By Ryan Hodierne

Six days within the month of September saw the start of the inaugural Southern Storm Duathlon event, hosted and conducted by the flawless Knysna based Magnetic South team.

The event saw no less than 100 crazy mountain enthusiasts take on a traverse of the Garden route, starting from the Storms river mouth, marking the start of the African Otter trail run and ending at the sleepy coastal town of Wilderness. In all, a total of ± 100km of the most amazing trail running terrain together with just over 200km of epic mountain biking trails – a recipe for one of the most spectacular events on the continent.

DAY 1

The afternoon of Saturday the 19^th gave competitors the chance to prove their speed and worth in the trail running prologue on a much scaled down version of the Otter trail run to determine the starting order for the next day’s monster, the 42km African Otter Trail run. The majority of competitors opted to only do the prologue & Otter run, which was an event within itself, possibly the wiser choice?!

DAY 2

An early morning wake-up in the camp site had nervous competitors rustling around getting all their gear and hydration sorted for the day – this was a huge topic of debate the previous evening, as we were told that there was little water en route and all athletes were required to carry stipulated compulsory / safety kit.

With a staggered start heading off at sunrise, the pace settled quickly as we all knew it would be a long day out. The first 5kms proved technical, getting a taste of what the day had in store for us. Day 1, 2 and 3 along the hiking trail seemed to go by with relative ease, with the front runners passing the halfway mark in 2h 20mins. The fourth day seemed the longest and included the scary Bloukrans River crossing, which actually turned out to be relatively simple. Along the route, many of the athletes had sightings of a pair of whales that seemed to follow the trail – one can only imagine what was going through their minds with all the crazy humans scuttling along the shore?

The record for the Otter run going into the race was 5hrs 12mins for the 42km route set by the infamous John Collins. This time, the predicted 5hr barrier was broken, but only just. Ian Don Wouchoppe, who doesn’t run, he floats… managed the 5hr barrier with only a few seconds to spare, with the previous record holder coming in 2^nd, 2mins later and Rohan “the whippet” Kennedy in 3^rd with a time of 5hr 12mins, matching the old record.

DAY 3

With the days start set for 11h00, it was a relaxed morning in preparation for the 8km run around the Robberg peninsula outside Plettenberg bay, before the 50km ride up to Diepwalle for the overnight stop.

The Robberg run is one I would recommend to any trail blazer or hiker, it hosts amazing sea views and technical terrain ranging from dune sand to boardwalk running and rock hopping, it is sure to keep any enthusiast grinning. For the ride up to the Diepwalle tea garden, it was uphill for the majority of the way, riding from seaside up into the surrounding mountain ranges through pine & indigenous forests, crossing parts of the popular Harkerville mountain bike trails.

The overnight camp next to the Diepwalle Tea Garden was to be a wet one, as rainy weather came rolling in, late afternoon. Many of the tents sprung leaks through the night, with most athlete’s waking up surrounded by puddles – I somehow had a good nights rest!?

DAY 4

We had a blistering start on the fourth, cold and miserable day. The mornings 8km run took us through some amazing indigenous forests meandering in and around and up and down some slippery slopes with some steep climbs along what was called the Elephant walk… it would be a tight fit for even a baby ellie in there!? From there after a quick transition on to our bikes, we raced down the first hill and two of us went straight through the first corner and ended up in the bush needless to say, with eyes like saucers… we were now awake.

The rest of the 60km ride proved to be the most technical stretch in the event, with climbs requiring great GREAT granny gears and technical frame bending descents having to be negotiated. By this stage, the dreaded lactate creeper had bitten into fatigued Otter run muscles; it was all too evident when watching the athletes crossing the finish line and struggling to hop off their bikes to hobble along to the food table, that’s if they could make it there…?

The evening was spent in farm surrounds at the beautiful Portland Manor who welcomed the Southern Stormers with open arms and treated the athletes like royalty.

DAY 5

This was the first day we started off on our bikes, being the longest bike leg at 70km. Starting off, we had an easy 8km neutral zone as we were lead out by one of the Land Rovers before setting off down a hair raising descent. This was followed by a long steep climb and rolling hills through farmlands and forests, along some fast and furious tar sections through energy sapping soft sand (everyone will have their own comments here) as we fought the gale into the quaint coastal settlement of Buffalo Bay.

After racking the bikes in the transition overlooking Buffalo Bay main beach, we took off through the town and along the beach for a few km’s before taking on the surrounding dunes and fynbos. The day proved to be a long one with sore bums becoming the order of the day, having been the day with the longest bike leg.

The evening’s festivities took place in the welcoming Buffalo Bay restaurant where we were treated to an assorted buffet of chicken and fish to feed our hungry tummies. That night we camped in the Buffalo Bay campsite, only a hop and a skip from the raging blue sea.

DAY 6

The final day!

Waking up to calmer seas and a picture perfect sunrise, I knew that it would have to be the last day… one day longer, and I don’t think I’d be writing this report J.

At 8h00 sharp we marched into the mist for 2km, being led out by the Hi-Tech banner to where the morning’s 14km run was to start on the beach. The run took athletes along the beach for 4km’s before veering off into the Gaukamma beach reserve to tackle the dunes and to dodge the mole holes and puff-adders that we had been warned about through the mornings briefing.

Having completed the run, all the athlete’s were transferred back into the surrounding forestry mountains for the demanding final stretch home. We had to piece our bikes together from the bike boxes as quickly as we could to make the 12h00 start. Being told that the route was predominantly downhill baffled the entire field once on the route. The first 10km was a gradual climb which killed most riders before continuing along an undulating path (not downhill) to the first en route run, the Mole Rat run.

With the 6km run in the bag, we were back out on our bikes for the windiest, most unfriendly ride into Wilderness for the final run along the Pied Kingfisher hiking trail that lead athlete’s into the cosy overnight resort of Ebb & Flow. All finishers were met by kamikaze knysna loerie’s flying around and a cheering and welcoming crowd. What a day…What an EVENT!!

The closing evening played out well into the night with the award ceremony of the top 5 men and women as follows:

MEN Otter run                                  Overall

1. Ian Don Wouchope              –           4:49:02                       -           19:05:37
2. Dawid Labaschagne            -           5:24:39                       -           19:25:25
3. Cas van Ardenne                  -           5:33:54                       -           19:51:41
4. Ryan Hodierne                      -           5:27:12                       -           20:14:31
5. Nick Bester                            -           5:33:04                       -           20:19:47

WOMEN Otter run                                   Overall

1. Sue Don Wouchope             -           5:58:07                       -           22:11:55
2. Hanlie Booyens                     -           6:49:47                       -           23:25:16
3. Rhona Zonnestein                 -           6:36:09                       -           25:09:09
4. Kirsty Scott                            -           6:27:09                       -           25:52:20
5. Sarah Scott                            -           6:25:59                       -           26:11:15

Visuals of the event were put together by the super talented media crew, with athletes and all involved sharing war stories through the night, that included numerous thrills and spills of all kinds and forms as experienced throughout the event.

The 2009 Southern Storm duathlon event, as put together by the unbelievable Magnetic South crew was one of world class standard with the organisation, scenery, terrain and the odd sting in the tail (more often than not) making it a priceless experience I was so fortunate to have been a part of.

A great thanks goes out to all the sponsors of the event who have made the Southern Storm possible and have helped it to be such a memorable life experience, keeping the competitors wild at heart.