Ystervark Adventure Race

Clinton and Thursia are now part of an elite group of people who can pull off adventure races in the hostile environment of Gauteng.
The Ystervark adventure race at Nkwe resort outside Pretoria (hey.. in those parts it is definitely still Pretoria!) took us through the Tierpoort and Bashewa smallholdings, over the Bronberg ridge, around a mountain bike track through some dams and rivers. We even had a cliff jump at night.
"Back to old school" Clint mentions at race briefing, and it sure was just that - I'm left with a busted knee, imprint of a fence post on my stomach, some sunburn, scrapes and bruises throughout, and a healthy smile to make up for all that. The race started at 10pm, with the winners pulling off the 55km of mtb and 30-odd km of hiking in about 9 hours. With experience in hard-core AR navigation hard to come by these days (races are few and far between), many teams struggled to find checkpoints in the dark, and got diverted onto short-course options to make it possible for them to finish in some form by 10am the next morning.
Congratulations to all teams who stuck it out to find checkpoint 8 though. That was a toughie in the dark. The vegetation was thick, the location on the plateau non-specific, and the bearing from the previous CP misleading.
I love adventure racing, because it builds you up even though it breaks you down.