Expedition Africa 2013 in the Berg

That's right, from 4-12 May 2013, 25 teams of 4 will be trail-running, trekking, mountain biking, kayaking and navigating their way for 500km non-stop through the Drakensberg area as part of Expedition Africa. This is South Africa's annual expedition-length adventure race put on by Stephan and Heidi Muller of Kinetic Gear.

I'm hoping for at least one of the the trekking legs to head up to the escarpment via a challenging pass or two and not too much flat-water paddling on the Sterkfontein and/or Woodstock dams... there's nothing that will put you to sleep quicker at 2am.

The race HQ is at Mont-aux-Sources hotel.

More details here: www.kineticgear.co.za/AdventuresRaces/ExpeditionAfrica/tabid/15885/Default.aspx

So are there any adventure racers amongst you on the forum?

This sounds really cool. I may even be in the Berg at the time, although not part of the race itself. I would be keen to follow the progress of this.

Howsit Stijn

I think you are an old varsity friend of my wifes? (Misty Nish)? I think we may have met once - Raymond's wedding in Haenetsberg (dubious spelling)? Anyway, Misty and I took part in Expedition Africa this year and are very excited about the prospects of it being in the Berg next year. Are you looking for a team? We may be moving up to Natal at the end of the year (to be based in Durb's northern suburbs hopefully). This of course would be a good strategy considering we do not get to spend too much time training at altitude. I am also very interested in one day undertaking the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and wondered if you or someone you know might be able to give me some guidance on this e.g. good routes to tackle in preparation. I have literally only done one overnight hike in the Berg so it is an area I am keen to get very familiar with.

Anyway I hope all is well with you!

Best Regards
Dylan Weyer

Hi Dylan

Yes I do remember Misty from varsity and we're very keen to put a team together - I've sent you a private message so we can take this offline.

Cheers
Stijn

Hi guys

As some of you may know, Sally-Anne Barber, Oliver James, John Edwards and I will be racing Expedition Africa as Team Charnas* next week. It’s a 500km non-stop expedition-style adventure race where we’ll have to hike, run, mountain-bike, paddle and navigate our way through the Drakensberg, while racing 30 other teams of four from all over the world.

There is some good live coverage of the race online, and since we’ll all be carrying GPS trackers with us, you’ll be able see all the different route choices that the teams are taking from checkpoint to checkpoint, including the teams that are wandering around in circles, clearly in need of some sleep!

The route will only be revealed to us on Saturday night, but from what I can gather from the scouting photos, we'll be heading up the Chain Ladders and down to the MCC via one of the Mnweni passes. Then it's a paddle on the Woodstock Dam and down the river to the Spioenkop Dam & Reserve near Bergville... and that probably only covers the first 24h or so! From there on it's anybody's guess, but there were some photos at Monk's Cowl and Injisuthi as well...

The race starts at 6am on Monday morning and continues non-stop until the cut-off at 7pm on Saturday night. To follow along, you can use the links below (we’re team #4).

Live GPS tracking: www.kineticgear.org/gps-tracking/
Live leaderboard: www.kineticgear.org/leaderboard/

News updates:
www.ar.co.za/category/reports/expedition-africa/
www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?race_id=10398
and follow Kineticgear on Facebook

See you on the other side!
Stijn

*as in my charna bru (slicktiger.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/the-slicktiger-guide-to-klapping-gym-boet/ - Step 3)

Good luck Stijn, enjoy it!

With home ground advantage, we all expect a good result

Good luck and enjoy!

Go Stijn go!!