With 45 days left until the inaugural Southern Storm with the Otter Run on day 1 I hope that your preparations are going terrifically. We have one more test run of the Otter planned prior to the event and, not being able to participate in the Southern Storm myself, I am certainly looking forward to that.

Event Sponsorship

The big news is that we are now very proud to be able to announce Hi-Tec as our primary presenting sponsor for the Otter Run. Hi-Tec’s Trail Eruption is the official Otter Run trail running shoe. As I alluded to in our first newsletter; events of this nature do not happen without the support of sponsors and Hi-Tec’s involvement in the Southern Storm and Otter Run have assisted, amongst other things, in ensuring the events TV and media coverage.

Managing director of Hi-Tec South Africa, Mickey Mallet said the following of Hi-Tec’s support of the Southern Storm and Otter Run; “As the leading outdoor footwear company in SA we entered the trail running market as a natural progression from our core business. To be taken seriously in the trail running business you need to be involved in the premier Trail events on the calendar. The Southern Storm presented by Hi-Tec is a unique and premier race which traverses through the most beautiful part of our country including a first ever Otter Run. By taking on the sponsorship of the Southern Storm, SANParks and Hi-Tec are extending our existing relationship of trail ranger sponsorships on the Otter trail and other trails with the help of Southern Storm.

The uniqueness of this event has already been demonstrated by being “sold out” in a matter of days!

Hi-Tec has already launched its new Ion Mask trail running footwear into the market, which is steadily gaining market share and credibility. This premier event will further entrench our footwear in this sports category.”

Helly Hansen
Competitors taking on this spectacular challenge are not only going to have the benefit of being the FIRST EVER to enjoy a one day trail run traverse of the iconic five day Otter Hiking Trail but are going to be able to do it wearing the top of the range fully sponsored Helly Hansen Lifa Stay Dry Baselayer Top.

This state of the art technical garment is designed with high intensity activities in mind, superior moisture transfer keeps you dry and comfortable in any of your active pursuits. The unique LIFA performance baselayers not only insulate next to the skin, but move heat – stealing moisture away from your body quicker. The result is a higher and prolonged performance level.

Rebecca Laird – Product Manager for Texas Peak the South African Helly Hansen agents – is extremely excited to see the brand involved in the Otter – African Trail Run and Southern Storm Duathlon. “Helly Hansen has been Developing Action & Utility Wear for Survival Work & Sport for Professionals, Core Athletes and Enthusiasts – since 1877″

The Magnetic South crew who have had the privilege to scout this run a number of times have all used the Helly Hansen product with excellent results – it has been tried and tested in the exact environment you are all about to enjoy.

Earth Scout in Knysna stock the full range and only too happy to pack and post so give the shop a call on 044 382 7140 for prices and relevant info.

GU Sports Drink
From the trusted leader of energy on the run, GU Sports Drink gets straight to the point, hydration – reducing fatigue, muscle cramps and lactic acid, without artificial colouring, excess sugar, sticky sweet additives that make sports drinks difficult to stomach. Intentionally mild, with natural flavours for sweetness, GU Sports Drink puts the focus where it should be – on the finish line.

Nomad Adventures
Southern Storm partners with Nomad Adventures. We are exceptionally excited to have Nomad Adventures on board as an event partner to The Southern Storm. They will contribute to fostering a completely unique African Adventure and Safari style atmosphere by providing the logistics, camping, catering and transport for the competitors in their specially designed overland adventure trucks. This of course also allows the route design team to include only the most remote and exciting trails and campsites through The Garden Route National Park!!
All competitors will be divided into 5 groups and each of these groups will be hosted en route by a Nomad Truck and host team. With each truck having 23 individual lockers, this will allow for Southern Stormers to have a personal storage space for the whole journey.

In addition the Otter and Southern Storm have received the backing from Eden Districts Municipality, Knysna Tourism, Bitou Tourism, African Organics, Island Tribe, Go Multi, The Bike Box Company and Earth Scout.

Venue Hosts is SAN Parks.

Event Logistics & Event Timings
In order for us to organise all the logistics involved with the race we would kindly ask you to follow below link and answer those few questions. This is a questionnaire that needs to be answered by all athletes by Sunday, 9th of August 2009. If you do not have internet access, please send us an email and we will send you a pdf-Version of this form.

http://hostrex.co.za/survey/index.php?sid=12174

(if you have not entered online and did not receive a ref.no, please indicate “pdf-entry” in the form)

Saturday 19 September
Registration takes place between 11h00 and 15h00 at De Vasselot camp site at Natures Valley.
Note that NO parking is provided at de Vasselot campsite in Nature’s Valley. All vehicles can be parked in secure, covered parking on Thesen Island/Knysna during the event at no extra cost. Transport from Thesen Island to Start Venue in Nature’s Valley and from Finish venue back to Thesen Island will be provided at an extra cost of R 100.00.
Competitors will not need a vehicle during the event (in fact only competitors with family or friends following the race will be able to move their own vehicles between the overnight venues).
The Prologue run is undertaken in your own time starting between 12h00 and 16h00.

Sunday 20 September
You will be transported from de Vasselot campsite to the start of the Otter Run at Storms River Mouth leaving at 05h30 on the morning. The start will be a staggered start with the first race start at 06h20 and the last runner setting off at 07h00. There will be a 9 hour cut-off.

Monday 21 – Thursday 24 September
On most mornings you will leave campsite on foot or by MTB. Some days you will be transported to a remote start venue – for you to enjoy the most exciting trails through the Garden Route National Park. You will finish each day’s race at your next overnight stop.
Subcontracted Services will be available at each campsite:

* Bike service & wash will be provided by Ultimate Bikes.Contact Trevor Marshall on 082-7822829
* Sports Massages will be provided by Advanced Massage Therapy. Contact Nicole Walder on 082-6997863

Friday 25 September
Breakfast will be at 07h00. Transfer to your vehicles on Thesen Island will leave Ebbe & Flow Campsite at 08h30.

Start Format
The Otter Run starts in the parking area of the Storms River Mouth side of the Tsitsikamma National Park and almost immediately traverses one of the most technical sections of the trail. It’s not the ideal terrain to be jostling for position in a race. In addition the single track nature that defines much of the trail does not make overtaking easy. For this reason we have decided on a staggered start format for the race, setting participants off in order of ability. Runners will be set off in 15 second intervals according to the times achieved in the Prologue event on the 19th of September in Nature’s Valley.

The times from the prologue will count towards the overall leader board for participants of the Southern Storm (for participants of the Otter Run the prologue times do not count into their race time, but will only determine the starting order). Participants of both events will be ranked together for the Otter Run.

Stages 2 – 5 starts will either be staggered or mass depending on terrain.

Route Information & Preparation
All athletes will be provided with a map of the route.

The Otter Run traverses 4 rivers all of which involve getting your feet wet and the third river, the infamous Bloukrans River crossing, involves a swim. We will have safety personnel and equipment set up at the Bloukrans crossing to assist your traverse of this section. We are predicting that the front runners will pass Bloukrans at low tide which, from our experience to date, involves no more than about 30 seconds in the water. However, Park officials have informed us that the recent storms have removed most of the beach that characterised the eastern end of the estuary and could drastically affect the duration and nature of the crossing. We will evaluate this during our next testing of the run.

During the scout runs our top performing guinea pigs did not remove their shoes during the crossing of water sections. You should experiment with what works best for you. Anything that you intend to keep dry will have to be sealed in a waterproof pouch.

The Otter Run involves no fewer than 11 “significant” (steep climbs of more than 50 meters of elevation gain) with three climbs exceeding 100 meters and a total elevation gain of over 2100 meters. Some of these climbs are steep enough to force even the strongest runners to walk and in many places it is stepped. I would imagine the ideal preparation for these sections would be to find a climb or two of a similar nature and attack it several times in a training session- regularly.

Much of the Otter Run traverses trails of a technical nature (uneven, steep, rocky and slippery) with sections which are often considered un-runnable by lesser skilled runners. Practised and technically proficient runners will be able to make up considerable time running over these sections. I would include technical routes and a good deal of boulder hopping in your preparation for this event. I would also recommend participating in a pair of specialised trail running shoes. The technical sections demand stability and grip from your footwear. Runners not owning a pair of Technical trail Running Shoes may want to take advantage of the Otter Run special, the Hi-Tec Trail Eruption for R 699,00 only being made available to all participants.

Route Description and Profiles of stages 2-5 will follow in our next competitor Newsletter.

Hydration and Nutrition
The Otter on day 1 will be your longest race day – but the following days will not be much shorter. Even our fastest athletes amongst you on the Otter Run will be out there for just over five hours (can’t wait to see if a sub five is possible) and many of you may be out there for the better part of the 9 hour cut off time. Obviously racing for this duration requires hydration and nutritional supplementation. Unlike on organised road running events, no nutritional or hydration support is provided en route. You are responsible for your own need in this regard and you may want to plan ahead. We have found it necessary to carry a minimum of 3 energy bars, GU and a meal or two consisting of one or a combination of a sandwich, fruit, dried fruit, dried meat, sweets etc to maintain your energy levels.

On the Otter, water is available at 9 streams en route (we will mark the water) although some of the sources may be dependent on recent rainfall. SANParks recommend the use of water purification before drinking water collected at these sources. Whilst many of you may prefer to participate using hydration bladders they can be time consuming to refill from streams. Our trial runners preferred to use a bottle on a hip belt and consensus is that the double bottle belt is the optimum solution as the streams are not equally spaced out along the trail and inadvertently passing up the opportunity to fill up at one stream can lead to a thirsty hour or so if you only have one bottle.

Compulsory Equipment
The list of compulsory equipment to be carried may be affected by the predicted weather on the day but at a minimum will consist of;

* Cellphone for stages 2-5 in dry pouch (cellphone is not compulsary for the Otter as there is hardly any coverage)
* Race bib
* Backpack, Hydration pack, Water bottle carrying Hip belt
* Hydration bladder or water bottles
* Emergency blanket
* Outer shell
* Emergency food (one sealed energy bar to be carried at all times usable only in the case of emergency)
* Weather dependent extras (may be mandatory in the event of inclement weather)

o Lightweight Fleece jersey or jacket
o Thermal Base Layer
o Beanie

Event Cancelation due to Weather
Hikers have been evacuated from the Otter trail twice in the last years due to alarmingly high seas. During our trial runs we have seen evidence of these high waves in the form of debris deposited high on the coastline and vegetation killed by the salt water. Quite frankly, it has scared me and brought home the realities of global warming. Waves have reached higher on two occasions in the last 12 months than they have in the past 70 years. Should conditions of a similar nature prevail on or around the day of the race we will have no option but to cancel the Otter Run. In this event we will first revert to a plan “B” which will involve an alternative run however, it is conceivable that conditions may affect even the staging of this option in which case we will cancel the whole event. We, the event organisers reserve the right to take this decision. Decisions of this nature will not be taken lightly and will be made in the interests of our participant’s safety and the environment.

Race Rules and the Environment
By hosting the first ever Southern Storm on some of our most iconic hiking trails and MTB routes, SANParks and Cape Nature are sending a very strong message that they are willing to consider other responsible uses of our National Parks. It also demonstrates that they recognise, welcome and value trail runners and Moutain Bikers as visitors, users and lovers of our National Parks. It is not a decision that they have taken lightly and their future hosting of this event and similar events is dependent on the successful staging of this event and the recommendations of the associated Environmental Management Plan (EMP). I would like to add that the enthusiasm and cooperation we have received from SANParks and Cape Nature has been nothing short of phenomenal. That said they have made it abundantly clear that they will not tolerate the compromising of any environmental ethos by the event management and participants in the staging of this event.

We, the event organisers, aim to repay the trust SANPark and Cape Nature have shown us with an event that is exemplary in terms of environmental ethos and becomes an asset to the National Park itself.

Obviously the event will be closely scrutinised. Rules regarding the environment will be strictly implemented with a zero tolerance of offenders.

On this note – happy training and remember 45 days of training left!

Your Magnetic South Team