Many sports men and women have only ever dreamed of trail running the Otter Trail. This has now become reality!! Magnetic South, in association with SANParks, are extremely proud to now be offering this incredibly unique opportunity. The inaugural Southern Storm will take place from Saturday 19th- Thursday 24th September 2009, with “The Otter” taking place as a stand alone trail run on Sunday 20th. The event traverses the entire length of the recently declared Garden Route National Park, starting at Storms River in the Tsitsikamma Section and ending at the Touw River in the Wilderness Section.

The adventurous nature of the route, plus the very strict environmental ethos and protocol dictates the restrictions required in terms of the numbers of participants. Competitors for both events share this limited opportunity. As a result those athletes participating in the 5 day Southern Storm event will be given first priority. As much as we would like to delight all our kindred spirits, the best Magnetic South can do is to offer a fair and equal opportunity to everyone who wants to enter. This will be done on a first come, first serve basis when entries open on the 1st of April 2009 at 12h00 mid day.
The Southern Storm course design is entrenched by a philosophy which places environmental impact and participant safety above all other considerations. The challenge weaves together a balanced route that traverses one of the most spectacular coastal regions on earth, incorporating mountains, beaches, indigenous forest, and fynbos. The route combines spectacular scenery with classic challenge, physical endurance with technical ability, stamina with adventure, and produces a balanced contest between Trail Running and Mountain Biking.
“The cut off time for the marathon distance trail run is set at 9 hours but with technical rock and forest sections, river crossings and more than 2000 meters of elevation gain, we expect athletes to take between 70 to 100% longer to complete the distance than they would achieve in a road running event. Participants need to be totally self sufficient as there are no water tables provided with the plastic sachets that are common place in most road running or cycling events. Very tight controls have been planned with event staff strategically placed across the entire length of the route to keep a watch on athletes’ safety and progress, plus sweep the back of the field ensuring absolutely no litter has been left behind” said John Collins, route designer of Magnetic South.

National Geographic’s 2007 Adventurer of the Year, Andrew Skurka, who had been invited to hike The Otter Trail by SA Tourism in May 2008, achieved the full distance in 12 hours – so the next frontier of the sub 5 hour Otter is a very special and privileged quest to aspire to.

Please note that trail running along the Otter Trail is completely forbidden and you have only ONE chance to enjoy this offer; on 20 September 2009. Anyone found illegally on the route will receive a life ban plus the current fine imposed by SANParks. Please respect this opportunity.
A once in a life time opportunity…. The best 6 days of your multi sport life awaits, with over 100 kms of trails to run and 250 kms to ride.

Entries open 1 April 2009 at 12h00 www.magneticsouth.net (and it is no April Fools Joke)!

ENDS 658 words

The adventurous nature of the route, plus the very strict environmental ethos and protocol dictates the restrictions required in terms of the numbers of participants. As much as we would like to delight all our kindred spirits, the best Magnetic South can do is to offer a fair and equal opportunity to everyone who wants to enter. This will be done on a first come, first serve basis when entries open on the 1st of April 2009 at 12h00 mid day.

The Southern Storm course design is entrenched by a philosophy which places environmental impact and participant safety above all other considerations. The challenge weaves together a balanced route that traverses one of the most spectacular coastal regions on earth, incorporating mountains, beaches, indigenous forest, and fynbos. The route combines spectacular scenery with classic challenge, physical endurance with technical ability, stamina with adventure, and produces a balanced contest between Trail Running and Mountain Biking.

The event opens with a marathon distance trail run along a hiking trail previously out of bounds to trail runners- The Otter Trail- and this is considered the holy grail of trail running. A once in a life time opportunity awaits…. The best 6 days of your multi sport life await, with over 100 kms of trails to run and 250 kms to ride. 

Entries open 1 April 2009 at 12h00 www.magneticsouth.net (and it is no April Fools Joke) !

Heavy Seas – But Sabrina Goes Ahead

Everyone who was there agrees: the 2008 Sabrina Love Ocean Challenge was a winner – despite powerful winds and huge seas which rocked Plettenberg Bay in the days preceding the traditional December 28th running of the event.

“Safety considerations forced us to call off the open ocean swim (both the 6 km adult event and the 600 metre kids event) at the last minute, but the event managers, Magnetic South, pulled the rabbit out of the hat and set new courses on the Keurbooms Lagoon so that, in the end, the day went off without a hitch,” said the Sabrina Love Foundation’s Tony Lubner.

“What amazed us, though, was the number of entries that poured in: I haven’t seen the final figures yet, but I think it’s well over a thousand – which is double what we had last year.”

Mr Lubner said that, as a result of generous sponsorship from the international family wealth advisers, Stonehage, all entry fees and all income from the sale of Sabrina gifts and memorabilia went directly to the Foundation, which exists to help children – and the families of children – living with disabilities in Plettenberg Bay.

“This is our main fundraiser for the year and the increase in entries will mean a huge injection of capital,” he said, adding that what impressed him most was the number of walkers who took part this year (entrants in the Sabrina Love Ocean Challenge can choose between the swim itself, an open ocean paddle, a 10 km road-and-beach run or a non-competitive 3 km walk).

“This is what the Sabrina is all about – families doing things together and for the good of the community,” he said.

At least three of South Africa’s Olympians took part this year – and all achieved first-place finishes. Swimmers Chad Ho and Natalie du Toit won the men’s and ladies’ swims (in 53:45 and 54:35 respectively), while kayaker Michelle Eray won the ladies paddle in 1:15:31.

Ms. du Toit’s time put her in second place overall.

“I think definitely being in the Lagoon was a different swim,” she said. “I prefer it in the sea, but hopefully next year we’ll have better weather.”

She thanked the sponsors and the Lubner family and said that she was particularly impressed with the organisation of the event – which saw the beaches of Plettenberg Bay bathed in pink (the Sabrina Foundation’s corporate colours are pink and black). And, in another display of the spirit of the Sabrina, she donated her prize (seven nights at the V&A Waterfront courtesy of Southern Suns with air tickets by Kulula.com) to the Foundation. It was immediately sold by auction for R8,000.00.

The run – which includes 2 km along the beach (a section which Comrades King, Bruce Fordyce described as “incredibly difficult”) – was won by Lieuwe Boonstra in 36:26. Alae Brand was the first woman home in 41:39. Graham Bird won the men’s paddle in 1:15:13, while locals Neil Stephenson and Steph Le Roux won the men’s double in 1:09:17..

Full results on the organiser’s web site – www.magneticsouth.net; and there’s more about the Sabrina Love Foundation at www.sabrinalove.co.za

ENDS 530 Words

www.magneticsouth.net
“Out Of The Box” thinking and articulate organisational skills for the local and international events market.
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Tel: 044 382 6496 | Cell: 083-5589 579
E-mail: info@magneticsouth.net

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PROUDLY BAREFOOT – FULLY SOUTH AFRICAN

See, it was like this: starting (and ending) at the very top of an incredibly high and incredibly conical koppie, you had forty minutes to navigate a fairly open but unmarked track around a dam on a farm outside Prince Albert. Also you had to find four check points out there and punch your clip card (in orienteering they sometimes call it a diary) in a given order. And you had to carry a rally-style route book to help you find your way through the maze of game paths and gravel roads in that 300 hectare camp.

Trouble is – they farm ostriches in Prince Albert and the Selections were held in spring, when a male ostrich’s fancy turns to, well, things other than mountain bikers.

But Magnetic South (the people who organised and managed the Selections on Land Rover’s behalf) are a pretty resourceful bunch – so they did a little research and learned that the male of the species, like all males, I guess, feels threatened by anything that’s taller than he is.

The answer, then, was to give each rider an Ostrich Pacifier – kind of a flag made of black plastic rubbish bags and Land Rover G4 Challenge stickers at the end of two metres of plastic pipe (and as far as scaring those dumb males was concerned, the tattier the flag better).

And they worked.

So this is what you’ve got: a petrified rider standing shivering and alone at the top of a hell descent with a long piece of pipe in one hand, a route book and diary in the other and his bicycle in the third. Or however best he could organise it. (And you’ll notice that I’m using the masculine here rather than the feminine: that’s because Jeannie ‘The Bomb’ Bomford proved that a simple thing like holding all of that together was nothing for a girl. But Jeannie’s a story all of her own and I’ll get to her later).

It was quite a thing to see.

Of course being an onlooker gives you perfect hindsight – which is perfect indeed – and I couldn’t help wondering (but was forbidden from saying out loud) why no one thought to hang their route books clipped to the Really Useful Land Rover G4 Challenge Lanyard which came as part of everyone’s standard issue kit.

But this is what sets the Land Rover G4 Challenge apart from so many other sporting competitions – and, as far as I know, from all other car-company-sponsored events: it’s not all about athletic stamina or brute power; it’s not all about the car; and it’s certainly not all about being macho and tearing up the terrain (definitely not, in fact, because the first rule of Land Rover’s is to Tread Lightly).

No. It’s a combination of sporting ability, safe driving, intelligent navigation – and carefully thinking everything through to its logical (and winning) conclusion.

TASK MASTER
Chris Crewdson, the task master responsible for the USN Feathered Aggression, told me that he’d built a course 5.07 km in length (that’s without getting lost) and that, “in terms of riding, the downhill is a little bit technical for those who aren’t used to it – but the biggest technicality is actually the ostriches.

“They bring in the fear factor…”

He said that the route book was simple to follow, “but people make mistakes because they’re concentrating more on the ostriches…”

No doubt. Because this camp seemed to house more psychopaths and sociopaths per square kilometre than in all the plains of Africa.

It’s part of the 8,500 hectare Vrisgewacht farm, which belongs to Herman and Maryna Olivier and their sons, Jaco and Pieter. And Jaco, who farms with the birds, told me that adult male ostriches weigh between 120 and 145 kg (which, when it’s kicking you, equals the mass of an entire rugby scrum – with a few players from the back line thrown top. And Jaco should know – he’s been kicked by one. One ostrich, that is).

In total Jaco has a permanent – what d’you call it? herd? – of 76 females and 34 males which produce about 2,000 chicks a year, most of whom get sold off when they’re four months old. And – get this: in that tiny permanent group of 76 males, five seemed, to us at least, to be seriously in need of psychiatric help (which isn’t bad, I suppose, considering that most women think that ALL men are seriously in need of psychiatric help…).

Breastplate had a huge growth on his – you guessed it; Biltong had a spare piece of flesh hanging from the side of his neck (although it was difficult to decide which side, the ostrich’s neck being so long, thin, round and narrow); One-eye looked like a cross between a pirate captain and his parrot; Wagter – it means ‘Guard’ – was so named because he was always hanging around at the gate (he was also the one who killed a G4 jacket belonging to event director Mark Collins, who’d tried to use the thing as a Pacifier. Ostriches: they know about the right tool for the job). And then there was Bliksem – it means lightning, but it’s more commonly used as slang for ‘smack’ – who really did bliksem one of the competitors right off his bike (it’s true: I saw it happen).

But although a total of three people had gone ostrich-over-kettle by the end of Selections, it was impossible to find anyone – competitor, crew or spectator – who didn’t look back on the USN Feathered Aggression without grinning and saying “now THAT was fun!”.

It could only, as Land Rover South Africa’s Roland Reid put it, have happened in Africa – “and it proved that South Africans are as tough as biltong.

“Ostrich biltong.”

And talking of tough – about Jeannie Bomford: Roland showed me a helmet that’d been cracked in a fall.

“This is Jeannie’s,” he said, “and although she didn’t fall in front of an ostrich, she certainly did collect some roasties.

“But she still managed to get up, ride on and set a record (beating even the men) for this task… and she went on to set a record for the next one, too” (the next task – Flaky Cliffs – was an abseiling-running-and-compass-work challenge that everyone nicknamed ‘Headless Chicken’ because if you stood on the cliff and watched them running around looking for their checkpoints…).

And of course Jeannie went on to win a place in the squad for South Africa’s National Selections in the Land Rover G4 Challenge. But you have to wonder – if she makes it all the way through to the Land Rover G4 Challenge itself, will she ever again have to do anything as weird (or as wonderful) as dodging dilly ostriches?

While we were in Prince Albert, the Land Rover G4 Challenge crew stayed at Weltevrede Guest House (Suzelle and Pieter Koorts and Liezl and Jaco de Klerk – www.princealbert.org.za/weltevrede.htm),  while the competitors stayed on the Swartberg Nature Reserve (www.capenature.org.za).

More information at www.landroverg4challenge.com. A South African supporters group – “Land Rover G4 Selections South Africa” – has been created on Facebook.

The first Land Rover G4 Challenge was held in 2003, and Chester Foster represented South Africa. In 2006, Martin Dreyer – adventure racer and “Duke of Dusi” – took on the other 18 competing countries to bring the G4 trophy (a Land Rover!) home to South Africa.

This next 2009 edition of Land Rover G4 Challenge has a twist: not one, but two people will be chosen from each represented country. And, the paired teams will be mixed gender. Yes, this is the first time that women will compete against each other, and not the men, for a place in their country’s team.

South Africa was one of only two other nations (the other being Russia) to host a selection process that included Regional and National selections. Regional candidates were selected from entry forms submitted through the Land Rover G4 Challenge website. All in all, 120 men and women took part in three rotations. From these, 20 were selected (10 men and 10 women) to go through to National Selections, which was held just over a week ago in Lesotho.

The Selections were planned and managed by MagneticSouth, a South African events company headed by the Collins brothers, Mark and John, and their partners – in work and marriage – Belen Sanchez and Christine Collins. This quartet are ex-Camel Trophy competitors and support crew; they’re also accomplished adventure racers and they’ve worked on previous G4 events in planning and/or support. And then you look at the rest of their team… Goose, Chris, Pieter, Devlin, Mark D. and others – a crew with extensive multisport, adventure racing, Camel Trophy and G4 experience.

The National Selection format included multiple activities each day. Designed to test speed, navigation (map and GPS), physical discipline prowess, 4×4 driving and rope skills, as well as problem solving, communication and interpersonal skills, these activities served to rank the competitors by a points system, according to their performance in the activities.
Points alone are not the definitive criterion; but they do help to give a fair assessment of competitor ability and to determine which candidates are eligible for serious consideration.

Other factors that then come into play are personality elements, which include how the candidate is able to work with their teammates. Land Rover G4 Challenge in 2009 is a three-week, high-pressure adventure; the final pair selected has to work and interact – in peace and harmony – with each other for the duration of the event. This is selection process is challenging (for the selectors too) and the choice of the four candidates to go through to Land Rover G4 International Selections at Eastnor Castle – home of Land Rover Experience – in England in early-2009 was not made lightly.

Our four 2009 Land Rover G4 Challenge candidates are: Richard Kolbe, Craig Carter-Brown, Jeannie Bomford and Hanlie Booyens. Only two of these (one man and one woman) will progress to the the three-week Mongolian challenge in 2009.
To comment on the activity and competition aspects of the National selections. Most of the activities were short at 30-minutes to 1-hour in duration; but of high intensity. As I was overseas during Regional selections, I was unable to compete for a slot at Nationals (media involvement was a pleasing alternative); but after watching Nationals I’m fairly certain that I’m just not fast enough, especially in the purely physical disciplines and mini-multisport challenges. Every one of the twenty contenders are exceptional athletes and are credit to the standard of multisport participation in South Africa.
But, even so, my entry will definitely be in for the 2010 selection process. Whether you make it only to Regionals or a step ahead to Nationals, the experience of Land Rover G4 Challenge is something to be treasured. Slick organisation, creative activities, personal challenges, camaraderie and a buoyant atmosphere make for an event that will keep you relating stories of your adventures for many weeks.

I’ve had the fortune of attending adventure races and ultra runs all over the World; including Land Rover G4 International Selections in the UK in early 2006. But this National Selection event stands out as the most impressive – credit to the vision and commitment of Land Rover South Africa and MagneticSouth’s superb event planning. Friends, do not hesitate to submit your entries in 2010.
For now, the “final four” go into their preparations for International Selections; and it is hard to choose favourites because they’re all so strong, skilled and competent; and they’re really nice people too. And the rest of us come off this awesome G4-high, return to our normal lives and prepare to cheer our candidates through the last phase of Selections and on to Mongolia. Hip-hip-hoorah!

Prince Albert is so peaceful that I found myself using ear-plugs one night because the gentle gurgling of the fridge in the room next door sounded like the roar of a torrent over a million hollow pebbles (which is why I just loved the estate agent’s ad in the Prince Albert Friend:  “For Sale. Cute two bedroom cottage in a quiet part of town”).

You reckon it was a big deal when they closed down Broadway for the start of the Land Rover G4 Challenge  in 2003? (That’s Broadway, New York). Well, we closed down Kerk Straat in Prince Albert in 2008.

Four times.

And that gets to the crux of what I want to say about the town and its people. They’ve bought into a simple and effective kind of a 3-H credo – Hospitality, Humanity, Helpfulness – that struck me as the epitome of great tourism.

Close off our main road every third night so that you can have a running race for each of your four rotations? Done. No problem. Anything else?

… It went like that all the way. Nothing was a chore, nothing was too much trouble.

Everyone from Mayor Gaye van Hasselt to her councilors and their staff, from the table waiters in the coffee shops and restaurants to the cashiers at the Spar and the pump jockeys at the BP National Garage: they all lived and breathed the 3-Hs totally naturally.

And for those of you who’ve asked – and even if you haven’t – here are some of the people/places/things that impressed me most:

Gay’s Guernsey Dairy  – bringing home a bottle of their English Toffee Drinking Yoghurt made me a hero with my family;

Prince Albert Tourism – if they lack anything in funds they make up for it in passion. Real passion – not ad-speak- corporate-babble passion. I bought a handful of their guides to the architecture of the area and some on the history of its historic passes; and I also enjoyed their collection of aloes and learned the names of quite a few new species – new to me, at least – and quickly forgot them, too. Thank goodness for digital photography.

Weltevrede Fig Farm – about 30 km outside of town (turn right onto the dirt road at the old cemetery). Man, the Koorts family really understand hospitality. The Land Rover G4 Challenge grew made Weltevrede our home for the duration: we rented two of the farm’s self-catering houses and spread a dozen tents around for additional accommodation. And you can imagine what it was like for us at the end of the day when we came in from the cold / heat / dust of the Karoo (and believe me, we got cold, hot and dusty) to find loaves and loaves of steaming farm bread waiting for us…

Now THAT’S my kind of self-catering…

Collins House  – a 5-room guest house on Church Street. And Tessa Collins? you’re the meringue queen – no, the meringue empress – of the whole world. I have never tasted anything like those fluffy, creamy, crunchy, melty treats (and I fancied the cake you brought us that one evening, too. And the fact that you drove a 60 km round-trip just to do that? Now that was both generous AND impressive).

The Swartberg Hotel. The scary thing is I’m almost one of this hotel’s resident ghosts – I started my career in tourism as a driver guide more than 25 years ago, and the company always put me on the George–Oudtshoorn–Swartberg-Pass–lunch-at-the-Swartberg-on-to-Meiringspoort–then-Oudtshoorn-and–home route.

This time round, we didn’t actually stay at the Swartberg Hotel, but we did make it a kind of an informal Land Rover G4 Challenge base camp whenever we hit town. And yes, it does have 3G. And – vital, this – good coffee and an excellent apple cake…

Somerso Guest Farm – which is actually in town. We set up an office in one of its self-catering cottages (Somerso Klein) and used its garage as a store room. I stayed there when I needed to be in town to produce and mail my media releasers – and on one occasion manager Dinah van der Walt managed to wash, dry and return my laundry in less than an hour. I’ve never had such fast service. Not even in any 5-star hotel.

Swartberg Nature Reserve – 180,000 hectares of heaven. And manager Tony Marshall did everything he could to make the Land Rover G4 Challenge a success because, he said, events organised within Land Rover’s ‘Tread Lightly’ philosophy made the Reserve more accessible while at the same time minimising the impact of visitors on the environment.

And don’t forget that members of the Challenge crew logged about 5 sightings of aardvark and 7 sightings of aardwolf while we were there (I didn’t crack the nod – so I’ll be going back…).

TWO WEEKS WASN’T ENOUGH
Each of the competitors in the Regional Selections of the Land Rover G4 Challenge got to stay in the Swartberg for just two nights – but we, the lucky, lucky crew, stayed there for two whole weeks. And we had a day off, too – and yet I still didn’t get to explore everything Prince Albert has to offer.

I still want to learn about the stars on an Astro Tour, I want to see the paintings in Bushman Valley, http://www.uys.com/bushmanvalley/ meet Dr. Judy Maquire and take one of her Fossil Tours, join Ailsa Tudhope for a Ghost Tour, enjoy the theatre at the Jans Rautenbach Schouwberg, visit the art galleries and walk again besides the leiwater at the top end of town.

I need to spend time on an olive farm and visit Gamkaskloof (and maybe even hike there from Weltevrede, which lies in a kloof called Die Gang – The Passageway – which once provided the Gamkasklowers their only access to the outside world). And I need to go back to Koggelmander for another sublime vegetarian dinner.

But above all, I need to spend more time in the Karoo. Its peace and grace are, without a doubt, South Africa’s most unique, most unexplored – and greatest – tourism attractions.

Martin Hatchuel