Happy 7th Birthday www.AR.co.za

This day, 7 years ago, this adventure racing website was born. It was originally launched with the domain, adventure-racing.co.za. After only a few months the website address was condensed to www.ar.co.za.

The site has seen various layout designs, colours and even logos; the current logo has been around for about 3-years.

Every year on AR.co.za's birthday I reminisce about the site and how much it means to me; just like a parent remembering their child's birth. AR.co.za seems to have been in my life for ages and it is still there constantly demanding news additions, calendar changes and updates.

Editing and writing content for the site has also been very rewarding; aside from the community aspects and contribution to the sport of adventure racing, the site has opened many doors for me in terms of media and event reporting.

For the past week I've been thinking about the number 7 - it really is quite a milestone. I came up with a number of "seven" references and found some other interesting ones online.

So, as I celebrate by baby's birthday with cupcakes and tea, enjoy reading these (in no particular order).

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy and Dopey

• The classic staged, self-sufficient ultradistance footrace duration is 7-days, like that of the "grand daddy" of staged ultras, Marathon des Sables (www.marathondessables.com). MDS is now in its 23rd year. This format has been mimicked by many other events including Augrabies Extreme and the 4 Desert Series races. Staged ultra running is one of my favourite things.

• Seven days of the week (Monday to Sunday)


• Seven deadly sins - lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride


• Seven virtues - chastity, moderation, liberality, charity, meekness, zeal and humility


• Although the phrase "Seven Year Itch" has been around since the 1800's, it was popularisted by the 1955 movie of the same title, staring Marilyn Monroe . The plot suggests that many men have extra-marital affairs after 7 years of marriage. Thus the meaning of the phrase describes this supposed urge for infidelity after seven years of marriage. It is now often extended to refer to an urge to move on from any situation.


• There are seven notes in the Western Major Scale - A to G (or do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do)


• Seven heavenly objects are visible to the naked eye; Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.


• According to Jewish mysticism, heaven is divided into seven realms; Araboth, the seventh heaven, is the highest and holiest. Islam also recognises seven levels of heaven.


• The Secret Seven is a delightful series of children's books, by Enid Blyton, about a fictional group of child detectives. If you were born in the 50's - 70's you probably grew up reading these.


• Steven Covey's book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was first published in 1989. With over 15-million copies sold - in 38 lanuages - it has been the most successful self-help book. Covey's 7 principles are simple and effetive: 1) be proactive, 2) begin with the end in mind, 3) put first things first, 4) think win-win, 5) seek first to understand, then to be understood, 6) synergise and 7) sharpen the saw.


• 7-a-side rugby is a variation on the traditional 15 player team format.


• There are many Seven Wonders of the World lists, including those for Natural Wonders and Wonders of the Industrial and Underwater Worlds. The earliest extant version of a list of Seven Wonders was compiled by Antipater of Sidon, who described the seven ancient structures in a poem (approx 150BC). As the Great Pyramid was the only Wonder of the Ancient World still standing (the other six were destroyed by earthquake, fire or other reasons) in our modern World, a list of New Seven Wonders of World (www.new7wonders.com) was recently voted (July 2007). They are: Great Wall of China, Petra, Christ the Redeemer (statue, Brazil), Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Colosseum, Taj Mahal, Great Pyramid (I've seen only one of these - Taj Mahal)


• The current Seven Seas are: North Pacific Ocean, the South Pacific Ocean, the North Atlantic Ocean, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. In Medieval European literature, the Seven Seas referred to any seven of the following eleven bodies of water: the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Irish Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea.


• We're all well aware of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on the Seven Continents. These include: Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt Elbrus (Europe), Vinson (Antartica), Denali (North America), Aconcagua (S. America), Carstensz Pyramid (Australia-New Guinea) and Mt Everest (Asia).

• I recently read Heinrich Harrer's book, "The White Spider" about summit attempts on Eiger's North Face. Written in 1958 it is a classic. Harrer was one of the trio who made the first ascent in 1934. He is also the fellow who spent "Seven Years in Tibet" and wrote a book about it (Brad Pitt was in the movie version)
• Lance Armstrong won 7 consecutive Tour de France races (1999-2005)


• Michael Schumacher won 7 Formula 1 Championship titles (2 with Bennetton and 5 with Ferrari) - I used to be a F1 addict


• When asked to think of a number between one and 10, most people pick seven


• We spend seven years in primary school (grades 1-7).


• In Vedic Hindu tradition, the human body features seven basic chakras, or "wheels of energy


• Almost all mammals have seven cervical vertebrae (including those with very short necks, such as elephants and whales, and those with very long necks, such as giraffes). The few exceptions include the manatee and the two-toed sloth, which each have only six cervical vertebrae, and the three-toed sloth with nine cervical vertebrae.
  
• Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet were originally named as the seven colors of the rainbow. Some consider indigo and violet to be the same colour.


• Telephone numbers have 7 digits, excluding area code


• Seven is considered a lucky number. A row of 7's is the winning number combination on the one-armed bandit (slot machine): 7-7-7

Happy 7th Birthday AR.co.za !

"I'm just not that calibre..."

This evening at gym I met two chaps, Darryl and Paul. Brothers. They were next to me in the stretching area. Darryl says to Paul, "Isn't there an adventure race on this Saturday". "I think so," Paul replies. Unable to resist I add, "Ja, the Jozi event".

We get chatting and Darryl asks, "You doing the Swazi one?".

"No," I replied. "I'm helping Darron with some of the organisation stuff. I hope you're going to be there?"

"I'm just not that calibre...".

Darryl didn't make it much past the last syllable.

"This is just the problem," I continued. "Preconceptions and misconceptions. You think you can't do it before you've even tried."

99.2% of the people lined up at the start of Swazi Xtreme (and any other distance race for that matter - Eden, Nguni, Bull etc) are not of that unattainable, imagined calibre. They're normal people with jobs, children, families, responsibilities, overtime, social committments and home maintenance. They also enjoy being outdoors and active and even though they may skip a whole week of training, they just decide to go for it anyway.

They then got the usual from me on how sprint races are no reflection on an adventure race; that teams that make it through a race do so because they're consistent, not fast; that they would have probably considered entering if sprint races never existed and a 3-day was was all there was; and that they should enter the SPORT event (essentially a 3-day, staged sprint race) as a pair - then they need only one support crew and one vehicle.

In the course of the conversation two other elements emerged as to why they hadn't entered (aside from not being of the imagined "calibre"):

"My life is not very organised" and "But..."

My responses to the above were:

"Get it organised" (I've been watching a lot of Dr House on DVD) and "Procrastionation! If you have a heart attack in the middle of May or are in an accident I bet you'll wish you'd just given the race a go?" (I've thought stuff like this a lot recently - first after the untimely of my dear friend Paul in Oct 2004 and then again when Philip passed away last year).

Darryl asked, "Do you get commission?". Funny boy.

If it wasn't Swazi it would be something else; and whether it is Nguni, Singletrack Mania, Eden, Bull, Mondi or Quantum Adventures they'd get the same talking to. Believe friends, believe.

One Sunday afternoon, a few weeks ago, I stopped in at my uncle's place to say hi; it was the afternoon after my SPUR event. There were a whole bunch of people there, including my cousin's cousin, who was out from the UK to visit. I think she's been over there for about 3-4 years. She says to my younger cousin, "So what's new?". "Nothing," he answered, holding his 1-year old daughter (I personally thought she'd count as "new"). Nothing new in 4-years?

Readers-of-this-blog... I do hope that you don't answer "Nothing" to that same question.

You can choose to make your life interesting. You can choose to present yourself with challenges. You can choose to open that door. What's the worst that can happen? You can be really buggered after Day 1 and choose to spend Day 2 in the shade and continue on Day 3. There's no shame in this.

But there is shame in not giving yourself a chance and being able to answer "What's new?" with a tale of an adventurous escapade.

Darryl and Paul: you go to my gym, you obviously live nearby and I can get your contact details from event organisers of sprints in which you've taken part. I do hope you'll think about it.

Trail and ultrarunning

Trail running has been in my mind - more than usual - this past week.

It started when I separated the listings of trail running events from the adventure racing calendar. This weekend I built a mini-site to represent trail running in South Africa and I started reading "Running through the wall: Personal encounters with the ultramarathon" by Neal Jamison. It is a collection of short stories by ultra runners of their experiences at US events - and ultrarunning in general. My friends Michael and Heather Graz lent the book to me so that I could read the two stories on the Barkley Marathon in Tennesse, which they ran a part of this past weekend. In this book I found a piece by AR guru, Ian Adamson on his ultra experiences and the relationship of off-road ultra running to adventure racing.

I've always believed that strength on foot (and navigation) correlates to adventure racing success. Distance races - and Ironman too - are won and lost on the run. Pace, endurance and foot condition being major determinants of success or failure.

In his piece, "Adventures in ultrarunning", Ian Adamson says, "Ultrarunning is without question the most feared aspect of adventure racing. Athletes learn quickly that their feet are susceptible to being ravaged when hiking and running, and television coverage inevitably includes scenes of blistered, battered and bloody feet". He then discusses his introduction to ultradistance events; first a 70-mile overnight kayak race, then a 24hr Rogaine, then an adventure race and then an ultradistance run.

He makes a good point about people's understanding of ultrarunning vs adventure racing: "Most people can relate more to adventure racing than to ultrarunning. It seems that the team element and exotic locations are easier for the viewing public to understand. Little do most people realise that adventure racing is ultrarunning on steroids with a few interesting embellishments."

In the foreword to the book, Don Allison, Editor of Ultrarunning Magazine, says "behind every participant in every race there is a story. Behind every runner, there is a history that leads them to the starting line of an ultramarathon".

At school I was a 100m and 200m sprinter. In Standard 9 I started running road races, encouraged by an athletics teammate and his road running dad. 10km and 15km events were my game. 7-years would pass before I'd run my first 21km and even a few years later running an ultra had never crossed my mind.

In 2001 I started doing some odd freelance writing for the short-lived Adventure Zone magazine. I'd just returned from Camel White Water on the Zambezi when I got a call from the editor, Nicola, to ask whether I was going to Augrabies and whether I'd do a review for them on a new bivvy bag. There was an AR happening near Cape Aughulas so I figured this is what she was talking about. She referred me to the bivvy bag guy. He referred me to the event organiser.

The event turned out to be the Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon, a 250km, 7-day self-sufficient staged foot race in the sweltering Upington/Augrabies area. The race was starting 7-days later. I said "Yes" and a week later found myself at the starting line of an event that would change my competitive focus.

This event remains the toughest event I have ever run; the heat, the miggies and the sand made it difficult. The same race in winter months would be considerably easier. It was here that I discovered it is possible for a human to consume 15-litres of water a day and that painful feet can be run on - for hours - with no long-term repercussions.

* Photo: On a most-welcomed massage bed at Kalahari Augrabies Extreme. Photo from KAEM

I spent the first few days walking mostly, chatting to other runners and even tagging along at the back helping the sweep to pick up the route markers. Day 5/6 was the ultradistance stage - around 80km - and we began the stage on the afternoon on Day 5. This means that you take advantage of the cooler night-time temperatures on this longest stage.

I started out with some guys at the back; the one fellow was suffering terribly from ITB inflammation. It took us a painful 2-hours to reach the 10km aid station. My feet were already swollen and in agony and I knew that I did not want to spend another 14-16 hours on them.

I said my farewells to the guys and started running. With only one day's food rations, some snacks and little clothing in my backpack, it was light - perfect for running.

My early strategy was to walk the hills and run the flats and downs but after an hour I was running everything, checking in at the aid stations every 1h10; a very easy, comfortable and sustainable 7min/km pace. The most difficult part was stopping at the aid stations to refill my hydration pack; starting again brought on "Little Mermaid syndrome", where every step feels like you are walking on glass.

I reached the end of the stage at about 05h30 on the morning of Day 6. I was totally hyped after running continuously for about 7-hours, straight through the night. I'd never thought that I wouldn't be able to run 70km in one go... I'd just never considered doing it.

This run completely altered my frame of reference and that night was liberating. It gave me a love for ultrarunning and specifically for running on my own, at night and over many days.

I have since run a number of staged ultras and off-road ultras in SA and abroad. I've even run a 12hr circuit race - through the night - on a 1km loop. I logged 98km and loved every minute. Rogaines are also a favourite and I'm so looking forward to the 24hr World Rogaine Champs in Estonia in Sept08, which I'm running with my friend, Heather. Understandably, my favourite AR discipline is trekking.

Ultrarunning may not be for everyone but I can suggest that you give at least one event a shot. If you like it, you'll know and there are many events for you to enter. If you don't, then you'll also know that it isn't your thing.

I'm glad I accepted that first invitation because it changed my perspective on distance, taught me that I can run any distance I want to and it revealed the rewarding World of off-road ultrarunning to me.

Gee whiz, it's G4

I had an absolutely delightful day in Cape Town today for the launch of the 2009 Land Rover G4 Challenge. The event will be held in 2009 in Asia but of greater importance is our local Provincial and National selection process, which has begun. Entries are now open.

Land Rover G4 Challenge is not quite a well known as its predecessor, Camel Trophy. G4 has been around since 2003 when Chester Foster, one of our adventure racers at the time, represented South Africa at the international competition. In 2006 Martin Dreyer was our South African representative. The event passed through Thailand, Laos, Brazil and Bolivia and Martin won the event overall to take the honours as the Land Rover G4 Challenge champion. South Africa has established itself as a competitive nation.

I had the fortune to attend the International Selections in the UK in Feb '06, as media for Land Rover SA. Three candidates from each participating country were assessed by the G4 selectors over a week of activities and tasks. One candidate from each country went through to the actual Challenge a few months later. Even just the selection process was awesome; and even those who didn't make it walked away with a sense of achievement and a life-altering experience.

G4 in 2009 is going to be quite different. FOUR representatives will be presented by each of the 18 participating countries for International selections in early 2009. These candidates will be chosed from our local Provincial and National selection process. Of these four, TWO will go through to the actual event.

More importantly, the team composition is mixed gender. That's right folks... ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN will be selected to represent South Africa.

This is especially exciting because, for the first time, women will compete against women for the place on the team in an event that has traditionally been male-dominated. I commend Land Rover for taking this progressive step; women can run, bike, paddle, drive, navigate and problem solve just as well as men, especially during endurance and multiday events.

I wouldn't be able to out-sprint an equally fit and active guy and I certainly couldn't benchpress more than the same individual. But that doesn't make me - or any other woman - less competent or able. And, as with adventure racing teams, women will bring a good balance to the event.

John and Mark Collins, and their Magnetic South team, are behind the selection process. They're planning the tasks and activities, which will thoroughly assess applicants. We can expect to be challenged.

Land Rover G4 Challenge is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Do not discount your ability to make it through as you may just have what they're looking for. You're an adventure racer - believe in your abilities. And you don't have to be an expert in anything and everything - just give it a shot and start with the application form.

Compare this application process to purchasing a Lotto ticket; if you don't enter, you don't stand a chance of winning. Submit the form and take it from there. I'm submitting mine. You'd be crazy to miss this. Get the scoop and form at www.landroverg4challenge.com