DIAS VASBYT / ENDURANCE WALK :
25 & 26 MAY 2007
A Vasbyt / Endurance Walk – What are we talking about?
We are talking about a unique Endurance Walk Competition over 70 – 75 kilometers covered in two days with day one’s route a distance of 40 kilometers, followed by the remainder on day two. A Vasbyt/Endurance Walk team consists of 6 walkers. To qualify for the first two over-all places in each category namely gold and silver, the team must first of all finish intact exactly as they started and secondly be made up of the following: 6 men OR 6 women OR 3 women and 3 men constituting a mixed team. Otherwise any combination of 6 walkers may enter and who ever of the original starters finish the distance, qualifies for a bronze medal. The following rules apply at all times:
Team members may not exceed a distance further than 50m apart.
Under no circumstances will anybody RUN/JOG/HITCH ANY FORM OF MECHANICAL RIDE.
A Vasbyt/Endurance Walk is truly a remarkable experience. Firstly you discover that your body and your spirit are far stronger than you ever thought possible. Then you realize the depth of empathy you can actually have with a struggling team mate. And then you cry when the last kilometer is completed step by tired step as in the end you are the master of far more than just the distance. This is what a Vasbyt/Endurance Walk is all about.
Come on, gather a team (friends, colleagues, family), organise a few ‘seconds’ and take up the challenge of a Vasbyt. You’ve got four venues to choose from: Dias (February – Mossel Bay – South Western Districts – also the SA Championship event), Maluti (May – Kroonstad - Free State), Kannaland (August – Ladismith – South Western Districts) and the Peninsula (November – Cape Town – Western Province). We promise you a unique experience covering some very scenic routes, a holiday atmosphere in the air and the extended challenge … to reach the finish. Any questions - interested? Be the one to take the initiative by contacting Sonja Strauss – President of the Endurance Walking Association of South Africa at (044) 8027411 (w) / (044) 8747233 (h) / 0824872895 or Mr Wert Binedell – Chairperson of the SWD Endurance Walk Union (028) 5511006 (w) / 0827070242 for further information.
IMPORTANT INFO : ENDURANCE WALKERS
BEFORE THE RACE
1. Keep toenails short. Remember, once you feel pain, the nail will most probably come off anyway.
2. Take off any rings on your fingers as your hands tend to swell with physical activity. This will ensure that you do not suffer any discomfort.
3. Get Vaseline on all the areas you think you might chafe.
4. Always walk with a hat or a peak.
5. Either use a Sunblock or a high factor sun lotion (15 and up) to protect the areas that will be in the sun the whole day (face, neck (front and back), upper arms, shoulders, legs below your pants and remember … EAR LOBES!)
6. Don’t fasten your shoelaces too tight and make a double knot to ensure that they won’t come loose during the race. When you have to bend or squat – that is the time that cramps might hit or muscles are pulled.
7. A Lycra stretch pants is the best to prevent chafing of the inner thighs. Chafing of the inner thighs is one of the most uncomfortable situations to have to endure. Here prevention is the magic word! Remember : T-shirts/shirts with sleeves might chafe under the arms – check.
8. Rather walk with a small water bottle to make sure you have water with you at all times. You just keep filling it up at all the water-points as you go along.
9. If you have seconds, the following could be left with them:
Extra water Coke Bananas
Lip Ice Sun Lotion Ice
Headache Pills Sweets Vaseline
Deep Heat Cotton Wool
Brufen / Norflex tablets (Muscle relaxant) – NOT TO BE TAKEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH
Vitrace (energy boosting cheweable tablets) – Get this and carry some with you in a moonbag around your middle if you do not have seconds helping you.
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DURING THE RACE
1. Drink water and Coke regularly. Not necessarily big gulps all the time – but small sips whenever your mouth feels dry or you feel slightly thirsty. But when you feel like having a good drink, by all means quench your thirst properly.
2. Have a Vitrace at least every hour and if you should feel a bit drained or from the halfway mark – have one every half-hour.
3. If you feel slightly dizzy or experience a sort of ‘detatched feeling’ from what is happening around you - pour water over your head and at the back of your neck.
4. Do not talk while you are climbing hills or walking on the beach in very loose sand. Your breathing rhythm should not be disturbed as it will only make you more tired.
5. If anybody cramps – spray Deep Heat on the area if you have it available or just rub the muscle quite hard with your thumbs.
6. Anyone having a difficult time or going through a physical "dip" in performance, should be put IN FRONT of your group. This is a psychological life-line as there is the tendency to just keep on falling further and further behind if left at the back of the group.
7. A good way of giving everybody in your team a chance to indicate how they feel, is to ask that they give themselves a mark out of 10 (if 10 is excellent and 1 is a hospital case). This is just an easy way out if somebody is silently having a difficult time and might otherwise not indicate the true state of affairs.
8. Remember – you should expect to suffer … 70 - 75 kilometers is no small challenge! BUT if you truly feel nauseous, are shaking, shivering or experiencing bouts of goose-bumps and truly just feel completely "out of it" – STOP, get into your seconding vehicle and call it a day.
RULES PERTAINING TO ENDURANCE WALKING
1. You are not allowed to RUN under any circumstances.
2. Team members may not exceed a distance further than 50m apart from the first walker to the last one.
3. No rides on vehicles or any other form of mechanical transport is allowed. The whole distance should be walked by every individual in the team.
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PICTURES
