Article from Spring 1996 issue of "The News", an in-house newsletter
by Terry Swait
Finally, after many months of pounding the road, Comrades 1996 was over and I was looking forward to a long rest - or so I thought. I was asked if I would like to run in the Norwich Life Rhodes Ultra Marathon. A 52 km race in sub zero temperatures over the top of an awesome mountain!
As some of you fellow runners know, your heart tends to speak louder than your head, and a few weeks later I was on the road to the small village of Rhodes for what I saw as the biggest challenge of my running career - or was it the dumbest? To be honest, I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into. It took us just over nine hours to reach Rhodes, with the last 60 km taking just over an hour on a fairly rough dirt road. As we drove into the village I realised why we had not been given instructions to find the cottage where we were staying - there are only a handful of houses.
For those of you that have not been there, Rhodes lies in the North-East Cape, deep in the Southern Berg. Some of you are probably wondering how I managed to convince Mike that it would be worth travelling nine hours to a road race, especially one in which he was not even participating. That was actually Darrell's job, which he executed with great skill, although come to think of it I don't think it takes much to persuade a Land Rover freak to head towards snow covered four wheel drive country.
After a rather sleepless night (still wondering if I was off my rocker) I was up at 5:30am in rather crisp conditions. When I was informed that it was -11 degrees outside I quickly added a few more layers of clothing. When I left the house I had no less than 3 pairs of gloves, 4 T-shirts, lycra ski pants, and a windbreaker - all of which just managed to keep the chill out as I jogged the 200m to the start. I went into the club house, which was right at the start line, to find it abuzz with brightly clothed runners hugging steaming cups of coffee and nervously chattering chit chat. Seconds before the start I dashed out into the cold - then the gun and the race was on. Within a few minutes I was frozen - the layers of clothing seemed to do nothing and with the cold streaming tears down my eyes I was cursing the decsion I had made.
It wasn't long before we left the hamlet and were confonted with huge snow topped mountains, a truly magnificent sight which can be experienced at very few runs in Africa. I started to thaw out after about half an hour, as we started winding our way up the first hills, and began to enjoy the run. The atmosphere was one of great excitement and chatter - nobody seemed to notice the steep climb. For 15km we followed the undulating dirt road, up and down hills, alongside frozen rivers and past grazing cattle which stared at us with a rather bored expression. It didn't feel like we were in Africa at all.
We then turned off the road and started on a footpath. Actually more like a goat trail, which would eventually bring us to the top of the mountain. Not having done any cross country running before it was pretty hard going. My ankles seemed to buckle at each step. It was rather spectacular as the field spread out. You could see the runners dotted over the hillside with their brightly coloured gear standing out vividly against the harsh countryside.
To be honest running was for a good part of this section out of the question, with walking and jogging the only option. Every now and then I wandered slightly off the route as we lost sight of the red flags marking the trail, most of the time I kept the person in front of me in sight, and hoped that they were on the right track! The footpath disappeared as we started up the steepest part of the mountain (a 1 in 3 gradient) which by now had patches of snow lying all around.
This was really tough and at times I was down on all fours grabbing for clumps of grass, rocks or fence to be able to pull myself up the mountain. I don't know how long it took me to climb this section, but it felt like forever. Just as I thought I was nearing the top, the next steep section, which had been hidden from view, started. When I eventually reached the top a welcoming party at the border Check Point made me feel hugely triumphant. Balloons, loud music and cups of hot soup were there to greet each runner as we staggered over the last few rocks and snow. We had reached the Lesotho border.
After resting my legs and catching my breath I set off for the next 31 km. The scenery at the top was breathtaking and I was truly glad I had taken the advice to carry a small camera in my pouch. I took great delight in stopping every now and then to take a photograph - it also gave me an excuse to rest my legs! Having started at 1820m we were now at 2660m above sea level and the very brisk icy head wind was keeping temperatures well below freezing. I was told that it got to -20 degrees with wind chill.
A cold day in un-Africa like conditions. Although there was a great deal of snow at the top it had started melting on the track and we were constantly dodging snow, ice or slush. The next 15 km was relatively easy going and we enjoyed the view as we ran along the slopes on Ben MacDhui (at 3001m the highest mountain in the Cape Province).
As they say "what goes up, must come down". Thank goodness there was a jeep track to come down the mountain. I certainly came down a lot faster than I went up, in fact at times it was hard to stop yourself so you just prayed that your feet kept going, so that your head didn't hit the deck first. On reaching the bottom we still had about 8 km to go before we returned to Rhodes. All along the way there were cheers from farm labourers and other supporters, scattered as they were along the route, which kept us going. Although at this stage any bump in the road was definitely walking material.
Crossing the finishing line was great. The time-keepers were very friendly and everyone was made to feel a winner. We were presented with a medal, T-shirt and a specially labelled bottle of Old Brown Sherry to go with the woolen beanie we had received when we checked in.
This was one of my most enjoyable runs ever, in fact it was more of an adventure than a race. That evening runners and supporters got together at the Rhodes Hotel for the traditional post race defriefing session. When I say debriefing session I really mean it as this year two of the runners did just that.
All in all a truly memorable weekend. I don't think it would take much twisting of my arm to do it again. And to all you fellow runners - the Norwich Life Rhodes Drakensberg Ultra - it's a must !!!
