Media: Abu Dhabi Week

Alex on his way home

The much needed letter from Pretoria came through today (Tuesday) and Alex should be back in Joburg tomorrow. He'll be rushing off to Home Affairs directly from the airport. There seem to be various ways to get a new passport pronto. And we'll need it with 13 days to go until we leave for Abu Dhabi.

Francois blitzes 94.7 Cycle Challenge

Francois rode the 94.7 Cycle Challenge yesterday, completing the ride in a speedy 2h40.

Alex's passport gone

Alex was due to return from Portugal today - but his passport has gone AWOL, lost during XPD Portugal. He will return tomorrow.

It will be a mad rush once he returns to get a new one, in time for our departure in two weeks. Eeeekkk!

Our sponsors help to make it happen

Our team is very fortunate to be supported by a number of companies who help us in various ways to get our clothing and equipment together for this race.

First Ascent are our clothing sponsor. We have selected a number of really cool goodies from their new range. Because I prefer people to race in 'bottoms' of their choice (shorts, tights, baggies - anything dark coloured goes), we just go for same-same team tops.

This year we've gone for First Ascent's white Trail Tees, light-weight long sleeve Quik-Wic Crew Tops (blue) and Firestorm 1/4 zip fleece tops (blue, compulsory clothing). And because their stuff is so good, we've all ordered other bits and pieces to compliment our gear.

RAM Mountaineering and Adventure Inc  are also supporters of Team www.AR.co.za. They're the best for Black Diamond trekking poles, carabiners and lighting systems, Pacific Outdoor drybags, Sea2Summit travel towels and everything outdoorsy and rope-related inbetween.

Eiger Equipment are our Petzl people. Last year we got our mountaineering helmets (Petzl Ecrin Roc) and Petzl Shunts from them. This year only Francois needed to get a helmet. And as of this week, Shunts are now no longer required. Eiger are also the agents for Nathan, a company well known in the US for their running goodies; I already have a 3-litre Nathan water reservoir (and a running water bottle that 'holds' on to your hand with it's hand strap thing).

The best thing about all of these guys is that we get amazing deals on gear - we save a fortune in getting kitted out. And this is all really good stuff that you keep for years and use over and over and over again. Even more pleasing is that dealing with these companies is a pleasure; they're friendly, helpful and efficient.

Carmen, Morne, Randall, Simon, Tatum, Warren, Christo, Yvette and John - thank you ;)

Paddle coaching session

Still in Jo'burg, Christo squeezes in another session with paddle coach Russell Willis at Emmarentia Dam. Here Russell is demonstrating how to use your legs within the paddle stroke. This was Christo's second session with Russell and the difference to his stroke, in terms of smoothness and efficiency, is marked. He's also getting better rotation through use of his torso more than just arms. Awesome!

Foot rogaining fun

What an awesome weekend! Rogaining is probably my favourite orienteering variation and to share it with friends is even better. This was Christo and Francois’ first rogaining experience and they totally excelled. We were without Alex as he is currently in Portugal on Team Cyanosis’ support crew for the AR World Championships. But we were very fortunate to have Nathan Thompson make up our second pair. He’s a superb runner and navigator, so well matched with Christo. I paired up with Francois.

Lisa, Francois, Christo and Nathan: post-race pic

Christo came up from Bloem on Friday afternoon and we headed through to Belfast, meeting Francois at his family friend’s farmhouse. We arrived in the dark and would only see how lovely and green the area is in the morning. After dinner and lekker kuier together and with Francois’ other friends (Izaan, Frans, Renier and Johannes) also joining us at the house, we were off to sleep. With the event only starting at nine, we wouldn’t have to be up at the crack of dawn.

I’d been sick as a dog all week with a flu-throat-chest-coughing-snotty thing – not nice at all, especially before one of my favourite-favourite events. Doc gave me good stuff to take and I was taking everything I could lay my hands on. I’d also been monitoring my heart rate all week and while it wasn’t much elevated, I definitely wasn’t on the health straight-and-narrow. Nonetheless I’d decided to go ahead and take it steady; Francois would just have to go easy on me.

We woke to mist and non-stop rain, which would continue throughout the race. The weather, although great for running, had a major impact on the event because when we drove up there were hardly any cars parked around the lodge at Lakenvlei. Although around 100 teams had entered, only 30-odd showed up to run in the rain.

Francois and I were in the first start batch; we took a few minutes to assess our route options and decided to head North-west-ish first, gobbling up the controls in a mostly clock-wise direction. I definitely kept our pace a bit slower in the beginning, worried about getting my heart rate too high, especially on the ups.

Overall I think our route was sound and efficient. It also worked out perfectly in that we weren’t stressed getting to the finish – it is wicked when you have to run 5min/km to make the finish in time after being out there for just under 6hrs. We had a easy sweep through to the finish, reaching the end with a bit over three minutes to spare. We were second in the mixed category and 8th overall.

Christo and Nathan had an awesome run! They headed East around the dams and vlei before shooting North and working mostly anti-clockwise. They collected all but a few checkpoints to win overall! And by a decent points margin too.

Having run the whole day in the rain and not in tip-top health, I decided not to do the mtb orienteering the next morning. As Nathan was heading back to Joburg for a triathlon, it would leave Christo and Francois together. They decided to chill with me and skip the wet and mud. Instead we stayed up on Saturday night playing ’30 Seconds’ (Johannes and I are the undisputed champions) and had a chilled morning. It was a beautiful day with not a dash of rain in sight. We went for a lovely walk up a beautiful, nearby kloof to see the most spectacular waterfall.

Francois is an excellent rogaine partner and I’m so totally proud of Christo and Nathan’s win. All in all a superb weekend.