Walkerbay Xtreme Day 1
- Jamie-Lee Day
- May 7, 2018
- 3 min read
The Walkerbay Xtreme is an annual sports event in Hermanus where athletes choose to take part in one or more of the many running, swimming or cycling events on offer. There is also the option for a small number of competitors to take on the challenge of The Big 6:
1. Marine Mile Xtreme (Street mile sprint)
2. Valley Xtreme (27km mountain bike ride)
3. Sea & Sand Xtreme (Swim, run, jump challenge)
4. Walkerbay Xtreme (Sprint triathlon)
5. Open Water swim (2.5km open water swim)
6. Blue Mountain Xtreme (17km trail run)
I had been searching for my next challenge for a while and thought about entering just the 17km trail run. I knew I could manage the run, so when my friends mentioned they were doing the Big 6, I glanced over the events it included and my jaw almost dropped to the floor. I remember reading it and thinking "I could never do all that!" I had never mountain biked before, I had never done an open water swim, I was afraid of heights, I had never done a triathlon and I had never taken part in any form of stage racing. I genuinely didn't know if I could complete the Big 6 so I bit the bullet and entered.
I loved the idea of not knowing...
The build up to the weekend was awesome! We got a cool group of friends involved, and all trained in preparation for a fun - but physically exhausting - weekend.
By the time the 27th of April rolled around we were all excited to get the challenge underway. Our group of 10 left Cape Town around 9am on Friday morning and took a leisurely drive up to the beautiful Hermanus. There was a standard food stop at Peregrine Farm Stall, which went without saying, and eventually we arrived at our humble accommodation in the quiet seaside town of Vermont by mid-afternoon.
We unloaded all the gear, found our beds for the weekend and with high spirits made our way to the race village at 5pm to kick off the weekend of Xtremes with the Marine Mile Xtreme street sprint (1.6km).
After a gentle warm up jog to the start line, and a quick race briefing, the Big 6 group set off at a cracking pace.
The run itself was a lot more challenging than I think we were expecting.
Sprinting 1.6km is actually a real lung-buster!
But it was a cool challenge and the amazing Linda Detering and I completed the mile averaging a speedy 3 minutes 47 seconds per kilometer (she was in front pulling me along of course). I also somehow managed to get my feet up onto the podium alongside her for a 3rd place next to another phenomenal athlete, Vicky Van Der Merwe, which was a nice bonus. But after the long day of travelling and a little mile sprint, the team was ready for supper and of course a glass or two of wine at Fusion Restaurant followed by an early-ish night in preparation for the 2 events we had lined up the next day: 1 x 27km mountain bike ride in the morning and 1 x sea and sand xtreme challenge in the afternoon.
What a great start to the weekend!
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