The day of the race started with a 5am knock on our door from a ranger (we were not allowed to walk alone outside, since we were guests in the home of the animals and there were regularly elephants, baboons, warthogs, wildebeests, zebra, and lions amongst other animals outside of our rooms).

We were greeted by a beautiful sunrise, as we were driven the 40 minutes up the mountain to the start of the race at Lakeside Lodge. The race course was the toughest course that either of us has ever done! The first 10k was a steadily rolling uphill on dirt roads through the African savannah, however the beauty of the Entabeni mountain, the music and traditional dancing of the South African volunteers, and the serenity of the vast landscape and several animals distracted us during our run.

With a maximum decline of 43 degrees there was a tough decent to get to the bottom of the Yearwood Valley, after which there were several kilometres of trudging through sand that was several inches deep (several times while we were driving these routes in the Toyota Landcruisers on our game drives the vehicles had their tires spinning). The race was also made tougher by the fact that the whole course was well over a kilometer above sea level, and the lower oxygen levels than what we are used to in Northern Ontario was definitely noticeable. By the end of the sand section my running shoes were full of sand, and I was very grateful for the aid station prior to the steep climb from the Yearwood Valley. The volunteers at the aid station removed our shoes and washed our feet. I then changed out my socks that I had left at the aid station prior to the race, and picked up some supplies (gels and energy chews).

The next couple of kilometers were a slow walk up from Yearwood Valley, and we were very grateful for the volunteers and spectators at the top who greeted us and cheered us on. As we neared the end of the marathon we were greeted by a ranger who told us that due to elephants on the course we would be stopping at roughly 40.5 km and driven a couple of hundred meters from the finish line to end the race for our safety … what an experience, and one which you can only encounter on an Adventure Marathon!