Big 5 O
Lakenvlei from Belfast Ruins
The Musgrave / Dunn family escaped a couple of weeks of the Scottish winter to attend a new multi-day event in South Africa.
The Musgrave / Dunn family escaped a couple of weeks of the Scottish winter to attend a new multi-day event in South Africa.
In searching for an appropriate way to celebrate a forthcoming big birthday we came across a new multi-day event in South Africa called the Big 5-O ( http://www.bigfive-o.co.za ). As the event was running from the 4-8th January and Jon’s birthday was on the 9th, the South Africans had obviously planned this event just for him and it would have been rude not to attend. So we found ourselves flying out to Johannesberg in time for New Year and a few days of chill-out time before the start of the event. Our base for the first week was at Lakenvlei Forest Lodge, which is set in a peaceful spot in the middle of Belfast Forest and adjacent to a large area of wetland and several “dams”. After an interesting arrival via 10km of forest dirt roads (Google Earth doesn’t always offer the best navigational tool) we settled in to several days of recovery, kayaking on the lake, walking and amateur bird-watching with a few, slow, heavy runs. We were based at an altitude of 1900m and whether it was this or the warm humid weather, running certainly didn’t feel comfortable. The kayaking was also a somewhat interesting experience as there were large floating reed beds on the lake which were blown around by the wind and could block routes and passages in a matter of minutes, very confusing until we realised what was going on.
Afternoons were characterised by some big thunderstorms and during training, the day before the start of the event, Sarah was freaked out by a deafening thunder clap and lightning strike on a tree just 20m from the control she was standing by. The first event at Middeldam, just a few km along the road, started in the afternoon and 10 minutes after setting off, with Ewan out in the forest on his own, there was the biggest thunderstorm ever. Crashes of thunder and flashes of lightning all around were accompanied by hailstones the size of thumbnails. It was terrifying, but didn’t half help focus the mind on finding the controls quickly and getting back out of the forest alive. We all escaped in one piece, although Jon had some problems with his course as the print on his map dissolved in the rain. This confused him a lot when he came across a large “unmapped” clearing. The forest itself could have been a plantation almost anywhere in the world and offered pleasant fast orienteering with a few areas of rock detail. We discovered that the South Africans like to try and make things a bit trickier by burying controls in pits, which lead to some bingo controls, but otherwise the courses were well planned and enjoyable.
Day 2 was based in the nearby town of Dullstroom and linked together little bits of woodland in and around the town. Although the area was nothing special technically, the courses demanded changes in technique from the streets to some thick areas of forest which caught out many. Sarah ran a good race only to find (much to Ewan’s amusement) that she had mis-punched on a control in thick green 15m from the correct site (always check your codes!). Ewan was also amused to find he had easily won the family prize for the fastest run-in split of the day.
The third day was back at Lakenvlei in a different area of the forest. It was designated as a World Ranking Event for the elite classes, which meant that Sarah was faced with a long 10.7km course. The terrain was similar to day 1, but with some hillier and slightly rougher sections. Ewan and Jon both ran steady races but Sarah found herself out for a long time after missing 10 minutes on the first control. Having forgotten to take our southern hemisphere compasses with us, we had managed to borrow some spares but Sarah was struggling with an old slow settling compass that threw her usually reliable compass technique into disarray.
After day 3 the event base moved two hours east to the Sabie area on the edge of the Drakensburg escarpment and at lower altitude. The day 4 assembly was in an idyllic spot adjacent to a lake and a tree fern heritage site with weaver bird nests in the reeds and bushes dangling over the water. The forest was on a steep hill slope with some big rocky spurs providing interest for fine navigation. The terrain was perhaps the most interesting of the week and the courses were much enjoyed, but unfortunately had not been very well controlled. Jon’s course had to be voided after a control site was mis-placed and there were a number of sites where the descriptions were inadequate for pin-pointing the correct control location. Once again, a serious element of bingo came into play. Ewan found his course tough but was pleased to have completed it successfully.
The final day was a sprint race on a completely new map of the Botanic Gardens in Nelspruit. Sarah was worried as she set Ewan off on a course that looked at least “orange” standard, but he soon came bouncing back to the start having had no bother at all. The courses were fantastic fun with lots of tricky, quick decision making required to navigate smoothly through the maze of paths and tracks, between out of bounds “olive green” borders. In many ways this race was the highlight of the event.
Overall, the South Africans did a great job in organising their first international multi-day event, and any complaints were minor in the general scheme of things. Numbers were small with only around 180 participants in total, but this made for a very sociable atmosphere and the locals were especially welcoming. Ewan did really well to complete the M12 course, which was at least yellow standard each day, and was chuffed to win his class, albeit ahead of just one other 7-year old. Sarah and Jon both enjoyed the week and were satisfied with their final positions too. A handful of other British runners were also there, with the top result coming from Hector Haines who finished 3rd on M21E.
The following day we headed to Kruger National Park where we spent 4 ½ days touring around on self-drive safari. The experience was fantastic. We saw everything from lions and hyenas to warthogs and mongoose and found the whole experience incredibly relaxing. Most amazing of all, we never felt the need to go running once during our time in Kruger which must be good for us once in a while.
If you like the idea of something a bit different and can find the money for the airfare, look out for the next Big 5 O planned for 2014. The South African orienteers will have learned a lot from organising their first muIti day and the next is sure to be bigger and even better. We made some good contacts who are keen to offer free accommodation in Johannesberg, so get in touch with us if you are interested in a trip to SA.