Survivalist Renier Louwrens takes on Adventure Racing World Championships

Survivor SA’s Season 8 contestant and Secunda resident, Renier Louwrens is at it again, this time pushing his survivalist limits to the extreme.

He will be competing in the 19th Adventure Racing World Championships, which will be the first time for South Africa to play hosts.

Not long after his elimination as the 11th contestant on day 26 of the popular reality survival show Survivor SA, Louwrens had set his goal of attempting the Drakensberg Grand Traverse (DGT) North to South, 250km run in April 2022 as part of his NPO Beyond39’s vision to make societies sustainably better.

He had worked and trained extremely hard in preparation for the DGT, however, nothing would have prepared him for the actual event and the cold, wet conditions he had to endure, which would ultimately see him having to pull out.

This did not stop him from taking on more of his survivalist skills and will now be competing in the AR World Championships, which will start on October 19, in St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape and will continue for 10 pulsating days.

This event is described as a grueling and exhilarating multi-day endurance event that challenges teams to navigate through rugged African terrain using a variety of outdoor disciplines such as trekking, mountain biking, kayaking, and more.

This will be the ultimate test of competitors’ strength and endurance while having to face unpredictable weather conditions, wild animals, and extreme physical demands.

The grueling 10-day 800km track will consist of:
• Leg 1 – Running
• Leg 2 – Cycling
• Leg 3 – Running and abseiling
• Leg 4 – Running
• Leg 5 – Canoeing
• Leg 6 – Running
• Leg 7 – Cycling
• Leg 8 – Running
• Leg 9 – Cycling
• Leg 10 – Running to finish

Each country’s team comprises of four persons with a minimum of one woman and one man.

Louwrens (32) will be competing together with South African teammates Alwyn van der Merwe (48-49)* from Citrusdal, Pieter van Heerden (41-42)* from Houtbaai and Neldie Winterbach (38) from Groot Brakrivier.

Should one teammate drop out, the whole team is eliminated. See more on rules on the AR World Championships webpage.

In an exclusive interview with the Ridge Times, Louwrens said after his attempt on the DGT he had done a lot of reflection and not finishing “sucks”.

“It was the right decision I made in the end regarding the DGT, but it still does not give me that sense of achievement,” said Renier Louwrens.

Louwrens continued to keep fit even though he was not training towards any other attempts, and more so at the beginning of this year.

It was during the September Sasol Shutdown when Louwrens was approached by one of his new teammates, whom he barely knew at the time, who said he had qualified for this world championship and they would like to bring him on board to join and represent the SA team in this attempt.

“With a challenge like this and my personality, my answer was an immediate “ja and definitely ja”. But I wanted to pray through it first and thereafter speak to my wife,” said Louwrens.

After praying and discussions with his wife, Lize, this is one championship he would not miss out on after getting the answers that he needs, and with the support of his wife, believes that he is ready to take the championship on.

“I have no idea who I will be competing against and I will only meet my teammates the day before the race starts.

“My team is essentially putting their dreams of competing at the world champs in me, a complete stranger, based on reputation and a late night call which turned into an interview. But the opportunity is an amazing one and one which I am grateful to take on.”

Louwrens will be competing against athletes from across 35 countries and is described as a huge world championships event.

He said it was a bit intimidating to hear all the experiences his fellow teammates have had in such similar events, however, he brought to the table the experiences he has, his identity in Christ, and focusing much more on who he is than what he is capable of doing.

“It is a matter of who I am at 03:00 on night 7, which makes the difference in the end.

“My training began immediately after shutdown in a short period,” said Louwrens.

He only had three solid weeks of training on such short notice, while some of his fellow competitors had been training for this event since the beginning of the year.

The distance of each leg is not known, however, Louwrens said he anticipates about 170km of running, 80km of rowing, 560km of cycling, and then some mountain climbing, kloofing, abseiling and swimming to round it off.

He said there will also be elements of surprise along the route, with all routes being self-navigated with a set of 42 maps and a compass.

No electronic devices or modern technology of smartwatches for navigation will be allowed.

“I have to do all the plotting out of maps myself with no markers, course, or footpaths to follow. Navigation needs to be done properly through a map and compass only,” said Louwrens.

Besides the navigating of terrains, water and abseiling of elements along the 10-day leg, competitors need to carry along their gear containing a 10-day supply of food, sleeping gear, clothes and shoes.

“My wife and I have the saying: Spare no expense to build character. You can only build a character in tough situations and this is one of them.

“This is going to be one of the toughest things I have ever attempted. No finance or earthly thing can build character through experiences like this.

“I am looking forward to finding myself in a mentally deep dark place and making my bed there for 10 days, that is when the best in me becomes better,” concluded Louwrens.