Three athletes from Benoni Northern Athletics Club (BNAC), Phil Waudby, Robert Mac Lean and Conrad Pheiffer, recently set out to compete in this year’s running of the Kalahari Extreme Marathon (KAEM).
This extreme event takes place in the Northern Cape, with the start, finish and much of the running taking place in the Augrabies Falls National Park.
The KAEM is a self-sufficient race, held over six legs in seven days, with distances set for each day.
This year’s event covered a total distance of 236 km.
The competitors must be completely self-sufficient, with the exception of water and some rudimentary shelter provided at the end of each day’s racing.
Weather conditions ranged from torrential rain to spectacular thunderstorms, to day temperatures that ranged up to 45 degrees Celsius.
Competitors came from all corners of the world, with Britain, France, USA, Australia and Canada well represented.
The pedigrees of some of these athletes are mightily impressive.
Some of them have completed races like the fabled Marathon des Sables, Antarctic Ice Marathon, Jungle Marathon in Brazil and Badwater in Death Valley, in California.
The winner of the event was Mahmut Yavuz, from Turkey, with a winning time of 21 hours and 42 minutes.
The Northerns runners came in with respectable times: Mac Lean completing the race in 54 hours and 27 minutes, Pheiffer with 37 hours and 57 minutes, while Philip Waudby, unfortunately, had to withdraw after day one, due to medical complications.
For further information visit www.kaem.co.za.
