Nic and I raced the 50 odd kay Diamond Dash "sprint adventure race" on 20 February 2010, professionally presented by the Gijima Adventure Racing Squad (www.teamgijima.co.za) . Firstly - hats off to all the guys and girls involved, who managed to put on one of the most professional short events I have ever been to ! Everything was of the highest standard, from the pre-race info, diretions and signs to the event... through to creating an awesome vibe at prize giving.

The race started with a 2km field spreading run-dash, where Nic and I took the early lead. After this run we had the option of one of two MTB legs, a 17km ride up to the absail and back, or a 20 odd kay, Orienteering MTB leg. Having looked at the record pre entries of 103 teams (pairs and trio's), and some more on the day, it was our strategy to make up a good "mental" lead on the first 2km run, unto a quick transition on MTB up to the absail, to avoid unneccessary bottlenecks.

Although the team of Gravity Training was running 4 lines on the fairly easy 10m absail, and only one team member per team HAD to absail, we did not want to take any chances. All went according to plan, reaching the absail with a few minutes lead. After this it was back to the central transition and unto the 16km  navigation hike/ run leg.

 This leg consited of some CP (compulsory points) and OP (Optional points). The latter was not really "optional" for us, since we were going for a win, and any other team going for a win too, would do the same. After we got all the CP's we crawled through a "cave" and set out for the OP's. This section of the hike leg required some special navigation skills since we had to find points running on magnetic bearings. All compliments to the mixed team of Red Ants who caught up with us here, and the two teams managed this together. Back to central transition and both teams (us and Red Ants) set out on the last MTB navigation leg.

 This leg again consisted of some CP's and OP's. Apart for OP1, with which both teams struggled a bit due to an extra road that was not on the map (our mistake though) the leg went well, considering that the heat of the day was now really in full force.

After this leg, a quick "three-legged boere - sport" run, and an 80m swim saw us winning the race in a time of 4h51minutes, followed VERY closely by team Red Ants in 4h55.

Thanks to Red Ants for giving us a hard time, and again to the organisers for doing an awesome job in growing the sport we all so dearly love !