Swazi Xtreme – preliminary results
Congrat’s to those that attacked the SX 2010 with so much passion this year.
The SX (both SPORT & PRO) events were tough… and according to many comments: “reminiscent of Swazi’s past!”
A little bit of extra value was added in distance and the format changed to include a more continuous flow to the event… similar to the non-stop nature of earlier years. The SPORT competitors had to tackle a minimum distance of 250km (there were no optional points) to finish officially whilst the PRO event required at least 450km to capture all CP’s and OP’s, with many teams logging over 400km just on Compulsary Points.
The PRO team event was won by Stefan Muller and his Kinetic team in what was Stefan’s 10th Swazi Xtreme. Could there have been a more worthy winner? Stefan’s team was made up largely of novices: Danie van Aswegen, Wiehan van der Merwe and Lizelle van der Merwe… which is a great result for the individuals themselves and a nice precedent for other new-comers to the sport… don’t be scared – go big.
The second PRO team were the Red Ants – another name from the SX’s Hall of Fame – and a collection of some of the event’s podium finishers from many year’s before: Brian Gardner, Phillipe van de Leeuw, Tim Deane and Jane Swarbreck.
There was no official third place finisher in the PRO event. Sadly the early leaders Team Jabberwock, who had opened a sizeable lead, were forced to withdraw on day 2 after the effects of their early efforts took toll.
In the PRO pairs category Kay Motion – a mixed team of event novices Nathan Thompson and Liezel Smit did a remarkable job in conquering the course, leading home Alex Pope and Paul Bothma racing as Cipralex 1 and PJ Doyer and John Le Roux the Alligators, who finished in a close third.
Whilst the PRO event turned more into an exercise in survival, the SPORT event was a real race with at least 4 teams in contention at times. Perennial winners Team Aeeish saw their first day lead disappear when they overshot the end of the paddle leg and ended up deep in Mozambique in unchartered territory. However, Deon Bruss, Hilliary Pitchford, Gordon Johnstone and James Stewart managed to keep focus to make it three year’s in a row.
Second in the SPORT event were Swazi Moto, a local Swazi team made up of Kim and Robin Roques, Nadja Shields and Mike Richardson, a two guys, two girls combination that raced solidly to beat DNA Dinamics into 3rd. The 3rd placed team was made up of Nicol Jordaan, Henco Jordaan, Hercu du Preez and Dorette Kriel.
The SPORT pairs category is currently being cross-checked. Results to follow.
A full list of official finishers will be posted in due course, as well as those who completed the PRO “Lite” short course.
There are many more stories to be told – Team Khakibos sleeping in a dagga field, Here be Dragon’s being snared in a monster trap and Team Placement hike-a-biking up the Lubombo Mountains just for fun.
Congratulations to all who took part – there were no soft teams out there. Thank you for helping us make the final Swazi Xtreme true to its reputation.
The Swazi Xtreme 