-By Bev Mortimer-Tremendous excitement at the Cape St Francis Resort to cheer Swedish Armed Forces team members who arrived at the giant finish arch a the Cape St Francis resort, soon after 9 am, after five days on a most arduous, tough terrain of more than 800kms and with little sleep!
Congratulations to Heidi and Stephan Muller and the rest of the executive ARWC team, plus everyone who helped with this great , awesome show – all the partners, helpers and volunteers and hosts, the Resort and St Francis Links for providing the start and closing venues. The enthusiastic crowds and St Francis community, plus the kindness from the farmers over whose land they trekked, all helped create the awesome vibe in the St Francis area during the race, still on-going with other teams still to appear at the finishing post.
At a press conference afterwards, the four winners (three men and one woman), spoke about the race and answered questions from Media presenter, Sharla Faragher.
Highlights of their replies revealed the happy, relieved and ecstatic team members were thrilled to have won. They said the race was super, super difficult and really challenging. It was tricky and it was not just a flat.
“The days were extremely long. Unfortunately, there was no canyon but we came down then and there was some good stuff that was that was really beautiful…”
“Most of the paddling was most enjoyable with lots s of rapids that was very fun. Very cool in the end!
“The last leg was most challenging. We had to look for the CPS and for a long time and there was concern other teams could catch up.
The only disappointment was they saw only apes, dogs, snakes on the route – “The Big 5 is what we want to see, okay!”
