4 posts from 2008

Team 5seven0 would like to welcome New Balance on board as our Shoe and Apparel sponsor. We look forward to being able to use their products during our hecitc year of sport.

 

 – By Sean Hutchinson

 

 Driving through to Rooi Els the night before the race had me worried. The wind was pumping!!! I really did not feel like paddling into the teeth of a howling South Easter before sunrise the following morning. Oh well, after a thorough equipment check we were in bed early listening to the blustery wind outside.

 

4:30 am. The alarm’s start going off and some strong will power was needed to stop me from pressing the snooze button. However, the alarm was the only thing I was hearing…. No wind!

 

After a quick breakfast, we were on the road towards the start with some very tightly packed cars. 2 bikes, a surfski, a k1, a cooler box, a race crate as well as Mike and Quintin all crammed into my Jetta (The bikes were on the back seat).

 

Arriving at the start, the conditions were sublime and with many surfskis lined up on the beach the excitement and anticipation started to build.

 

6:30 am. We were off on the 13 km paddle, over 100 surfskis crammed together as we made our way out into the bay. The beginning of the paddle was great; I managed to get into a good rhythm and glided along with the 1^st half of the field. Things were going well, as we knew that paddling was not going to be out team’s strong point. However, about three quarters of the way out to the turn buoy on the first lap, my shoulder started to give me some trouble (apparently I had still not recovered from dislocating my shoulder a few weeks prior to the race) and I slowly started loosing positions. Though I was hurting, I pushed on as hard as I could; knowing that I would not be doing any paddling later in the day and that a nice two hour break was on the cards until my next leg. After almost one and a half hours paddling, I exited the water a broken and furious man to hand over the “Livestrong Band” to Mike to take on the swimming leg.

 

Here is Mike’s account of the 1,5km swimming leg:

 

“The swimming conditions were great with flat water and a comfortable water temperature. I was able to quickly slide into a comfortable stroke which saw me passing about 15 swimmers on the first lap and then another 10 on the second. The wetsuit that I used from orca helped considerably and kept me buoyant, allowing me to transfer all my energy into maintaining strong strokes. I really enjoyed the swim as it has been a long time –since school- that I have competed in a swimming event. Considering two weeks of training I felt very strong in the last 200m and caught the 3 swimmers ahead of me before handing over to Quintin who headed off and warp speed bike leg!”

 

Now, for the legs which we were good at. With Quintin heading off on the 50km road cycle through to Klienmond, Mike and I decided to have a nice relaxing shower, to get rid of the salt water, and slowly packed the car before heading off towards the end of the bike leg. Driving along the road we kept an eye out for Quintin as we passed many a bunch of cyclist, plus the odd individual caught in no-mans-land between bunches. Quintin was nowhere to be seen, he was having a scorcher. We eventually caught up to him just outside of Klienmond, where he handed over to Mike for the 13km road run.

 

Hers is Mike’s account of the run:

 

“Hot hot hot! Felt a little drained after and the swim and the heat. The run went pretty well. A little slower than I would have liked but I did pass about 30 other contestants. Found the road running to be very hot and unshaded with a long run until the first refreshing water table. Once that was on board felt much stronger and surged ahead taking more of the quicker contestants. My time was between 47 and 48 minutes which is around 3:50 a km which is fine considering the conditions. The most enjoyable part was launching off the road into the bush where the terrain was less monotonous and the shade more forgiving. Had my music pumping in my ears which offered motivation on the long hard straights.”

 

After leaving Mike at the beginning of the run, we headed through to the next transition. On turning off the main road towards the transition area, we were greeted with bumper to bumper traffic as the seconds tried to get their athlete’s boats and mountain bikes down to the combined transition area. While trying to find a parking space, Quintin got changed into his paddling kit on the fly next to the car as we slowly made our way forward. Once down by the water, the paddling conditions looked fantastic, but no sooner had Mike come storming into transition to hand over to Quintin did the wind pick up turning the calm estuary into a windswept nightmare, with crosswinds battering the paddlers over the whole 12km route. With paddling times being greatly affected my the wind, Quintin managed to push through in a little over 70 minutes while still holding our overall race position. He handed over to me and I set on the 25km mountain bike leg on a huge mission, still fuming from my terrible paddle earlier and needing to make it up to my team.

 

Starting the bike leg at an immense pace the heart rate quickly shot up into the mid 180’s, and there it would stay until I came blasting into the final transition 75 minutes later. All the time in the mountains of late paid off, assaulted the initial 6km climb with out any problems, overtaking about 15 other racers during the climb. The rest of the bike leg saw me picking off competitor after competitor, with some serious disregard for my safety on the downhills!

 

Coming into the transition for the 9km team beach run, I was feeling strong, and we set off onto the soft sand of the beach in good spirits. Mike was feeling very strong and shortly after the 4km mark, Quintin and I grabbed a tow from the shoulder straps of Mike’s camel back as we glided past many a fading team in the last 5km to finish strongly in 12th position.

 

All in all, it was an amazing race, though we all think we could have done better, we enjoyed the race and will take what we learned for the race into future events. Anna and Ryan had a strong race as Team New Balance in the Terra Firma event finishing in 3^rd place (1^st mixed team, though there was not mixed category).

 

by Sean Hutchinson

 

The WPASS 100 took place over the first weekend of December 2007. We entered a team of 3, consisting of Anna, Quintin and Sean. After a heavy year if racing including the Eden challenge where all 3 of us raced in different teams, we were looking forward to the race.

 

Waking early on Saturday morning to blustery conditions in Cape Town we made our towards that start venue near Caledon. I was not looking forward to driving over Sir Lowry’s Pass in the windy conditions with two canoes on the roof of my car thanks to my roof racks having broken in windy conditions in the past. However, the journey turned out to be a quick one, including the obligatory speeding fine near Grabouw (I will still argue that a 93 Jetta cannot go that fast with two canoes on the roof).

 

Arriving at the start venue early, we got our maps and sat down to plot our route. I was fairly nervous about this as I had been tasked with the navigation for this race in order to improve my skills for the Bull of Africa in August 2008. After plotting the route I was fairly confident that the navigation would not be a problem. Time to relax until the start time at 12h00.

 

The first CP was attacked in mass by all teams as it was a mere 500m from the start, following this a short 5km run to the river to get into our boats. We were using a recently purchased Noka K2 and a K1. Initially Anna and I were in the Noka, but after a fair bit of swimming, mostly due to the fact that I spend most of my time in a single sufski, I jumped into the K1 and let Quintin and Anna paddle the Noka (Now named The Submarine due to the amount of time it spent under water during this 15km river paddle/swim/drag/float). After a few hours on the water we were looking forward to getting on our bikes where we felt most at home, this led to us portaging a fair section of the river just so we did not have to paddle.

 

Jumping on the bikes we set off into the afternoon heat, following my route. After getting the first PC on the bike leg, I managed to guide us past a turn as I was not concentrating properly (actually, I will blame this on Quinitn because I can), which cost us about 15 mins (ok, time to wake up). The rest of the ride was a slog on the gravel roads in the area, with a river crossing towards the end to get a PC. Following this river crossing, we had a short ride along the tarred road back to the transistion area at the start venue; during this cycle we witnessed a sublime sunset as can be seen by the photos.

 

Entering the transition area after dark, my confidence in my navigation diminished, so I handed over to Quintin to navigate for the last Hike leg. Following a quick transition we were off into the warm night. After taking a short while to find the hiking trail, we set off into the mountains. About half an hour into the hike, we encountered Owen and Hanno steaming back down the mountain and to the finish. This made us feel a bit better, as we had made up some time after our disastrous paddle. From here we anticipated a maximum of 4 hours until we finished, (lovely, in bed by midnight). However, this was not to be.

 

The trail we were on had a turn off, which we did not see in the dark. The trail we were on started to fade and was eventually lost. Now, this is where things went pear shaped. (Remember, anyone in the transition area would be able to see where we are as our headlights flashed on the mountain side). From here, we wondered around the wrong ridge on the mountain taking us basically 4 hours off course. Realizing this mistake, we decided to go up and over the ridge to try and meet up with the correct trail again. After many hours of running we managed to find the path, mainly due to luck of seeing one of the other team’s headlights on it. With spirits lifted, we set off on the trail at a blistering pace, encountering many teams heading back from the PC with comments of “you are still out here” flying all over the place!

 

Now that we were on the path, we made short work of the 1000 odd metres of ascending to get the final PC. We even managed to catch up with a team, that was almost 2 hours ahead of us when we got to the PC, before we finished as the sun started to poke out over the mountains.

 

Even though the race was not a good one results wise, it was a good experience and the lessons learned will be remembered for the next one. One of the major plusses to come out of this race was that after finishing, all of us felt strong and believed that we could have done it all over again right then. A good sign for Bull??

Who we are…

 

 

 

 

       Anna Gutter

 

¨       Date of Birth: 05 October 1978

¨       Profession: UOFS BA MBW & HOD;

o        Sport Development Manager & Teacher

¨       Anna represented the Free State in Netball; Lifesaving; Biathlon; Swimming and Triathlon at several National competitions – her focused shifted to more endurance events after being introduced to Adventure Racing.

¨       She has moved recently from BFN to Cape Town to organize the 2008 World Rope Skipping Championships that will be hosted by Cape Town.

¨       Achievements: Comrades finisher; Ironman finisher; Swazi Extreme; Baby Bull & Eden.

 

 

 

 

  Sean Gary Hutchinson

 

¨       Date of Birth: 09 September 1982

¨       Profession: UCT Quantity Surveying Honours Graduate

o         Quantity Surveyor

¨       If you do not find Sean out in the ocean paddling his trusty “Racing Rasta” surfski, you will find him demolishing the Cape Town mountain bike and running trails at all hours of the day. (If by chance you look towards Constantiaberg on a clear midweek night and see lights flashing, chances are that these are the from the headlights worn by Sean or fellow team mate Quintin as they make the most of the mountain for training.)

¨       Sean prefers the longer distances in most sports and is currently training hard towards his goals of completing a multitude of Ultra-distance Races in 2008.

¨       Other Sports: Surfing, Rugby, 6-Down Touch Rugby, Swimming

 

 

Ryan Nicholas Sandes

 

¨    Date of birth: 10 March 1982

¨       Profession: UCT Quantity Surveying Honours Graduate

o        Quantity Surveyor

¨    Ryan has been an active sportsman from his early days. He played water polo and rugby at school level, and in 2000, he toured Australia and New Zealand with the SACS 1^st team. After giving up rugby, he concentrated on running and in July 2006, Ryan ran   his first full marathon, the Knysna Marathon, and has not stopped since then. His preference is trail running and has participated in a number of the trail runs in Cape Town.

¨  Ryan is currently in training for the 250km self supporting foot race across the Gobi Desert which takes place in June 2008.

¨  Other Sports: Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Swimming, Surf Ski

 

 

Quintin Steven Smith

 

¨  Date of Birth: 20 March 1984

¨  Profession: UCT Business Science Marketing Honours

o        Event and race management in the adventure sport industry.

¨  Quintin has represented KZN at provincial level rock-climbing, athletics and rugby at school level. Since leaving school his passion for adventure sports grew and you will now find him chasing Sean on the mountains around Cape Town.

¨  Quintin has been participating in Adventure Races since 2001, and is a committee member of the Western Province Adventure Sport Society for 2007.

¨  Other Sports: Rugby, athletics, rock climbing, surf skiing and water skiing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike William Titley

 

¨       Date of Birth: 09 February 1984

¨       Profession: UCT Business Science Finance (non-CA) graduate

o        Financial Asset Consultant (19/11/2007 - )

¨       Mike has always participated in a wide variety of sports and enjoys both the competitive element as well as the social enjoyment that they bring to his life. His main talent lies in running, which he competes in at a high level in the Western Cape. He is a group leader in Celtic Harriers Running Club. Personal bests include: 1 mile – 4:51(2007); 5km 17:21(K4K relay-  2006); 10km – 35:48(UWC, 2007; 15km – 55:26(Constantia 15km, 2007) & 21.1km 79:11 (Knysna, 2007)

¨       He has been participating in adventure racing for 18 months and has taken strongly to the other disciplines. Having been a strong swimmer all through school, and a mountain enthusiast with limited restraint on downhill’s, both cycling and kloofing are a thrill. He tends to focus on shorter distance courses, as this compliments his running best.

¨       When not chained to a desk you will find him storming the streets, up in the mountains, in the pool, squash court or gym. Adventure racing is a new found passion which has replaced those school and varsity sports that separate the multitude of sporting passions that he loves.

¨       Other Sports: Water polo; Cycling; Squash; Swimming

 

 

 

 

What we do…

 

 

Being young, competitive and outgoing, we try to compete in as many events as time and budget constraints allow, on average taking part in at least one event every 2 weeks. We compete hard at any event we take part in and place well in most of the events we do.  Below is a list of major events we have competed in the last 18 months, as well as mentionable positions

 

¨       Quantum Adventures Jolly Jester 2007 4^th

¨       The Crazy Store Table Mountain Challenge 2007 4^th (Open Male), 4^th (Mixed 1 Team)

¨       West Coast Marathon 2006  10^th (3hours 31seconds)

¨       Ironman South Africa

¨       Eden Challenge 2006 (5^th Long Course)

¨       Eden Challenge 2007 1^st (Short Course), 4th (Long Course)

¨       Hout Bay Trail Challenge 2007 3rd

¨       Cape Fires Trail Challenge 2007 5th

¨       Hout Bay Triple Trouble 2007 1^st & 2^nd (Open Team) ( Both breaking previous record)

¨       Quantum Adventures QUAC 3 2007 -  3^rd (Open Male Team)

¨       Quantum Adventures Sprint & QUAC Series’

¨       Knysna Forest Full and Half Marathon 2007 (half 32^nd) (full 105^th )

¨       Knysna Mountain Bike Marathon 2007

¨       Two Oceans Half Marathon (127^th)

¨       Clanwilliam Triathlon 2007 9^th (Open male team )(1^st 2 man team)

¨       Clanwilliam Duathlon 2007 12^th (Solo male)

¨       Xterra SA Champs 2007 15^th (Open Male Team)

¨       Outsurance Gun Run (61^st)

¨       Lourensford Mountain Bike Marathon 2007

¨       Cape Argus Mountain Bike Marathon 2007

¨       Cape Argus Cycle Tour 2007

¨       Voet of Africa Marathon 2007

¨       Peninsula Half Marathon 2007(15^th)

¨       Durbanville Dirty Duathlon (16^th)

¨       WPASS March Madness Adventure Race (7^th)

¨       Cederberg Challenge Adventure Race 2006 (4^th)

¨       Cederberg Challenge Trail Run (2^nd Open male)

¨       Isostar 15km Tokai Challenge (10^th)