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Post by bernadette on May 17, 2009 8:15:16 GMT -5
Steve and Sal started their 6 day race in Namibia today.
From the website on Friday:
All competitors will depart tomorrow for Camp 1, ‘Africa’s Grand Canyon’ – the bus ride may take close to 8 hours.... The distances of different stages in the race have been confirmed: Stage 1, 'Fish River Canyon' is 39km; Stage 2, ‘Huns Mountains’ is 35km; Stage 3, ‘Sunny Plains of Africa’ is 35km; Stage 4, ‘In The Footsteps of Bushmen is 100km; Stage 5, ‘Dune Day’ is 28km, and Stage 6 ‘Diamond Trail to Luderitz’ is a brisk 10km.
Stage 1 was in progress last I read online.
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Post by trailblazer777 on May 17, 2009 9:42:06 GMT -5
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Post by robd2 on May 17, 2009 23:48:00 GMT -5
The guy who finished first in stage 1 did it in 4 hours. Steve and Sal did it in 8 hours, the guy who came in last did it in 15 hours. Huge spread in times. Great result from Steve and Sal!
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Post by bernadette on May 23, 2009 11:00:46 GMT -5
Results posted after Stage 5 have Steve and Sal at 83rd overall of 167 racers still in. DNFs total 45 now.
They did the 100k stage in about 25 hrs. It got to a high of 43 degrees!
Fantastic effort!!
One 10k stage left.
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Post by trailblazer777 on May 26, 2009 2:35:45 GMT -5
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Post by Suzy on May 27, 2009 3:04:28 GMT -5
Well done Sal and Steve - you legends.
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Post by Mark B on May 27, 2009 5:22:31 GMT -5
Glad to see everyone has seen Steve and Sal's effort yet another outstanding effort by them both in some very challenging conditions.
Makes me miss it all bugger
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Post by Nathan on May 27, 2009 20:19:28 GMT -5
Well done Steve and Sal - Inspirational as always
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Post by stevo on Jun 3, 2009 8:49:49 GMT -5
Hello all,
We got back home yesterday after a week of eating drinking and sight seeing in Namibia.
The race was amazing and absolutely the hardest of the three RTP races we have done. The first stage was rated as the hardest stage of any RTP event to date.
No injuries to speak of, Sal's hamstring held up but she's only got one or two toenails left.
See ya out there soon.
Steve and Sal
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Post by robd2 on Jun 3, 2009 19:14:24 GMT -5
Huge congrats to you and Sal Steve. That sounded like a real epic, especially that 100k, 25 hour stage.
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Post by stevo on Jun 10, 2009 0:34:02 GMT -5
Thanks Rob and thanks to you and Mark for your emails during the Race.
The 100km stage was an epic indeed. It started for us at 0200hrs when we had to get up and get ready for a 4 hour bus ride to the start of the stage. We planned to take it very easy early on to make sure we had the energy to get through the whole 100km in one push.
By the time we got to the second checkpoint it was already around 40C and plenty of people were not looking great, the medics there were being inundated with casualties, four people pulled out while we were there.
100km is hard enough but 100km with heat, sections of endless soft sand and Dunes just adds to the fun. We tackled the most technical sections(one particularly steep and loose rock descent) and the worst of the dunes in the dark. To top it all off a thick sea fog rolled in at around 0400 not only making it cold and damp but meant visibility was almost nil as our headlamps were already starting to fade by then.
All in all a big day out. We fisnished as we'd planned in one push, spending minimal time at CP's, 40mins being the longest stop at 60km to fix feet and eat some 2 minute noodles. From about 45km we ran where we could until it got too dark and dangerous. Leaving the 80km CP we slowed down to help out a couple of guys that were in a bad way, we dragged them through until the sun came up. They were pretty wrecked and both staggering and wanting to stop but by then it was too cold to sit still. One of them, a Kiwi from Hong Kong was seeing Giant Bumblebee's and Butterflys. To fuel his Bee halucinations I gave him some honey. It was good to see them both okay in camp later in the day. Many people failed to finish this stage including some well rated and experienced competitors.
Steve and Sal
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Post by Nathan on Jun 10, 2009 1:56:33 GMT -5
WOW
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Post by Suzy on Jun 10, 2009 4:48:25 GMT -5
I second that Nate. You guys are extreme :0 In a nice way  |
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Post by Mark B on Jun 12, 2009 4:36:59 GMT -5
Good to see you guys made it home alive
As I have said before well done you legends
Enjoy the rest and recovery, who needs toenails anyway they just cause problems.
You could head down south and recovery.
Take care you 2
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Post by bernadette on Jun 16, 2009 18:09:14 GMT -5
Belated congrats to you both, Steve and Sal! Loved reading the story of the torturous long stage.
We'll have to catch up in person soon for more stories and a few pics.
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