The Garden Route is the ultimate adventure playground, so it seemed logical to the Collins brothers – Mark and John, South Africa’s Camel Trophy winners – to base themselves in Knysna. Together with their wives Belen and Christine (who are also both Camel Trophy veterans), they’ve established Magnetic South – a company that specialises in producing and managing events for those who want a taste of the extreme.
“Our focus has always been on adventure racing and we’ve tried over the years to bring this fascinating and exciting multi-discipline sport to a wider audience by capturing its essence and distilling it into a format that would appeal to a wide audience,” said Mark.
The Land Rover Waterfront Rush, which takes place every year during the Pick ‘n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival, is perhaps the perfect demonstration of how this is achieved. “True adventure racing takes place in rough, largely inaccessible terrain, which makes it awkward for filming and difficult and even boring for spectators; but it includes things like running, kayaking and climbing.
“With the Rush, we’ve created a short, explosive course using these disciplines – and others, like Hydro-bronking (a kind of floating hamster wheel that’s almost impossible to control) – and presented it in a spectator-friendly venue. The result is something like one-day cricket is to the five-day test.”

Land Rover is the sponsor of adventure racing’s greatest spectacle, the international G4 Challenge, and Magnetic South has been appointed to manage the selection of South Africa’s team for the 2009 event.

“We’ll be advertising for entries in the near future and we’re hoping for a strong contingent from the Southern Cape, which has always produced excellent endurance athletes,” said Mark.

Another Magnetic South event during the Oyster Festival is the Petzl Adventure Nights – which incorporates the Salomon Night Run and the Scott Night Bike.

“Whenever possible, we try to make our events accessible to the average sportsperson who loves adventure, and these races succeed very well in this. You have to enter in teams of two, and the idea is to follow an unmarked course in the dark using rally-style route books. We offer pro, open and junior categories, and the junior teams have to be made up of one child and one adult – so the event becomes a family affair.
“It’s very successful.”
For endurance athletes, the company organises the Robberg Express every September – a challenging combination which includes a 35 km mountain bike ride in the Harkerville Forest, a 10 km trail-run on the Robberg Peninsula and a 10 km surf ski paddle in Plettenberg Bay.
“We also run the Sabrina Love Ocean Challenge, which takes place on the 28th of December every year and raises funds for children living with disabilities in Plettenberg Bay; it includes a 6 km open water swim, a kayak challenge, a beach run and a beach walk – so it truly is open to everybody,” said Mark.
On the development side, the members of Magnetic South are active in MARS (Knysna Montessori’s adventure racing school), and provide weekly tuition and training for youngsters who enjoy the challenges of the sport.
“We live our lifestyle through our sport and it’s great to be able to share it with the public by offering events across the challenge spectrum,” said Mark.