Team Parallel’s EA2018 Accomplishment!

This weekend marked the finish of the 2018 Expedition Africa Adventure Race.

Team Parallel finished the brutal 560km course in a time of 125 hours 30 mins, to finish in 17th place of a strong field of 52 teams from 18 countries.

Take a moment and check out Team Parallel’s Finish Line Interview  here.

Also, catch a glimpse into the race in the 5-minute video of EA 2018 – Day 4

Parallel’s Ronald Jessop shared some of his thoughts with us:

“The race was HARD! Very hard. The 4 of us had trained well and I was surrounded by fit and experienced team-mates, but somehow I still felt out my depth in the early stages of the race as the pace off the start-line was like a park-run, not a 567km monster.

Our coastal run of 20km was followed up by a 50km paddling stage into a head-wind – that stage took us into the night. A quick transition back onto our feet should have made us more comfortable but the navigation on the “Knersvlakte” was difficult – there were not many features we could use to navigate.

By midday the next day we set off on an epic ride of 230km. We opted out of the shortcut bike-carry because we wanted to save our feet, a strategy that paid off in the end. First collecting checkpoints north of Nieuwoudtville, we then cranked south a long, long way through various climatic conditions including some proper rain and mud to finish up at Wupperthal in the Cederberg.

Then a hike up the 2000m mountain of Sneeukop, which we summited at exactly midnight. Another ride, this time 100km northbound along the almost empty Clanwilliam Dam and Olifants River. And then, the crux of the race, a massive hike/scramble/ survival mission of 60km through a bushy canyon that has never seen people before and probably never will again. A very exciting 100m abseil charged us up for a fast last day’s racing, finishing up with a 60km bike ride for a full-course finish in 125.5 hours.

It made a big difference motivationally to know that the real Team Parallel back in the office were keeping an eye on that dot [on the live tracking map] and that we had to keep it moving!”

One of the contestant’s in the race said it very well,

“We do marathons to train for what we do, instead of training for a marathon”

We are extraordinarily proud of Team Parallel!