So what will we be doing in between, here is a snippet from the race director's newsletter:
Course Details.
BULL of Africa 2008 will consist of 16 Legs:
Trail running: 1 Leg
Trekking: 5 Legs
MTB: 7 Legs
Paddle: 3 Legs
The Race will start with a 10km Trail run to break up the field a little bit. Breakdown of other disciplines:
Trekking: 159km; longest leg: 70km
MTB: 334km; longest leg: 93km
Paddle: 64km; longest leg: 40km
Rope work: 2x Abseils; 1x Ascend
Total km: 567km (shortest distance).
Please take note that there will be a cut-off at a specific CP on the morning of Day 6 – Teams that arrive at this CP after the cut-off will be put on a Shortened Course, in order to cross the Finish line before Race cut-off on Saturday morning.
Race Disciplines.
Trekking: the hiking legs will be tough, especially through the remote areas – some Locals have not even been there. On some of the valley sections it is advisable to choose the safer route option as you can easily get “cliffed out”. Bike helmets will be Compulsory on all your Hiking legs – there are quite a few very slippery sections on the Route.
Mountain Biking: some of the legs are very long but very interesting with various route choices, especially in the Transkei, where there are tracks all over the show! Please take note that there are LOTS of thorns at certain sections, so Teams must insure that you have Lining and Slime in your Tyres; or Tubeless with lots of spare tubes and patches to
Kayaking: mostly flat water. Strong winds can be a factor. At night the cold can be a problem, so ensure to have the right Base layers on when paddling. There will be safety Boats on the water. Teams will be expected to hike off the Boat to collect Check points (CP’s).
Rope Work: make sure you are comfortable with your Rope techniques – this will be tested of course. There will be NO safety lines – teams will have to ensure their own 2nd point of attachment. There will be 1x Ropes Instructor per site.
Swimming: there will be quite a few River crossings; not all of them will involve swimming, but you will get wet. There is 1 section where you will be swimming with your Bikes (less than 100 metres). You will not have PFD with you (unless you want to carry one on your Bike), so make sure that you are aware how to stay afloat with your Bike … there are a few techniques.
Navigation: will be technical at certain sections with numerous Route options on other sections. The Maps that you will be using are not too old (SA standards) 1996 – 2003. They are pretty accurate but many tracks used by the Locals are not on the Maps.
It looks quite daunting! But we will take it one bit at a time.To follow our progress you can trawl one of the following sites to glean some info on what is happening to us in "deepest darkest Africa.
There will be live race coverage; leaderboard; articles & daily photo's on the following websites:
http://www.sleepmon
http://www.sportstr
http://www.checkpoi
http://www.ar.
There will also be Team photo's and daily race photo's on the BULL website:
http://bullofafrica
