10 AM
Adventure Racing race (Trekking) 15:00 [4] 2.2 km (6:49 / km)
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro Royal #17
Vasbyt Merrell Adventure Race in Knysna with Team Cyanosis (Mac, Michael Owen, Jackie Moore.)
Leg 1 was a quick orienteering leg, to pick up 3 of 4 CPs down each of the 4 roads from the start / finish junction at Garden Route Trail Park near Karatara. Tried to get clever and find a diagonal short-cut but no luck and lost about 90s on the leading teams. Probably came into transition 4-6th. Were given our first set of maps at this stage. We headed straight out onto the next MTB leg.
11 AM
Adventure Racing race (MTB) 1:05:00 [4] 14.0 km (4:39 / km) +750m 3:40 / km
shoes: Specialized Epic FSR Mthn 2014
MTB leg from the trail cafe to T1 at the spur on Perdekop. Recognised 1 or 2 sections from EA Knysna a few years back. We left in 2nd place and immediately passed the lead male pair, getting into T1 with a comfortable lead. No sign behind us of Painted Wolf, Neverest, Merrell or other.
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 3:00 [0]
Put on gaitors for the trekking. Expecting lots of fynbos. Should have had them on from the start to save time.
Adventure Racing race (Trekking) 3:36:00 [3] 15.0 km (14:24 / km) +1000m 10:48 / km
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro Royal #17
A loop leg from Perdekop onto Corneliskop, then down into the Windmeulrivier for a few more CPs. Lots of undergrowth and very slow going. Tough nav with some route choices to think about. Saw Painted Wolf entering CP2 area as we quietly exited (20 mins?) but must have opened the gap a bit after that again. I took a bit of strain on this leg. It was warm, but not hot, but I think I expended too much energy getting down to Knysna on the day before the race.
3 PM
Adventure Racing (Transition) 6:00 [0]
Quickish transition back onto the bikes for the toughest bike leg of the race.
Adventure Racing race (MTB) 5:09:00 [4] 44.0 km (7:01 / km) +1350m 6:05 / km
shoes: Specialized Epic FSR Mthn 2014
Monstrous bike leg. From Perdekop dropped down into the Windmeulrivier, crossing the river on the Outeniqua hiking trail. Then a long long up hill on overgrown old forest track through the fynbos to behind Saddle Peak for 2 Cps. Painted Wolf almost caught us here just before sundown (8 min) but then they made a nav error and we got away again. Fast downhillf rom here back to the Seven Passes Road for T2, via a few technical forest roads.
8 PM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 12:00 [0]
Dropped our bikes to start a trek-paddle-trek combo.
Adventure Racing (Trekking) 2:04:00 [3] 5.0 km (24:48 / km) +5m 24:41 / km
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro Royal #17
Trek to a kloofing leg down the Wolwerivier canyon at night. Went okay, but Painted Wolf apparently pulled 20 mins out of us.
11 PM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 18:00 [0]
18 mins getting the boats together and setting off. Way too slow. Painted Wolf took 6, but that seems a bit too fast. Left with a 26 min lead.
Adventure Racing race (Kayaking) 2:32:00 [2] 13.0 km (11:42 / km)
Kayak leg down the Wolverivier into the Swartvlei, across it and up the Karatara river. Essentially the reverse of EA Knysna. I saw it coming, but we still couldn't find the channel entrance to the eastern part of the vlei just passed Willow Point, we didn't hug the south bank hard enough. Lost about 18-20 mins here and Painted Wolf caught us, but they also couldn't find it, despite local knowledge. Portaged over some mud flats behind them in the end. They then sped away, but then missed the Karatara entrance and had to paddle back. We met them at the entrance and kept the gap to 2 mins at the Transition.