Capetonian David Bellairs, organiser of the Cape Town Cycle Tour (previously “The Argus”) and all-around sports lover recently took part in the Racing the Planet run, a 250km unsupported ultramarathon held in Georgia in the spectacular mountain villages of the Caucasus region.
We popped him a few questions.
Turning 60 this year and wanting to live beyond his comfort zone, Bellairs decided to combine his love for travel and sport by exploring the world while taking on the challenge of racing through remote and out-of-the-way locations with his partner, Nicky Eckstein.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. In 2013 shortly after I turned 50 we ran a similar event in Iceland. This year being the year I turn 60 I decided the time was right once again to step out and explore the ‘boundaries of my comfort zone.”
Bellairs’s training began six months before the race, starting with short trail run sessions leading up to long sessions of 20 to 30km with backpacks weighing between 10 and 15kgs. There were a lot of climbing sessions included in the training with runs up Nursery Ravine, Skeleton and Platteklip Gorges in Cape Town.
Racing The Planet, which also hosts the 4 Deserts Ultramarathon Series is widely recognized as the world’s most prestigious outdoor footrace series. The 4 Deserts series consists of the Namib Race (Namibia), the Gobi March (Mongolia), the Atacama Crossing (Chile) and The Last Desert (Antarctica). The Racing The Planet Ultramarathon moves to a new race location each year and competitors in the races traverse 250 kilometres in seven days over rough country terrain all while carrying their supplies on their backs.
The weather conditions in Georgia were not fun, Bellairs said. “The weather for most of the run was extremely cold with temperatures ranging from slightly above zero to 15 degrees Celsius. Most of the running was done at altitudes ranging between 1500m to just short of 3000m.”
Competitors leave the starting line and follow course markers through a number of checkpoints to the finishing line of each stage of the race as quickly as they can. Competitors must provide and carry on their person all their own food, gear and clothing as stated in the Mandatory Equipment List, and will be provided with an allocation of water and a sleeping spot in a tent at night. No outside assistance is permitted. Competitors can finish at any time before the pre-determined cut-off time.
“We carried all our nutrition for the full seven days in our backpacks. Breakfast, race supplements, lunch and dinner. All food had to be carefully selected to give maximum calories/energy with the lightest possible weight. The only thing we were given was water at the checkpoints.”
Bellairs kept a diary during the 7-day event. We got a look at his experiences on days one and six, the first and second-to-last days of the race.
Diary entry on Day One
(Camp 2) Just finished 11 hours 30 min outing the trail 46 km ….. please excuse the language but it was a complete sh* show out there. Completely shattered will update later just need to regather myself … broken! Update later
Ok, so my sense of humour is now partially restored. Hot expedition freeze-dried meal washed down with a hot chocolate and a pain killer… in a sleeping bag and trying to piece together what went down today. We started at 8 am with rain threatening and a 5km climb out of camp. Understanding that on day 1 everyone’s pack is at max weight we knew it was going to be a tough day. Supposedly 38km with 1250 meters of climbing. So as we ascended to 1825 meters we encountered our first challenge… a pack of angry Georgian sheepdogs… these are large animals that do not take kindly to strangers anywhere near the sheep they are protecting! Out came the tazers and hiking poles and we manoeuvred our way deftly past the decidedly angry animals! We were now at about 7 km into the day and a thick fog descended on the mountain top reducing vision to about 10 to 15 meters. Now here is where the trouble started… this is an event where the entire route is marked and as a result, we are not given the GPS tracks! “Just follow the pink flags,” they said!!
So the flags had been placed the day before and during the course of the previous afternoon and subsequent evening beards of sheep and cattle had all but destroyed about 2km worth of markers on the top of a hill …. Viz down to almost nothing and the rains now falling and a bitterly cold wind had picked up we moved slowly forward in a group of 4 in search of “pink flags “ that were no more! In the thick fog all we could hear were voices shouting “Anyone found a flag”. Our group of 4 eventually grew to 27 freezing souls with no idea which way to go. It was decided to keep the group together as moving off in the thick fog meant losing sight of a person very quickly…. Long story short … we waited in that shitty weather for an hour and a half for help supposedly coming from checkpoint 1 …. Well it never came so under the guidance of our self-appointed leader John ( a runner from the US of A) we took matters into our own hands and got the motley freezing group of runners off the mountain and into the valley below where we were at least sheltered from the wind. Eventually, after 5 hours we found Checkpoint 1 … two hours after it should have closed….
We headed out of CP 1 to attack the 800 mtr main ascent of the day having now covered a little over 8 km more than we should have at that point! A beautiful but brutal climb remembering we were all shouldering heavy packs.
Great news greeted us at the top of the climb at CP 1 ( or so we thought). We were advised that all those that had been affected by the lack of route markings would be given the option of boarding a bus at CP3 .. so off we went slipping and sliding off the “hill” down sodden muddy jeep tracks… all the while looking forward to the bonus of a lift back to camp! Hopefully in time to dry our shoes and kit at the fireside. Now, remember that CP3 would effectively have been at 40km for us sodden lost souls … 2km more than we should have run in total but that was ok!
Arriving at CP 3 only to be told there were no “rides” to the finish and we had to slog it out in the cold! Well, I had a very LARGE grumpy Dave moment… not that’s a lie… I had a meltdown!!!! Sadly made not a jot of difference and off I set looking like a thunderstorm as I fought more river crossing and Georgian mud roads!!
I eventually crawled into camp 11:30 minutes after setting out this morning. Interestingly this put me at the 25 finishers… 50% through the field! Nicky was out with the speedsters and was a good 2 hours ahead of me! As were the rest of my tent mates Tina and Rose-Anne.
As I started typing this the last runners arrived in camp at 21 15 … 13 hours 15 min.
Ok, I feel a bit more human now and time to see if I can get some sleep. Thanks to you all for the amazing messages and support… makes keeping going that little easier. Cheers from the team in Georgia!
Diary entry on Day Six
(Camp 6) – The Long March!
What a day! We all survived a tough day out in, once again, chilly albeit clear skies weather. Some survived more elegantly than others. Nix stormed to 2nd place in the ladies’ race on stage and consolidated her overall 2nd place by some good margin. Her time was 9hrs 23min, Tina in at a time of 10hrs 29min, Rose-Anne in a time of 12hrs 21min and yours truly in at 13hrs.
The stage was shortened today, once again as a result of the inclement and unpredictable weather in the mountains. So what was planned for a 78km day was reduced to 63.6 (yes .6!!! Every mtr hurts) but it was still a very tough day out. The weather for the most part of the course was great… the views from the mountain climbs at the start were spectacular. Tina and Nix made it to camp before the early evening rains set in making the last 10km for Rose-Anne and me both tough and very very cold.
On a personal note, it was probably one of the toughest days out on a trail I have ever had. At 3km in I developed crippling shin splints in my left leg. I managed to shuffle a further 17km when eventuality I was reduced to a fast walk. Coming down the mountain descent was especially painful as was any rocky ground. At 25km I went into a very very dark space … things were simply not going to plan. In a small village, I sat down on a stoep of a shop which was closed to try and clear my head and reassess. The door to the shop opened and out came the owner with a glass of ice cold Coca-Cola ( the universal pick me up!)
At any ultra event, you know that at some point you will enter into that “dark space” that comes at some point! (Gets emotional just typing this). You think about many things, family, friends, workmates, goals, self-doubt etc etc! My elephant eating was starting to stall! Paul Kaye and Martin Dreyer eventually started to shine through with advice both had given me at various times!!
Paul – “one foot forward at a time and one pedal stroke at a time- as long as you are going forward!”
Martin – “You chose to be there, you paid to be there, now toughen up, get up and get on with it!!”
Everyone has a plan until that plan ain’t working … so invigorated by my glass of coke, I started my replanning. I calculated that not finishing was now not an option… the next 38km was going to hurt but that was tough it would just have to hurt. So up I got and off I went … 13 emotional hours later I finished the long March as dark descended on the camp. The elephant had been eaten.
Today is Friday and a rest day before an 8 km run/shuffle down to the cave city of Vardizia and the finish line of this fantastic journey. We are camped out in a stunning area in the mountains at 1800 mtrs. The weather has cleared and spirits among all the competitors are high… the end is in sight. Holding thumbs for clear weather to see us home.
From sunny Georgia cheers for now and hopefully pictures of the medals tomorrow
On asking Bellairs what’s next, he said: “Rest, recover and then see what looms on the horizon …. In the short term, there is a small cycling event called the Old Mutual Wealth Double Century – A 200km one-day cycling event from Swellendam (It happens to fall on 26 November, my 60th birthday! I could think of no better way to celebrate it than riding 200km with some special friends)”.
Pictures: Supplied
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