Expedition Africa 2016 – off and away!
The Expedition Africa 2016’s official opening ceremony was held on Friday the 13th of May 2016 at the Pine Lake Marine Resort in Sedgefield.
The Garden Route is definitely the perfect playground for this year’s Expedition Africa. The 54 international teams from 19 countries have been in preparation for their wet start of the 544km adventure race.
The teams were welcomed by Knysna Tourism, the event organisers and the international and national media. In order to give all the teams a fair advantage, the route has been kept a secret. These teams are transversing some of our country’s most gruelling and beautiful landscapes, returning on Friday, May 20.
On Saturday the 15th May 2016, the Community Project Masithandane was held at the Sedgefield Mosaic and Village market.
Teams and local children made creative Mosaic Tiles and then had a photo taken of their masterpiece. A donation of R1500 per team went towards paying that child’s school fees, transport and a few basic items to make his/her live better. All the teams, private donors and sponsors names who supported this initiative have been engraved into this Landmark.
Day 1
On Sunday the 15th of May 2016 – the teams conducted a spectacular Flag Ceremony and thereafter met outside the Cruise Café in Knysna at 8AM to commence with the race.
“The nerves are unbearable as you wait to start the week-long race. You stand there wishing the race was already underway!” Said Mark Collins, captain of Knysna’s Team Featherbed Co Painted Wolves.
This transit could be seen as the teams’ first bottleneck as they climbed up a ladder alongside the old Tapas Jetty before heading for the SANParks offices.
Mark explains, “Strategically you do what you can to make sure you are well placed to get to bottlenecks before the other team.”
Once the teams hit Buffels Bay they headed out around Walker Bay and turned into the beautiful Goukamma river, where they raced up river until reaching the Blackwaters River Lodge and Mashie.
The teams then grabbed their bicycles at Blackwaters River Lodge, where teams took off on the 58km trekking leg into the Outeniqua Forest.
The Merrell Adventure Addicts took the lead upon the water, with Sweco Adventure (Switzerland) in tow followed by Naturex (France).
Day 2
So far the majority of the Expedition Africa teams have completed the first 120km of the 544km course, with multiple teams currently cycling through the heart of the Knysna Forest and onto the world famous pioneering Harkerville single track. Athletes must venture from the heights of the forest and cycle down towards the coastline for 84km reaching transition six in Plettenberg Bay.
Leading the pack this year; team Featherbed Painted Wolf have maintained their lead throughout day two.
Local team, the Merrell Adventure Addicts are currently fighting for second place along with team Sweco Adventure (SWD). The team is motivated to catchup with Featherbed Painted Wolf within the next 24hours.
“A couple of us are having a rough time with the speed, and its proving to be quite taxing on the team” shares Grant Ross of the Merrell Adventure Addicts.
Day 3
Within the past 24hours, more than five athletes have stepped out of the unrelenting adventure race due to fatigue and/or injury.
So far, the leaders of this phenomenal race, the Featherbed Painted Wolf (RSA) have proven that their dynamic seems to be working. This team hasn’t raced together in years, and with this sudden come back they have set the bar high above the rest.
However, it has been confirmed that Featherbed Painted Wolf have missed checkpoint 17 and this could be detrimental to their well navigated and raced lead.
“The team have the opportunity to go back and find this check point before they finish the race” shares race organiser, Stephan Muller.
Muller has made an adjustment to the route, as the leading team is racing 6 hours below the estimated schedule. T13 and T14 has been taken out to ensure all the teams out on the route finish by Friday; 20 May 2016.
Let’s show an amazing welcome and support of these 54 international teams. Let them know that you are thinking of them and send them messages of encouragement throughout the race. They are really looking forward to hearing from you to keep them focused throughout the next week. If you would like to monitor the progress of the 54 teams, you can do so on http://www.kineticgear.org/gps-tracking/.
ShowMe – Plett, Knysna and George will also be keeping an close eye on the days ahead and will be uploading daily updates.
Expedition Africa 2016 – Opening Ceremony
[Gallery not found]