Cyclist's feat of endurance
2008-06-26
Maggie Follett
MONDAY 16 June marked the official start of what has, for good reason, been called South Africa’s longest and toughest bicycle race – the Toyota Freedom Challenge Race. The gruelling, non-stop mountain-bike event covers 2 300 km of remote, rugged terrain, traversing a tortuous, but scenically breathtaking route which links inland nature reserves and pristine wilderness areas between Pietermaritzburg and Paarl. Of the total route, only 50 km are tarred. The rest consists of primitive paths and rough, rutted country tracks which riders must negotiate, sometimes under appalling weather conditions, and often in the dark. The course must be completed within a maximum of 26 days. (The race record, set in 2007, is 16 days and 10 hours). Due to the nature of the terrain, no back-up vehicles are supplied. Competitors are fed and housed overnight by farmers and rural communities at 23 informal stopovers. Of the 60 participants in this year’s Freedom Challenge, over half chose to complete a shorter trail, which culminated at the Eastern Cape village of Rhodes on Saturday. Twenty-five remaining stalwarts are still en route to Paarl. Incredibly, two of these long-distance racers X 34-year-old Andrew Barnes of Pietermaritzburg and 50-year-old Danie Nel of Wellington – had first completed the Comrades Marathon the previous day, before mounting their bikes and setting off at dawn from Pietermaritzburg City Hall, to participate in the Freedom Challenge Race. Nel, a chemical engineer and CEO of Afriplex (a local firm specialising in botanical extracts), is no stranger to feats of endurance. A man who thrives on challenges, with a passion for the great outdoors, the super-fit Nel is not only a veteran mountain-biker (in 2006, he completed a 4000 km race from Paris to Istanbul, and from there to China), but also a keen hiker who, together with his wife and young teenage children, summited Mount Kilimanjaro a few years ago. This is the second Freedom Challenge in which he has competed. Despite the rigours of the trail, coupled with pain from a foot injury incurred before the Comrades, Nel remains upbeat. The Freedom Challenge route is divided into seven main sections – Sisonke, Maluti (ending in Rhodes), Stormberg, Karoo, Baviaanskloof, Swartberg and Breede River. The last leg X from McGregor to Rawsonville, and then via Du Toit’s Kloof to Ashanti Wine Estate in Paarl X is commonly regarded as the most taxing stretch of the entire trail, requiring riders to carry their bicycles for up to ten hours, before the final sprint to the podium. For those who complete the race there are no cash prizes, no trophies and no medals – just a gift of a traditional Xhosa blanket, and the knowledge that they have done what they set out to do – but for die-hards Andrew Barnes and Danie Nel, even arriving at their destination in Paarl will not be victory enough. After competing in one of the world’s toughest bike races, both plan to embark on the four-day Berg River Canoe Marathon from Paarl to Velddrif. The famous canoe race starts on 9 July, so for the intrepid Nel, whose projected arrival date in Paarl is 7 or 8 July, this is cutting things fine. For regular updates, log on to the website www.freedomchallenge.org.za.
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