March 13th, 2010 by admin

A few weeks back I posted a story about the World Run II, a long distance endurance run like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The event is the brainchild of Danish ultrarunner Jesper Olsen, who is about to become the first person to ever run the length of Africa, north to south, as he finishes the first half of an amazing long distance odyssey on foot.

On Saturday, March 13, Jesper will be running into Cape Point, South Africa, which will mark the end of the first stage of World Run II, which began back on July 1st of 2008, when he set off from the northernmost tip of Norway, and started running south. Now, 20 months, and nearly 21,250 kilometers later, he’s about to set some very impressive firsts. In addition to becoming the first person to run across Africa, north to south, he’ll also become the first person to run from the most northerly point in Europe, to the southernmost tip of Africa, and he’ll be the first to complete two documented runs of more than 20,000km, having finished his first during World Run I back in 2005, which went for more than 26,000km.

Upon reaching Cape Point, Jesper will then take a few months off to rest and recover before beginning the second stage of World Run II. That stage will begin in Punta Arenas, Chile, and will see him running north this time, covering the length of South America, up through Central America, into Mexico, and the U.S. before ending in Mt. Pearl, Newfoundland, Canada. When he’s done, Jesper will have covered more than 40,000km, through all kinds of terrain and weather conditions.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to salute Jesper and what he’s accomplished so far. While he still has a long way to go before he finishes World Run II, it is very impressive what he has accomplished so far. What an amazing expedition this has been through Africa, and what a great way to see the world – on your own two feet!

Update: It seems my original information was off just a bit. Jesper will now be arriving in Cape Point on Monday, not Saturday. We can afford him a little extra time to take in the sights though considering how far he has just run, right?

March 3rd, 2010 by admin

The 2010 Rhodes Trail Run may still be several months off, but those interested in running the iconic long distance off road race in South Africa may want to get their entries in soon. Personal invitations for the event went out last week, and slots are already being filled for this amazing race that should be on the radar of any endurance runner.

The race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 3rd, beginning and ending in the hamlet of Rhodes, South Africa. Covering a distance of 52km (28 miles), the course will wind its way through remote and challenging terrain that would put any trail runner to the test in the best of conditions. But the Rhodes Trail Run is rarely held under the “best of conditions”. Weather is a frequent threat during the event, with high winds, icy trails, and snow a possibility throughout.

If the weather wasn’t enough of a challenge however, runners will have to consider the altitude as well. The race begins at 1800m (5905 feet) and goes as high as 2680m (8793 feet), with the average altitude sitting at about 2560m (8399 ft). That’s some serious altitude gain over the course of the run, and athletes should be prepared to deal with that as they go. To help ensure that runners are ready, the organizers of the event have put together some training tips that may come in handy.

So? Who wants to go to South Africa this summer to compete in a really tough, but amazing race? And I say “summer” because I live in the Northern Hemisphere. From the looks of the conditions on the course during the event, it would be anything but “summer” while we’re running. Seems like a very cool race if any of you endurance athletes are looking for a new challenge.

February 21st, 2010 by admin

Occasionally I get great articles, reports, and links sent my way from readers who are aware of some great adventures that I haven’t come across before. At any given time, there are always some amazing things going on, and it’s difficult to keep track of them all, although I do my best. One such reader is Darrell Raubenheimer, who drops me a note from time to time about one amazing endurance event or another that is taking place in and around South Africa, which he calls home. Earlier today, I received just such a note telling me about endurance athlete Jesper Olsen and his World Run II.

Back in 2005, Jesper completed the first ever fully documented run around the world. Dubbed the World Run, the event saw him begin and end in London, crossing Europe, and Asia, before ending up in Tokyo, Japan From there, the Danish runner hopped a flight to Sydney, ran across Australia to Perth, then grabbed another flight to Los Angeles, where he proceed to run north to Vancouver, then across Canada and the U.S., before taking a flight back to the U.K., returning to where he started. When he was done, Jesper had run more than 16,000 miles.

But like any good adventurer, the ultrarunner couldn’t stay home for long, and thus the plan was hatched for World Run II, which like all good sequels, is bigger, and more impressive than the first. This time, Jesper is running a course that is roughly 25,000 miles in length and going from north-to-south, and back again. In the process, he’ll cross four continents, numerous countries, and through nearly every time of environment imaginable.

The run got underway from Nordkapp, Norway, the northernmost point in Europe, and will continue south to Cape Town in South Africa. From there, Jesper will hop a flight to Punta Arenas, Chile, in South America, and turn is way north, heading up through that continent, and into North America, through Mexico, the U.S., and into Canada, eventually ending at Mt. Pearl, a small town in Newfoundland.

Jesper’s latest blog report, which can be found on the World Run II website, indicates that he is now closing in on Cape Town, which is a major milestone for his expedition. As of two days ago, he had completed nearly 12,800 miles, so he’s roughly halfway done. As of that posting, he was still about 500 miles away from Cape Town, but mentioned that he was looking forward to a break, some time to heal, and recover, before moving on to South America. Considering he’s just about finished up a complete run across the African continent, north to south, I’d say he’s earned some rest.

Personally, I’m in awe of this undertaking. I’ve taken the last two days off from running to try to heal a bit of a nagging injury, and now I feel just completely lazy after reading about some of the things that Jesper has been dealing with along the way. I may have missed the first half of this very cool adventure, but you can bet I’ll be following along with the second half. Thanks for the tip Darrell, it is highly appreciated as always!

January 16th, 2010 by admin

The Tour Down Under isn’t the only cycling event to get underway this weekend, as the 2010 Tour d’Afrique prepares to start this Saturday as well. This annual event kicks off from Cairo, Egypt and ends four months later in Cape Town, South Africa. Riders will cover more than 7500 miles, and cross through ten countries in this trans-continental, north-south journey.

All told, this Tour includes 96 days of cycling, averaging 77 miles per day. The schedule also factors in 22 rest days and 2 additional days of travel by ferry, which brings the total travel time to 120 days. The stages range in length from about 50 miles on rough terrain to 112 miles over smooth, paved roads.

The route begins in Egypt and wanders south through the Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia, before finishing up at the Cape in South Africa. Some of the landmarks that the riders pass along the way include ancient Egyptian temples along the Nile, Ethiopia’s Simian Mountains, Kilimanjaro, the highest peak on the continent, and Victoria Falls. The conditions will range from arid, open plains, to dry deserts, and temperate cloud forests, and as you might expect, the wildlife will be spectacular as well.

The Tour can be done as one giant four month long ride, or travelers can elect to join at specific legs of the journey as they see fit. There are eight different legs that can be linked together in any fashion that the rider wishes.

I’ve written about the Tour d’Afrique a number of times in the past, and this is one of my ultimate trips. It looks like it would be quite the adventure to explore Africa on the back of your bike with a great group of fellow travelers. One of these days, when I’m a rich and famous blogger, I’ll find a way to join the Tour, as it really does seem like the trip of a lifetime.

January 6th, 2010 by admin

South African adventurer David Grier has an impressive adventure resume. Besides being a successful restauranteur and chef, he has climbed Kilimanjaro, raced in a number of ultra-endurance events, and completed a 2500 mile run along the entire length of the Great Wall of China, in just 98 days. Now, he’s set off on another long distance run filled with plenty of challenges, as he is currently making his way across the entire length of Madagascar, from south to north, on foot.

David began this current adventure in grand style, choosing to paddle from Mozambique to Madagascar, a distance of more than 300 miles, in a kayak. That portion of his journey took 11 days by itself. During that time, he faced tropical storms, miles of open water, and oppressive heat. After paddling for 7-8 hours each day, he would then sleep in his kayak at night, only to resume his efforts the following morning. After arriving in Madagascar, he was created by friends, who then drove him to the southernmost tip of the island, which reportedly took another eight days.

On December 20th, he began the actual run, which will have him covering a distance of more than 900 miles. You can follow David’s progress through his frequently updated blog, through the website Miles for Smiles, which tracks all of his adventures, and from his Twitter feed at @davidgrier. You’ll also find video updates on the YouTube Madagascar Challenge channel.

Big thanks to Lisa over at adventure racing, and more, site AR.co.za for the heads up on this story. And as if it didn’t sound like a big enough challenge already, Lisa says she believes that David’s plan is to kite-surf back to South Africa or Mozambique. Crazy!

December 5th, 2009 by admin

I read about this last night over at the Best Hike Blog, and posted about it today on Gadling as well, but definitely thought it was worth sharing here too. It seems that a new long distance trekking trail is under construction in South Africa, that when it is done, will stretch more than 650km in length through remote mountainous regions along the Cape.

The trail is called The Rim of Africa and on it’s official site, the designers say they have taken inspiration from such other trails as The Appalachian and Continental Divide. When completed, it will become the first truly long distance hike on the African continent, requiring approximately 48 days to hike end-to-end. The trail will also be broken up into four segments which can be tackled in 10-12 day increments as well.

The first leg of the trail will open in 2010, and there are a couple of 11-day fundraising treks being organized for next October that will allow backpackers to get their first glimpse of the hike, which will run from the Cederberg wilderness area on the Cape’s West Coast to the Outeniqua Mountains, and possibly beyond. You can register to join one of those initial hikes on the website, with the dates being Oct. 4-15, Oct. 11-22, and Oct. 18-29 of next year.

As I mentioned in the Gadling piece that I wrote, it seems that long distance trekkers now have a new item to add to their “life list” of things to accomplish. This sounds like it’s going to be an amazing trail that will eventually rival the best long distance treks in the World. There are even plans to possibly link it up with a few other trails, which could bring the overall length to more than 1200km. Seems like I now have yet another reason to visit South Africa, as if I need more.

October 4th, 2009 by admin

Forbes Traveler has an interesting article on their site listing off ten destinations where the animals eat you. The list is designed to give adventurer travelers some new ideas for places to get up close and personal with wildlife and encounter some of the planet’s top predators in their natural environments.

Some of the places making the list include Manu National Park in the Peruvian Amazon, which is home to a healthy population of jaguars which silently stalk the jungle. For a completely different experience, head to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, where the hippos rule the roost. As the story notes, the hippo is generally a plant eater, but are extremely aggressive and kill a number of people each year in Africa. Head to Lake Baikal in Russia for a face-to-face showdown with wolves, which prowl the region in sizable numbers. Just don’t stray too far from camp or get out of the vehicle. You can be lunch fairly quickly there as well.

Of course, my personal favorite is the Serengeti in Tanzania, which just might be my favorite place in the world. There are plenty of amazing animals to see there of course, but nothing gets the heart pumping faster than spotting a lion in the grass. These giant cats are fun to watch, and amazingly graceful as well. It is the one place that I highly recommend anyone who enjoys wildlife visits.

September 24th, 2009 by admin

Having successfully navigated the Northwest Passage, the Around the Americas Expedition has turned its way south. Having left Nova Scotia, Canada behind the next scheduled port of call set for the Ocean Watch and her crew is Boston, where they are expected to arrive on Friday.

It has been a pretty good few weeks for the crew, who have now gone from icy waters and heavy cold weather gear, to shorts and flip-flops under warm skies and lovely autumn days. The journey south, for now, remains mostly uneventful, although a new crew member has joined the team, at least for now. Ed Stern is a fisheries expert from the Marine Institute in St. John’s and he gives us a rundown on his background as well as the general health of fisheries in North America in today’s blog post.

Ed has joined the crew in support of the expedition’s environmental efforts. As the Ocean Watch navigates its way around North and South America, something that has never been done before, the team is recording data on the health of the oceans, and that healthy will have a direct impact on our fisheries, and vice versa, as over fishing can cause its own set of issues.

In the weeks ahead, the crew will continue to head south towards the tip of South America, where they will make the treacherous crossing of the Beagle Channel before turning north and home. The expedition began in Seattle back in June and will end there again sometime in 2010, but in between, the ship will have crossed more than 24,000 miles of ocean, completing the first ever circumnavigation of the two continents.

September 18th, 2009 by admin

Last week I mentioned an amazing new long distance foot race that was scheduled to take place over the weekend in the form of the Liberty Health Baviaanskloof Trail Run. The 40km (25 mile) race took place in the Baviaanskloof Nature Preserve, located in South Africa, with runners dealing with challenging trail conditions while on the look out for a host of wild animals as well.
The following is a long, but very well done race report that was sent my way by Darrell Raubenheimer, who was on hand for the race. It will give you a sense of how everything went down, on what looks to be a great new edition to the endurance running world:

Liberty Health Baviaanskloof Trail Run : 12 September 2009
“There is no path, there are no flags; there are lots of animal tracks down the hill; choose one and make your way down to the clearly defined path at the bottom of the hill. Go carefully, it is extremely slippery.”
The inaugural Liberty Health Baviaanskloof Trail Run, hosted by Eastern Cape Parks, was staged in the stunning rugged beauty of the Geelhoutbos area of the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve on Saturday.
There was an early morning chill when, after a detailed pre-race briefing, the 59 starters headed out for their ‘run with legends’. The unspoilt Baviaanskloof proved a perfect setting for South Africa’s newest trail run.
Conditions were ideal and the field soon spread out as they headed onto the trail that took the runners through the wilderness area of a World Heritage Site that is inhabited by black rhino and buffalo as well as other wildlife. The section used for the Liberty Health Trail Run is closed to the public and made for bubbling excitement at the start. The organisers were forced to make last minute route changes to take the runners away from a kloof due to aggressive black rhino. This resulted in the route being approx 38km. A couple from Natal were thrilled to find an Eland up close on the return section while there were reports of kudu and mountain reedbuck spotted en route, as well as numerous baboons.
The route proved to live up to it’s pre-race hype and the pre-race briefing; being rugged, harsh and rough underfoot, challenging, amazingly scenic with spectacular fynbos in bloom, and forcing runners to think and choose suitable animal paths to come down the hillside. Not for the fainthearted.

As a first time run the route caught everyone somewhat by surprise and, as with any activity, some coped better on the day than others.

The closing section, when runners come down from the plateau selecting animal tracks to reach a trail that runs above a kloof, proved to be extremely technical with numerous runners finding this part extremely challenging and taxing. While some may have been temporarily confused in the spekboom no-one was lost as any path down was the correct one. Most of the field were able to ‘read’ the bush and came down with only a few scratches. Others became exasperated as the tracks zigzagged down the hillside, not used to have to find their own way. Some were concerned that different routes were taken – all routes were correct - no-one took a ‘short-cut’, path selection was up to each runner. It seems that those who are not averse to a few thorn strikes and scratches will be back!

Thanks to hosts Eastern Cape Parks, for affording the privilege of experiencing this special area, and to Liberty Health for their support and contribution to the event.

Liberty Health’s commitment to environmentally aware activities, such as the Baviaanskloof Trail Run (and the Rhodes Trail Run), creates a platform for trail runners.
Capetonian Warren Petterson took the lead from the start and by the 27km checkpoint had a clear 18 minute gap on fellow Capetonian, Leo Rust. Petterson extended his lead over the home section to win by 48 minutes.

Port Elizabeth’s SanMari Woithe won the ladies section, with a very impressive 6th position overall, in a time of 4hr 39 min.

The last finisher, Gavin, started with a knee injury and battled gamely, and slowly, over the entire route, linking up with the Sweep Team towards the end and really earned his finisher’s medal.
Most participants finished with numerous scratches from the thorn bushes and one received 11 stitches to his leg having been ‘attacked’ by a common nocturnal Baviaans brown slip-rock – it is well recorded that the nocturnal slip-rocks get rather aggressive if woken during daylight hours! Once on the endangered list, herds of the Baviaans brown slip-rocks were recorded by runners.

Liberty Health CEO, Peter Botha, sent a message part of which said - “As you know this is a unique and challenging endurance race which enables athletes with remarkable talent and sheer dedication to run in almost isolation with nature. Therefore, a special word of congratulations to every sportsman and –woman who tackled this challenge today.

The fact that you are each a serious athlete is the very reason why you are partaking in this event. That is what makes the Baviaanskloof Trail Run such a perfect fit with Liberty Health’s focus: we are equally serious about both healthcare and the environment.”

All the starters finished and were rewarded with a magnificent medal as well as a potted spekboom plant. Runners were unanimous with their praise of the high standard of organisation of the event and thrilled with the generous hand-outs.

Liberty Health have involved themselves with two of the Eastern Capes most extreme events, the Rhodes and Baviaanskloof Trail Runs, both having synergy with the sponsors philosophy of creating environmental awareness while at the same time stimulating wellness through sport.

Both the first man and first lady received unique hand crafted trophies, made by the pupils of the Zaaimanshoek School, as well as their floating trophies, the 20kg bronze Black Rhino sculpture by internationally renowned artist Alan Ainslie. In addition, each received a special spekboom winner’s wreath. Both winners will also receive ‘wild card’ entries to the 2010 run as defending champions.

The organisers sponsored the entry for two Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve Field Rangers and Klaas Kietas (6hr 42 min) and Koos Prince (6hr 54 min) completed in 46th and 50th position respectively.

Results:
1- Warren Petterson 3hr 16 min
2- Leo Rust 4hr 3 min
3- Ian Adams 4hr 4 min
1- SanMari Woithe 4hr 39min
2- Nikki Cockroft 4hr 54 min
3- Kylie Hatton 5hr 6 min

September 12th, 2009 by admin

A new long distance, off road race is set to make it’s debut tomorrow as the 50km Baviaanskloof Trail Run makes it’s debut in South Africa. The event is being held in the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve, which is part of the largest wilderness conservation area in the entire country. The region has diverse and unique landscapes, that includes an array of plant and animal life.

Runners will have to deal with both that terrain and the wildlife on the course, where they could potentially encounter baboons, zebras, leopard, black rhinos, and even the dreaded cape cobra. They are expected to be self sufficient while out on the trail, carrying all of their gear, food, and water with them, with few aid stations en route to offer support.

This looks like it’s going to be quite the adventure run, in a beautiful remote region. The racers are allowed to use GPS devices, but cell phone service doesn’t function in the reserve, so they are on their own once the get out there, and with those animals around, they could potentially be dealing with some challenging situations. It might even turn into a the South African equivalent of that trail running video I posted yesterday. Just substitute the wolves and bears with leopards and cape buffalo and you’ll get the idea.

Good luck to all the runners. Enjoy the run and stay safe.