My AfricanX Stage 3 – The Rollercoaster By Jan Ham Photo Credit ~ Cherie Vale / NEWSPORT MEDIA The final day of the 2014 ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun presented by New Balance has arrived, and together with that a strange, sedated vibe in the race village. Breakfast was a little more quiet than the previous two mornings, with a lot more taped up runners, some struggling to walk the couple of stairs in the dining room without a grimace on their faces. The final stage of any multi-stage event is normally the shortest, but by no means the easiest, as there still was 21km with about 650m vertical ascent to be covered on tired and sore legs today. But the mind is a powerful thing, and long after your legs have given up on you, it still powers the body forward, knowing that each step forward is one closer to the finish line and claiming that sought after AfricanX finisher’s medal. To make today’s stage even more interesting, race organisers decided to put a “hotspot” just 3km down the road with a prize for the first man and woman to reach this checkpoint. This made for a frantic start, with a pretty quick first 3km that would even make some Kenyan runners sit up and notice. The start being downhill may have helped, but it would eventually also take its toll on some runners going too hard too fast. Mr’s Le Brun and McInroy did not disappoint and went for gold, for once dressed in more trail related clothing, if pink spandex tights count as men’s clothing. What amazed me even more about these two “clowns” is that behind the joker images that they portray, are some seriously skilled runners, holding their own against the top women’s teams for about three quarters of the days stage. What goes up must come down, and stage 3 was exactly the opposite of this. Starting with a long descent into the Botrivier valley below the majestic Houw Hoek Mountains, things turned nasty just after water point 1 at around 10km into the stage. Nasty in the sense that we all new we’d reached the turning point, heading towards the finish. The only problem, there was a huge mountain dead ahead between us and the finish line. In some sense, being planned or sub-conscious, it’s always great to finish anything one attempts on a high, and AfricanX 2014 would not disappoint. The next eight or so kilometres to WP2 had some of the best mountain running and single track of the whole race, with majestic views across the valleys, and with runners looking like marching ants snaking around on the other side. With Cole having a tough day yesterday, it is remarkable what a solid meal and a good night’s rest can do, as he came out firing this morning, strong as an ox! Having reached WP2, it was a more sedated last few kilometres home, before one last go at the quick flowing single track leading into the race village at Houw Hoek Inn. What made the day super special for me was coming into the finishing straight, seeing my beautiful wife and kids waiting for me, and being able to cross the finish line with my little boy in my arms, as I did with his 4 year old sister on completing my first AfricanX back in 2011. Looking back at AfricanX 2014, both Cole and I learned new lessons, gained heaps of experience, made new friends and walked away with a smile, already contemplating to be back again in 2015! A massive thank you to the event organisers Stillwater Sport & Entertainment and all the sponsors involved for setting up yet another great event. The ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun presented by New Balance did not disappoint in being South Africa’s premier multi-stage trail event. Also a big thank you to our Columbia/GU TRAIL support team, our families, friends and sponsors Columbia Sportswear, GU Energy South Africa, TRAIL Magazine and Inov-8 for all your support.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:58:35 +0000
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