session with Ryno to refresh on adjusting the length of the foot loops and also the length from the upper jumar to my harness. It's something I don't always remember because I practise this so seldom. And then I climbed up a bit, attached my abseil devices, locked off, detached the jumars and then abseiled down. It was fabulous fun!

Ryno, thank you for organising this for our squad and for taking us through ropes elements most important and relevant to adventure racing. And to your Gravity Training instructors, Christelle, Jaco, Louis and Susan, we really appreciate your expertise and your morning spent with us.

Adri and Steven practise knots

"The rabbit goes into the hole, around the tree and then where?" - Steven ties a bowline

Charl (Lizelle's boyfriend), Lizelle, Adri and Steven

Ja, ja. Rules are made to be broken ;) Susan guides Adri.

(Note: Gravity Training are the only ones with permission to use this structure, which they also maintain to certification standards)

Ryno shows Steven how to rig a Petzl Stop

Ropes, ropes everywhere! Lizelle gets the giggles while locking off.

Adri in action!

Next, rope skills

Now that paddling is well underway, we're having a go at rope skills on Saturday, 3 July.

Adventure racer (Team Cyanosis), climber and ropes instructor Ryno Griesel will be taking us through the basics of knots useful for adventure racing, ways to use the compulsory 10m/20m rope, gear commonly used as well as various abseil techniques. He has roped in three other instructors to assist so we'll have loads of personal attention.

Ryno, thank you ;)

I sent this photo tonight to the squad to get them excited about ropes.

This was from Swazi Xtreme in 2002. We climbed up through a kind of chimney system within the rock structure, from where the photo is taken. Then we did the zipline in tandem! And then abseiled down. Quite spectacular. As I recall I think this was Team Red Ants on the system. I was just behind them, racing in a paired team.

Freezin' Full Moon

Most of us are doing Kinetic's Full Moon race on Sat/Sun and right about now most entrants are wondering how good an idea it is to do a race that includes paddling at night in winter - on the highveld. Even the mountain biking is going to turn us into ice blocks! One thing is for sure; we are going to be cold at some stage, regardless of preventative measures. The secret? Keep moving.

Brrr... it's cold, but the good news is that the next bone-chilling cold front is not expected until late-Sunday / Monday.

I'm racing with Steven and Motlatsi, the latter being one of my fellow AR Club members. The other squad members are racing in their own teams with friends.

Check back here on Monday for our feedback from the race.

Paddling progress

It is really amazing how quickly the squad is progressing with their paddling. Yesterday afternoon we had another session with Russell. He is gradually tweaking posture, body positioning, leg action, arm height, reach and stroke. There are many things to think about and much to absorb - paddling takes a lot of concentration until those neural pathways are built. Piece by piece it is all coming together.

This weekend is Kinetic's Full Moon race - brrrrr... We'll be paddling at night. Yes, in this freezing cold.

While we keep up with the paddling and normal training, I'm also looking at developing the squad's other skills. We'll be doing a rope work session with Ryno on 3rd July and I'm doing navigation skills with the squad on 25 July. This should have them very well equipped for Swazi Xtreme and onward.

First meeting and paddle session

Today we got together at Emmarentia Dam for the first time; and our first coaching session with Russell Willis. We were fortunate to be joined by Cheryl and Clinton, who drove two of the Accords. The session went very well, something that can clearly be assessed by the lack of swimmers, which is a very good thing. I like to keep paddling and swimming as two separate disciplines.

Russell's focus in today's session was the reach and catch element of the stroke. Going forward the squad will aim for a session a week with Russell for the next 2-3 weeks - to reinforce good habits from the start. Russell will gradually build in other elements of technique like keeping arms high, take-out, posture, power and such. He was really impressed with everyone today - we've got a great base to build on.

Cheryl, Clinton with Lizelle v/d M., Ilze, Lisa, Coach Russell, Lizelle S., Keane, Steven, Adri

Cheryl and Clinton - special thanks to both of you. Also thanks to William for dropping off and fetching the one boat and to Heidi and Stephan for lending their Accord - plus paddles - to us for the next few weeks (and I've still got Mark and Lobby's Accord- thank you friends).