Hout Bay Twin Peaks 30km – Good Grief! by Wendy-Li
I nearly died… The end. Jokes. Well, I certainly thought I was dying, and I distinctly remember wishing that I’d die so it’d be over. The longest 30km of my life, ever. Let’s rewind…
PUFfer came and went, and I felt a bit lost without another goal on the horizon, so I scoured the upcoming race emails and found Table Mountain Challenge. I’ve never really wanted to run it but hey, it was a race, it was soon, and the distance was suitable so “Yeah let’s hit it, why not? I just ran PUFfer so 30km will be kiff” It was being run in conjunction with the HB Twin Peaks…eeeeeeven better! I’ve been listening to others speak about Karbonkelberg since I’ve been trail running, how ‘beautiful’ it is, how ‘amazing’ it is, (blah blah you get the gist) but we’ve never been able to run it due to safety concerns, so this was perfect! Or so I thought. A week or so before race day they released the GPX. ERMAGERD. I mean, I generally look at a mountain and I think “yoh that’s high” but it’s only when you see the elevation written down that it sinks in. 1700m in 30km. “WHAT HAVE I DONE?!”
Whilst standing on Hout Bay beach in the wind getting sandblasted at a few minutes to 7 waiting to start I already started having reservations. By the time I got halfway along the contour heading towards Noordhoek I was ready to give up. No seriously, I was almost in tears. I couldn’t catch my breath, the wind was awful, I was questioning my sanity, I already felt exhausted, I was overheating, my nutrition wasn’t working, the thought of Noordhoek peak was almost too much to bear, etc. etc. The first 5-7km are always the worst, eh?
Thankfully, the contour is fairly runnable so that helped tremendously, and I at least managed to regulate my breathing. I even started feeling ‘OK’ but then…cue Noordhoek peak. I even stopped and bent over at some stage going up. I waaas tickets. The poor girl behind me tried to be helpful and I just shooed her away with a “this is too heavy days!”. The very last thing I wanted was ‘words of encouragement’, I just wanted to swear and stomp my foot until I felt better. Anyways, I stomped and swore to the top but hearing the “Whoohoos” from Elizabeth and then Bronwyn and Fanie a little further really DID make me feel better (greatly appreciated guys, I’m sure I forgot to thank you all) and I got my game face on. Everyone who knows me knows I live for the downs so my mood was really on the up and up. The panorama is an amaaaazing little stretch and getting down Blackburn is always super kiff so I was in high spirits going back to Dunes for a check point.
I probably lingered a little longer than I should have but then it was off again on the second loop to tackle this “amazing” Karbonkelberg I’d heard so much about. “Heavy days man…heavy days!” is all that came out of my mouth, repeatedly. It’s not amazing, it’s vertical. It’s not amazing, it’s never-ending. By the time I stopped on the gazillionth false top and had a look around me I didn’t have the energy or mental capacity to appreciate the beauty either. I couldn’t have given a toss, and I was not impressed, to say the least. Much to my relief there was this oke ahead of me that started struggling and had to sit down so I got to stop to check he was ok. I offered him an Enos (and my cup – so that I would have to wait for him to finish it ha ha). That little rest gave me a boost for the remainder of the ‘heavy days’ ups and finally I reached the flat and got to the turnaround point. “Yay for the downs!” was all that was going through my mind and again, I was wrong. So, so, wrong. It was the longest, horriblest, rutted, soft sandy, jeepy track nonsense ever. My legs were stukkend by the time I got down to the tar. Those last 2 or whatever kms were so very hard. Running into the 45km wind and sand back over the beach was the last insult this race threw at me, but I damn well finished with a grimacey smile on my face and a final exclamation of HEAVY DAYS!
Now, I know the above doesn’t really paint a pretty picture, but I highly recommend this race for anyone who wants a bit of challenge. It was a GREAT day out – I didn’t die, I was happy with my time although I’m sure that if I didn’t have so many hissy fits along the way I would’ve done better but hey, some days are just heavier than others. Entries are already open for next year, go register!
x Wends
