Pennypinchers Adventure Racing Team report for Expedition Africa 2016 

All pictures courtesy of Glen Murray unless otherwise stated

After the Team decided to skip Expedition Africa in 2015 which was in hind site a great decision, it renewed the hunger and passion , 2016 was going to be the big one for us. The year soon ran away from us and the next thing we were packing our bags for EA 2016 luckily on our doorstep so we were all less than an hours drive away from the race HQ Pine Lake Marina. With this being our 5th EA we decided as a Team that we would approach this race very quietly and under the radar, mainly because we could not boast about huge training sessions and big team training weekends . We had all had a very hectic build up to the race in our own lives so we needed the short time before the race to switch off those buttons and engage race mode.

I asked my team mates to help compile this report and for the first time ever I got three great reports on different aspects of the race which can be seen below. So I get the easy part and give you a quick rundown of the race.

Adventure Races actually start long before the gun actually goes off, as you will see below. We arrived at Pine Lake Marina on Swart Vlei outside Sedgefield on Friday late morning with the race due to start at 8:00am on Sunday. 

Our timeline before the start looked like this:

• Friday afternoon – build and waterproof 4 cardboard bike boxes , pack paddle bag and paddles , pack kloofing bag with wetsuits and climbing gear- All to be handed in 7am Saturday
• Friday evening- 5pm – opening ceremony, race briefing, dinner, sleep
• Saturday 7 am- hand in bike boxes and bags Then start parking our two resupply boxes that we would need for the whole route .
• Saturday 11 am ride to Sedgefield to do a community project making mosaics with underprivileged community members.
• Saturday 2 pm take bikes to transition 3 – Black Waters Lodge near Buffalo bay
• Saturday 6pm hand in boxes so all as you have with you is your back pack and race gear for the first 3 legs of the race.
• Saturday 7 pm – captains Q and A with race organisers
• Dinner and bed.
• Sunday 4:30am wake up eat something if you can – last home meal for 5 days
• Sunday 5:30 depart for Knysna
• Sunday 7:00am – Flag Parade through Knysna waterfront
• Sunday 7:30am a million pictures and get paddles lifejackets and boats ready
• Sunday 8 am Start

Exhausting unless you manage that time carefully which we did and arrived at the start to be met by friends a family which was great.

The race started with two paddle legs and then a run/hike from Featherbed Nature Reserve to Buffalo Bay and then another paddle leg out to sea and then into the Goukamma river to our bikes at Blackwaters Lodge. With three paddlers in the Team we put foot in the first two paddles in Knysna and suddenly found ourselves in amongst Adventure Racing royalty in about 5th place . I put the handbrake on as soon as we hit land and reminded the Team of our game plan and we slowed down and let at least 20 teams overtake us, very hard to do but after 15km a wise choice.

 

 

 

The next cycle threw us onto so very sandy forestry roads and we kept ourselves entertained laughing at the slow motion wipe-outs in the sand . The cycle took us up to the Seven Passes road and Beervlei Hut.

This saw the end of day one and as the sun set we were already a couple kms into the 58km hike leg on the Outeniqua Hiking Trail. We watched as a few teams made some navigational errors which quietly pushed us up a few places on the leader board. The hike was mentally very tough as the climbs were brutal and the navigation non existent so ones mind did tend to drift easily. A surprise attack from my old team mate , now of Merrell fame Hano Smit came charging from behind talking Spanish so we stepped aside thinking it was an overseas team only to be met with the wicked laugh of Smelly Smit. His company was appreciated over the next few hours . During that time we passed elephant dung and spoor on a fire road close to Farliegh, a surreal experience to say the least. After a quality 2 hour sleep in the forest we arrived at Millwood soon after sunrise to find a whole host of teams there who had slept in the huts and were ready to move on . Catching up with Uge, Cosi and Lofty of Anti Matter for half and hour on the hike was great. They then put the hammer down and we never saw them again . Somewhere we passed them in the nights that followed and were there to greet them at the finish line .

Our old friend (aka foe ) Castle Light then decided unashamedly that it was time to leach some local knowledge and latched on. This great rivalry/ comradely has developed over the last 6 years. From Gouna we headed out on an 86km bike leg which would take us through familiar territory via the Knysna Forest and to Cairnbrogie Farm . We decided to avoid the big climbs on Petrus Brand se Pad we would follow the old railway line down to the N2 and then hike a bike about 150m to the Drifters road and to the check point on the famous Petrus Brand single track. We could not find the path and with race rules not allowing us to travel along the N2 we had to do a big detour to get back on track effectively nullifying the advantage of taking the alternative route. We picked up the check point and crossed the N2 in the allocated area only to see a peloton of competitors flying down the N2 where we had just ridden along a disused service road parallel to the N2 . Sometime local knowledge is not a good thing. We arrived at Cairnbrogie at about 9:30 and had great coffee and something to eat and decided to have 2 hours sleep before heading out on to the coastal section of the route. The two hours whizzed past and we headed out onto familiar turf of Cairnbrogie and down the paths to the sea. After slightly misinterpreting the map we stumbled across two Frenchies who’s team mates were fast asleep , they followed us down to the sea to find a checkpoint they had been searching for a while.

The next leg via Kranshoek village was great and the path created by the Robberg Coastal Corridor Land Owners was spectacular. The next check point at the cave under Crawford’s Castle was certainly one of the most spectacular on the route. Some interesting route choices found us in the middle of the quarry on Robberg Road on our way to Robberg Peninsular.

The trek around Robberg was made amazing by the sight of 3 Great White Sharks circling below us.

 

The beach hike along Robberg Beach yielded a fantastic few surprises with some of Bubbles’ colleagues and kids on the beach to cheer us along and then Sean Gannon from Pennypinchers Plett and Plett Tourism and the Nature Sports office as well as Dael and Andy Cox all shot out of the office for a quick cheering session. These and all the other times we were met along the way were very special.

Arriving at Keurbooms Caravan Park we knew that the key leg of the race was next. We would paddle then carry /pull our boats for 16km up the Keurbooms River , leaving our boats we would then attempt to find an old postal path and head into the MTO plantations and with two checkpoints to guide us to the Africanyon Kloofing stage, followed by more kloofing and then a beach hike back to Keurbooms Caravan Park. We knew this was a stage that would split the race in two . We headed up river knowing that we would need to time our arrival at the kloof very carefully as Stephan had said at the briefing what we already knew ,” the kloof would be cold, decide if you want to sleep before its up to you”.

 

As the leg progressed we did the maths and decided to sleep up in the hills above Kurland and then wake up in time to arrive at the kloof at sunrise . It worked a treat we arrived at 6;30 in the morning, geared up and headed into the kloof as the sun came up.

2 hours later we checked in at the High abseil and had to wait a bit for two teams to go down. The team raced through this in about 35 minutes once we got onto the rocks. The next leg was tough but we gained huge momentum and caught up the 1,5hours on the team in front of us in the next 6 kms. With wetsuits , lifejackets helmets and climbing gear we were really loaded on this leg but nailed the climb from Salt River to Forest Hall in good time.

 

The leg ended with us arriving at Keurbooms Caravan park as it got dark with a cold swim across the river . Thank goodness for hot showers to get rid of the cold that had been with us all day since the kloof section.

It was at this transition I hit a personal low, I really was not keen to go onto the Bitou River at low tide and fight with the mud banks and weeds and cold , the rest of the team rallied and fed me and kicked me back into reality and we headed of onto one of our longest nights out there. I think the low that I hit was definitely due to the fact that we had been so focused on nailing the Kloofing leg and knew the importance of the leg and we did nail it in a time of about 25 hours including a 2.5 hour sleep and a hold up of over an hour and a half at the abseil.

Bubbles and Woitec got hit broadside after we had been on our bikes for less than 10 minutes. Woit said there were GIANT CARTOON RATS coming out of the grass and Bubbles just started mumbling about stuff. We pushed on for about 5 kms before we literally crashed in the ditch outside Plett Game Reserve for 30 minutes. This put enough gas in the tank for us to head further up the hill to the next CP where we found a cattle feed kraal with hay and a roof and we bedded down for 2,5 hours , missing a rain shower and sleeping very well. First light and we headed out on the road, by passing the road block of Angies G Spot ( a burger joint that I knew would catch every team behind us ) we had our first break in Noll at the Agri Co Op. A juice bottle filled with condense milk and coffee cheered the team up and we headed off. Of we went , and of course causing a real stir with the dot watches at home who had followed a near perfect Nav performance we took what finally we thought was a route option only to be stone walled by some thick Karroo scrub. We attacked the CP from the wrong side and missed the turn off to the road , a couple of times. Woit got side swiped by Sleep Monster again and headed off on a mission , I eventually turned him round and we went back and got the CP and headed for Louvain and T10.

The finish line now becoming something to think about . The hike over the mountain from Louvain to Beervlei certainly put a bit more pain on the feet which had endured just about enough forestry roads as they care for . At Beer Vlei we were met by a great team of supporters including Mike and Gillian Williams from Pennypinchers Knysna . We hardly touched base at this transition as we were cold and wanted to hit the short downhill bike ride and get to our boats for the final paddle to Pine Lake Marina..

 

Still happy 114 hours later.

So that was a summary of the race in short. I asked Bubbles to say what it was like being back after such a big break and this is her story:

Bubbles

After being absent for 3 years from Adventure Racing I thought I would be an emotional wreck leaving our two and half year old daughter for the first time. My backpack was loaded with extra tissues and I warned the boys that I might be a tearful team mate!!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say once an Adventurer Racer, always an Adventure Racer, it’s just in ones blood. The tissue got dumped at the first transition, Okay it was made much easier that it was our home turf and that my dear husband had our little sunshine at every transition or spectator point he could be.

To hear that little voice shouting” Go Mami Go” was priceless and of course seeing my husband. Seeing her beaming face after we got dumped (luckily only right at shore) at Goukamma holding her little hand while my poor team was dragging the boat (thanks Polish), sharing my race food as she was complaining she was starving?????(My husband swears she had nearly a whole pizza to eat).

It made this African Expedition Race a race where I had to fight my inner demons:

• The guilt of leaving my daughter for a week,
• The worry of the lack of training (only managing three 80 km cycles, runs of not longer than 1hr, one 150km adv race and a few hikes)
• The 15 year old equipment I was relying on (the cat eye bike light just doesn’t do it anymore)
• and the fear of letting my team mates down as this girl ain’t the youngest anymore.
• The good news is that DEMON never showed its self except in sleep monster form.
• Thanks to an amazing husband who did a brilliant job with our daughter.
• Thanks to muscle memory and just adventure racing mind my body managed without too much injury
• Thanks to my team mate’s awesome equipment and sharing it, Harkerville single track without a light was not so bad !
• And a huge THANKS to my team mates for always believing in me and asking this granny to race with them, you guys rock

 

So Woit came into the Team with a pile of fitness and loads of endurance experience but not a lot of AR experience, but with a very open mind as to how we do things one could not have asked for a better Team mate for this race. His story on being a “rookie” below….

 

Woit

Ahoy, Jimbo I don’t have my editor in chief here to fix grammar spelling and really bad story telling… Fix delete use abuse as you wish. Cheers Wojt

It only took me three years to of nagging to get into Team Pennypinchers, there was a big problem all in the team were solid and really cool guys. Garth left to join a team closer to home so the gap was there to be filled.

As EA 2016 was to be held on the Garden Route it made a lot of sense to build an all local team and so James decided to include the Old Pole….. Me 

It was also the return of Bubbles very experienced and capable.

Jeffery has been with the team since the beginning. So who’s the Rookie?? My first Expedition Africa was in 2014 Transkei. I was very fit and very inexperienced that race came to an end 200km before the finish with a bout of Mboykie Belly.

So here was a chance to race with an older more experienced team who want to have fun and race competitively with the teams around them.

All of us in the team felt a little undercooked for E A and would have liked to have put in more hours so a plan had to be made and adhered to.
Steady and Solid in the right direction was the mantra. Sleep for 2 hours every morning between 3 and 5 am move as fast as we could through transition and keep momentum at all times.
James was very solid in keeping us focused on our plan, it is very hard not to take the bait when 54 teams dash off at the start, the teams were bunched for the first 8 hours or more, discipline was key.

The Dynamics at all times were great and a large emphasis on humour played a big part on making the race feel like it was all coming to an end to soon.
For us the race split into two halves before and after the Canyon, our timing was perfect we had an awesome day making our way down this amazing river.
One night of hectic sleep monsters combined with a bit of hypothermia ( wind chill on the bike ) added some reality to spice things up a great call by our Captain to sleep in a straw filled feed trough paid off big time. This marked the beginning of our final 24 hours.. a long cycle a hike a bike and a paddle to the end… as easy as that..!!

What an awesome time what an awesome team….. NOW WHAT !!!

Thank you all so much for an incredible journey.

 

Jeff and I have raced together since the Bull of Africa in 2008 and every year we say how we are going to be fitter and every year the calendar just gets fuller and fuller with non training activities so the early morning runs and rides and paddles take on much more importance than normal. I asked him about the highs and lows of the race. Here is what he had to say …

 

Jeff

So being the only one in the team to have a ruff day I was given the task of writing about 2 highs and 2 lows of this year’s Expedition Africa. Mmmmm that’s easy, first high and low is tongue and cheek and the same at every race. It’s a real high to see all your old mates , not old in the physical ,we are all still like a group of naughty school kids , but over years you spend time competing against them and cause it’s that type of event that test you to your limits , sometime once ,sometimes daily ,sometimes every leg is a challenge you have to dig to your inner core to finish it , you find a real bond with the other teams and regular competitors . And then the low is to see each other of at the end and you feel all empty, and wonder what the hell you going to do with yourself in the weeks to follow with no race looming and nothing to have to train for. As an old competitor says, it’s a brotherhood.

JA so then for the second low and hi … Mm have to say it even thou no one wants to hear it. The biggest low ever in a race, taking every race I have ever done was the vibe at the end when Stephan and Heidi integrity was questioned. Mm that was a very low low for me. James and I organise events as well, up to seven a year and some have three variations each, so we know how much work and effort goes into reorganising a race never mind a 50 team expedition race with over two hundred bikes and a hundred boats to be moved safely, never mind all the other myriad of things that land owners and nature throws at you .Shoo that was a real low for myself and I know my whole team. We are just so appreciative of those two because without them there wouldn’t be an AR at all. And they have stuck to their passion and been true to the sport for 6 years now… I hope somewhere out there; there is enough thanks and appreciation towards them to make them want to continue with the sport.

Then the high, only one,,, mm that’s tough. Is it the amazing race and stunning places we traversed or is it that awesome canyon or that amazing abseil, or the variety in terrain and surroundings, or all the spectators and support along the way. Or those amazing photos taken by the Glen Murray that had the privileged of following us on route and showing off to the world how beautiful our garden route is. Or was it the love that Heidi showed in the transitions and care her good staff showed us out there. No although these are all real highs they always there at every race, they all stunning all beautiful and all filled with Heidi’s love and Stephen twist somewhere that makes there event unforgettable. No my biggest high was racing hard, focused and consistently with a first class and well oiled team. Despite this race being here and we have known this for ages James and I had far too much going on to be as fit as we would have liked to be, actually not even close to our normal prep and fitness. And I think Bubbles (old commander) was in a similar position now being a mom and teacher at the same time for the first time in her life. We definitely where not the prepared team we wanted to be but we had a plan and of course we had that little oak too, Wotjec . Yho that’s like having a turbo charged four by four all terrain machine at your disposal, to use and abuse and then to add to it he has a good radio in the 4*4 too that’s nice to listen to, pleasant and cheerful all the time , day or night the DJ doest tire he just mumbles on, motivating, inspiring and getting time to fly when we needed it most. Okay so as I said the biggest high was the team and how we raced.

Yes all thanks to James my best mate, partner in Muddy Foot and captain of our ever consistent Pennypinchers Team. We had discussed a game plan and it seemed slow and consistent at the time and when we started racing it felt even slower and was hard to stick to our plan but we all knew it’s all we had as fitness and months of training wasn’t in our bag of tricks . And James did just that , grounded us and kept us to our plan till it became second nature , and from that point we just put our heads down and did what we do best ,,, focus , race , laugh , and enjoy ourselves . And wow in the end it paid off. Let me not brag but as planned. So my high of all highs was racing hard with my team , amazing team with every member contributing , our supporters ,friends , family and old team mates supporting us along this journey, even opposition family support , to yes the end and a great finish at 13th I was solidly happy .

 

Jeff wrote these words of thanks and I have added a bit on behalf of the whole Team:

 

Lettuce

Thanks again to my team and last but not least the people who allowed us to do this. All the people that fill in the gaps while we are away. To Glen Murray for the most amazing record of any race we have ever done , something to remind us of this great adventure , Thank you. Cheryl Dempster for keeping the Face Book page going Thank you.

Also to Glen for filling in for Woit at prize giving !!

Then lastly Sean and Mike from Pennypinchers Plett and Knysna for your sponsorship and support along the route. Much appreciated guys. So to a winning Team.. Pennypinchers Adventure Racing Team.

A huge thank you to all of our supporters out there, you were all incredible,. The positive energy that we got from you all in no uncertain terms made a huge difference to us . We were really humbled when we saw how much support we had had from all different circles of friends and family , it was amazing . Those who came to transitions I know we seemed to be in our own world and bumbling around but your presence was felt and we might not have been our chatty selves but hopefully we will chat soon over a coffee or something cold and relive this amazing journey with you all.

PS There was a lot of confusion about the final placing with numerous protests and hearings in which we were not involved but were affected by. Our final place was 13th as we had crossed the line. These issues were dealt with by the race organisers and were beyond our control. We raced a great race by the book and look forward to our next adventure out there.

James and the Team