Andrew Hill and Warren Price are aiming to finish on the podium and “hopefully” break the course record at the Imana Wild Ride starting at the Great Kei River on Sunday and finishing at the Umngazi River Bungalows 200km later.
The TIB-Safire pair won the four-day race along the Wild Coast last year.
Before that event they also said they hoped to break the then record of 9:01:14 and narrowly did so – by just three seconds, finishing in 9:01:11.
The race, now in its 19th year, is restricted to 200 participants. There are two start days, with 50 teams (100 riders) in each event. The first stage ends at Kob Inn, the second at The Haven and the third in Coffee Bay before the final stage.
Andrew Hill (pictured) and Warren Price are aiming to finish on the podium and “hopefully” break the course record at the Imana Wild Ride starting this weekend. Photo: Deidre Cloete
The race, however, poses a different challenge to many mountain-bike races as there are no route markings and GPS devices are prohibited.
Hill said they would like to break their own record and possibly the nine-hour barrier, which they had originally targeted last season.
However, he admitted that this type of race was difficult to analyse beforehand, with no likely outcome set in stone.
“It is such a difficult race to look at as a whole,” Hill told In the Bunch. “It goes through so many different phases and then there’s also the physical aspect.
“Adding to that, it is also not necessarily the strongest team who wins; it is more about the tactics played and the navigation used.”
He felt the latter was an aspect they could “brush up on” in order to shed some minutes from last year.
“We need to make sure we know exactly where to turn by looking at Google Earth images and studying the area beforehand.
“Then it’s just about sussing out on the day which routes to take. There’s no set route and that’s the beauty of this race.
“We basically just have to start at one point and then head up along the coast until the finish line.”
The tides on the beaches could also play a role in the race, Hill said.
“We are given route cards which indicate where on the beaches we should turn off – it’s pretty rudimentary – and if you’re racing flat-out you have to know where to go.
“The beaches have different conditions too. If the tides are higher and the beaches softer with possibly more rocks then you have to move off at different sections.”
Hill said that due to the navigational aspect of the race, many riders would scout the route beforehand to explore the options of which directions and routes to take.
He felt Damon Stamp and Darren Lill, who finished second last year, would pose the biggest threat as Stamp “knows the route very well”.
“Physically they might not be as strong as Warren and me, but they make up for that with their knowledge and know-how. They will be a good combination and probably our strongest competition.”
Oliver Munnik and Craig Woods would be the dark horses, he added.
“Craig has won it once before and he is at this race every year; he’s a diehard favourite of this event.
“He also knows the route well; the one year he even went up in a helicopter to scout the route.
“But at the end of the day you only have to be as fast as your weakest rider.”
