The Big 5

When I used to hear ‘The Big 5’ I immediately thought of five of Africa’s greatest & most dangerous wild animals!

In future when I hear ‘The Big 5’ I will think of five of Knysna’s sporting events. None of these sporting events are overly challenging and none may qualify for ‘great’ status when done in isolation, but when they are all done within a week & combined into one competition, the Big 5 suddenly becomes a very challenging competition and one of the great events in South Africa.

Many travellers & tourists regard a visit to South Africa as incomplete without having spotted the Big Five and I would dare to suggest that if you are a South African sportsman wanting to call yourself a multi-sporter, your career would be incomplete without having tried a Big 5 Challenge, which comprises the following 5 events:
-80km Knysna MTB
-109km Knysna Road Bike (or a swim or canoe race)
-15km Featherbed Trail Run
-Totalsports XTerra
-Knysna Half or Full Marathon

I was fortunate to compete in the old “Voltaren Ultraman” a couple of Decades ago, but was the supporting cast to former Comrades winner & Ultraman Champion Nick Bester in 1990 and 1991, so had an idea what I was letting myself into.

Farmer Glen (Haw), Nick Bester and I renewing rivalries & making the Podium for the XTerra

The Knysna Big 5, spread over 8 days was a daunting challenge, especially as it takes place in the middle of winter and somebody like me is only just beginning to dust off the cobwebs, after a couple of months recovery from Ironman. I rolled into Knysna, not with a 6 pack like the major contenders, but with about 6 kilos too many and when combined with my limited MTB skills, I knew I was in for a very tough week.

Day 1 dawned (80km MTB) and it was icy cold, even with an 8am start and I set off intent on pacing myself, not taking too many risks and enjoying the scenery. I cruised in just under 5 hours and was a little shocked to find I was 2 hours off the winner of the MTB event, but I tried to re assure myself that I was here to train and this was my Boot Camp.

Day 2 dawned (109k Road) and again it was pretty cold and I know the importance of sticking with a bunch, so was intent on sucking as much wheel as possible. Guess I made a Primary School error, as I didn’t recce the course profile before hand and maybe it’s my imagination, but I don’t think I’ve ridden as many hills in so short a ride before. I was going quite well, but blew (lack of bike fitness) about 20km from the end and lost a few valuable minutes.

For the first time I looked at the leader board and discovered I had placed 69th and 9th Master in the MTB ride (eish) and had improved to 5th Master after the road bike. My thoughts starting teasing me, suggesting the 50+ Podium was a possibility…..so much for training & boot camp!

Renewing friendships with Raynard Tissink at the Featherbed Trail

Day 3 and I was in the mid day slot for the Featherbed Trail. Talk about tough, well this was a tough first 4-5km and I recall seeing a sign “Stairway to Heaven”, but that km took me 8 minutes + and it felt more like Hell. My legs were shattered from the two tough bike rides and I was also lugging half a bag of cement in surplus weight up those climbs which added to the searing pain. Received some support from fellow competitor David Black and I tried to pace off him over the 2nd half of the course and over the railway lines. A heck of an effort to make marginal gains on new Masters leader Farmer Glen (Haw), of Sani 2 C , who who showed good running skills to add to his exceptional MTB skills!

Jamie at X Terra

The next morning I could hardly get out of bed to go watch Jamie do his first Xterra and also got sucked into doing the Puma Nightcat Dash. I was invited to join the Celebrity Race and race alongisde Nick Bester, Arnold Geerdts, Raynard Tissink, Dave Bellairs & Altus Schreuder but it was straight uphill, turn around and down. It was fun making up the field and somebody had to come last, but when the cramps attacked me that night I wished I hadn’t lined up.

Night Cat Dash

A highlight for our family was Camryn running in the ladies race (Nightcat Dash) and grabbing the second prize of R1,000 being encouraged & cheered on by Natalie Tissink, Caroline Wyatt & Alexa Cunningham who was shouting ‘shopping’ to my daughter every step of the way.

Camryn in X Terra Lite Relay

Day 4 was my first XTerra, which comprised a 3k trail run, a 25km MTB and a 7km Trail Run. I’ve always admired the XTerra guys, especially Conrad Stoltz, Dan Hugo & Stuart Marais so it was good to get a taste of what they do and now I can say I have even more respect as XTerra is tough. Was grateful I’d been taking my Muscle Milk after each race to aid recovery, so I was still able to push hard (with tree stumps for legs) chasing my good friend Nick Davidson around the course and catching Nick & Farmer Glen in the final km. My son Jamie had warned me that the bike course was tough, well now I know what he was trying to say!

Day 5 was the Half Marathon…. up bright and early, taxi ride into the Forest, huddle at the start line under a blanket (which would be donated to somebody in need), lots of chit chatter with friends & my training partners Mike, Liza, Martin & Craig for what seemed like eternity before the 8 am start. I was now up to 2nd in the Big 5 and hoping to challenge Farmer Glen for line honours for the ‘ballies’ race but even though I ran a reasonable 96 minutes, came up a little short. Glen, it was great to meet you and well done on a fine week of racing!

Stuart Marais with Jamie after the Laggon Swim

Well done to Stuart Marais on a great result and well done to a few of the EC guys Richard Laurie, Warren Dickson, Mike Cannon, Nick Davidson, Nick Chapman, Johan Botha, Johan Britz and Stephen Marais, it was great catching up and thanks for the encouragement along the way.

Relaxing with Michelle

To my best supporter Michelle, thanks for allowing the kids and I to pretend we were on holiday when we were actually at a training camp 🙂

Thanks to all the organisers and sponsors of the individual events, thanks to Mark Collins and Magnetic South organisers of the Big 5, as well as Greg Vogt from Knysna Tourism for the Oyster Festival, it was great fun and very well organised. Thanks to the Big 5 Challenge & Stillwater Sports for the XTerra After Party. Last, but by no means least a sincere thanks to Isuzu who have supported me over the past few years and I look forward to building to a great 2015!

Enjoy the View!