I
am privileged to be part of the Kalahari
Augrabies Extreme Marathon field for 2012. There are exactly 16 training weeks
left to the start of the race and my race specific training started this
afternoon with a relatively easy 6km run. Target distance for the week is
60km's.
The Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon is a multi-stage 250km self-sufficiency
race ran in one of the three deserts on the African continent. The field is
limited to 100 runners from across the globe and the race itself is listed as
difficult on the International Extreme Events Calender. It has an average midday
high of 32 degree Celsius for October / November with possible peaks as high as
45 degree Celsius. Nigh times are reasonable at around 8 to 10 degree Celsius.
In 2011 only 28 runners ran the race of which 25 completed the race. The
overall male winner was Dirk Cloete in a time of 27:16:00 and the female winner
was Maretha Combrinck who completed the race in 37:27:00. The last person over
the finish-line completed the race in 67:35:00 which translates to an average
speed of 3.57km/h. The average for the field is between 41:00:00 (6km/h) and
50:00:00 (4.8km/h) while the top 5 runners completed the race between 27:16:00
(8.8km/h) and 37:27:00 (6.4km/h).
Starting race pack weight is in the order of between 10 and 12kg’s for
most runners, and as can be expected dehydration and blisters seems is amongst
the most common problems experienced by all.
To date there are 35 confirmed runners for 2012, so to all my fellow
runners good luck with the training.
Sources
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