2009 Results

Greetings from Swaziland (a country back at peace after a weekend of dealing with crazed AR zombies),

The 2009 Swazi Xtreme event has come and gone…and another milestone has passed. Cyanosis kept McCain Adventure Fanatics at bay for the PRO title, whilst Aieesh.com added another win to their record in the SPORT event.

This year we achieved something that is unique in the 9 year history of the event. That was effectively a 100% finishing rate for competitors. Although, two teams were unofficial finishers due to missed Control Points, the only person who was unable physically to complete the event was inflicted by an eye infection, which was caught prior to the event.

So for those past competitors, who know the tough reputation of this event, the question is probably: has the Swazi Xtreme gone soft?

We’ll leave that to the individual Race Reports to comment on, but somehow we doubt that that is the case. There were plenty of post-event comments that the SX still makes other endurance events (Comrades, Ironman et al) pale in comparison and that finishing a Swazi Xtreme remains a highlight on any athlete’s racing CV. What we think helped this year was the balance between Compulsory and Optional Points and the fact that teams understood the need to focus on finishing firstly, and collecting Optional Points (OP’s) only if certain that time was in hand. We also endeavoured to ensure that there was plenty of fun and variety and made a point of ensuring easy transitions for seconds. We believe strongly in AR being an adventure and not just an endurance slog, so we hope that the little twists and turns in this year’s event achieved that. More about that in our full Race Report.

A big thanks for all the assistance and support we got from various quarters:

Sponsors:
Swazi Trails
Swaziland Tourism Authority
Airlink Swaziland
Big Game Parks of Swaziland
Roc ‘n Rope Adventures
Induna Adventures

Venues:
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary
Mbabane Municipal Council
Sappi Forest Management
Meikles Mount
Crystal Springs
Zwane Chiefancy

Marshals:
Barry & Brad Neal
Mark Goulding
Loki Magerman
Andrew Begg
Francois and Lize Steyl
Tao Fineberg
Stuart Donaldson
Isabel van Hoegarten

Media:
www.ar.co.za – website and blog
Jacques Marais Media
D4 Productions – Andrew King

Congratulations to our competitors and category winners:

* Note: points listed here may vary to those announced at prize-giving as some duplication has been removed.

PRO EVENT – Total possible points 95

1. Cyanosis (Nicholas Mulder, Clinton Mackintosh, Ryno Griesel, Susan Sloan) – 94 points – 1st PRO team
2. McCain Adventure Fanatics (Jeannette Walder, Cobus van Zyl, Donovan Simms, Craig Carter Brown) – 91 points – 2nd PRO team
3. Numa Optics (Jeremy Green, Philip Van der Leeuw) – 82 points – 1st PRO pair
4. Olympus (Alex Wagner, Tim Deane) – 81 points – 2nd PRO pair
5. WPASS Goldfish (Steven Burnett, Peter Anderson) – 70 points – 3rd PRO pair
6. Mercedes Alligators (PJ Doyer, John Le Roux) – 59 points
7. Kinetic USN (Heidi Muller, Stephan Muller ) – 53 points
8. Mud n Gage (Sakkie van Wyk, Benjamin van Wyk) – 47 points
9. Cipralex (Tania De Muelenaere, Ingo De Muelenaere, Gary Wise, Paul Bothma) – 38 points – 3rd PRO team
10. B.A.M.F (Carel van Heerden, Paul Burger) – 32 points
11. Bad Medicine (Mark Human, Richard Feher, Sean Dahlmann, Glen Eve ) – 25 points
12. Bloed en OMO – VO (Abel van der Merwe, Jan Bezuidenhout) – 24 points
13. Dew Point (Lauren Greef, Kelly Botha) – 31 points (UNOFFICIAL FINISH – MISSED CP’s)

SPORT EVENT – total possible points 67

1. Aieesh.com (Shane Raw, Hilary Pitchford, Clive Curtis, James Stuart) – 52 points – 1st SPORT team
2. Gijima (Christiaan Greyling, Landie Visser) – 50 points – 1st SPORT pair and 1st SPORT Mixed Pair
3. Isivungvung (Matthew Hemming, Stephen Hughes) – 46 points – 2nd SPORT pair
4. Swazi Sweaty Pies (Paul Loffler, Linda Loffler, Mike Ogg, Lucinda Bride) – 42 points – 2nd SPORT team
5. Superchick & Sidekick (Steve McIntyre, Denise McIntyre) – 34 points – 3rd SPORT Pair
6. Ngwenya Glass (Hugh Glyn-Jones, Richard Shannon, Lean Drinkwater, Cathy Cunningham) – 28 points – 3rd SPORT team
7. Team Zoeloeland (Burt vd Westhuizen, Christel van Blerk) – 26 points
8. Lick Me (Jason Mantell, Colin De Bruyn) – 25 points
9. Bloed en OMO – LITE (Christine van der Merwe, Connie van der Merwe) – 19 points – ladies pair
10. Numa Optics (Sam Bladergroen, Christian Kaiser) – 18 points
11. Pieds Noir (Maryke Bezuidenhout, Jean Francois Aguilera) – 29 points (UNOFFICIAL FINISH – ONE MEMBER WITHDREW) – Maryke completed event with Ngwenya Glass.
12. T2K (Tom Bruce, Kerry Bruce, Kevin Murphy) – 17 points (UNOFFICIAL FINISH – MISSED CP’s)

Darron and Anita Raw
Swazi Xtreme

~ by Lisa de Speville on 29/04/2009.