The Wild Series took athletes off the beaten track with its first official event of 2007: the Didima X-Treme Challenge. A fitting start for the Series, the Didima X-Treme was certainly wild and certainly a challenge! Athletes were pushed to the max, traversing across the beautiful northern section of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg National Park on a 29 km run and 37 km cycle. The Didima X-Treme forms part of the new Wild Series – a series of 12 sporting challenges aimed at testing limits, creating an appreciation for our incredible natural heritage and raising funds for conservation.
A grey and chilly dawn, the clouds begrudgingly shifted to reveal the majestic Monks Cowl and Champagne Castle overlooking participants preparing for the challenge. With the mist rolling in over the slopes of the Little Berg the runners took off at 06h30 up the first of two gruelling climbs to summit the Little Berg above Stables Caves. On reaching the summit they were met with spectacular views of thick clouds below them, clear skies and the peaks of the Drakensberg above. The last 3km’s of tar to the transition area – at the entrance to Cathedral Peak Nature Reserve – brought slight relief to tired legs after the unyielding rough terrain of the mountain path.
The first runner to enter the transition area was local athlete Petros Hlongwane, a Team Wild Development member, in a time of 3:01:58. Following closely on his heels was individual participant Bruce Arnett in a time of 3:06:05.
With 34km of the cycle leg still to go, the individual participants felt the toll of the Mike’s Pass, an incredibly tough 10km climb before descending to the finish. Fastest man Graham Bird won the Individual section in a time of 5:50:49, with Jeanette Walder winning the Individual ladies section in a time of 6:49:38. Sakkie Meyer and Iain Don-wachope (a Team Wild member) came home in a time of 4:50:07 to win first team entry.
A huge thank you goes out to the event sponsors namely Bonitas, Powerade, Verbolt, Ray Olivier, Medi-clinic – PMB and PVM.
For more information on the Didima X-treme Challenge please visit www.wildseries.co.za or e-mail ianf@localhost/import-data-post
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)