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<\/a>Alex Harris in action during the Race Across South Africa (RASA), which started in Pietermaritzburg and finished in Wellington 2 150km later. Photo: Llewellyn Lloyd \/ RebelX Photography<\/span><\/p>\nThe 49-year-old completed the 2 150km challenge, which started in Pietermaritzburg, in nine days and 22 hours. The previous record was set by Martin Dreyer in 2017 and stood at 10 days and six hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel immensely relieved and thrilled,\u201d said the Johannesburg local, after finishing the gruelling race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a personal thing not related to someone else, but to a belief of what my potential is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started this journey with my first race way back in 2010, I always thought it was possible to do a sub 10-day race.”<\/p>\n
Harris said his goal was always to complete the event in under 10 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not motivated by a win, or the record necessarily, but by breaking 10 days.\u201d<\/p>\n
RASA, which forms part of the Freedom Challenge series, sees riders navigating by means of maps, compass and narrative directions. The use of GPS devices is strictly prohibited.<\/p>\n
There is a wide variety of off-road terrain, which includes dirt roads, farm roads and tracks, footpaths and animal tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThinking back, it\u2019s all a bit of a blur,\u201d said Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re riding 18 to 20 hours, your day is differentiated by the two or three hours you might sleep, not by light or dark.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the first day went well but was cold, wet and muddy. He kept to a reasonably strong pace and made his day\u2019s end-mark a little ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cDay two was similar. I pushed hard to get through a really tricky portage section before dark and made my mark still ahead of my schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that day three involved the big portage over Lahanas with some of the strongest wind he had ever felt on the Freedom Challenge, but he stuck to the plan.<\/p>\n \u201cA key element of the sub 10 was day four. I had to get from Slaapkrantz to Romansfontein as this would set up the back section allowing me to do some of the tricky portage sections in daylight.<\/p>\n \u201cIt went well and I arrived at the support station pretty much on schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris said day five had a slight change in support stations, which meant he would end up doing about 20km more than anticipated.<\/p>\n \u201cThis pushed me back slightly, which would compound over the next few days.\u201d<\/p>\n Day six was another long day, he said, and when he arrived at the station that night and did his timing calculations, he realised he would not be able to sleep.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason being there are only two time slots to ride through the Baviaans. One at 6am and one at 1pm. At these two times you can ride through with a vehicle escort because of the buffalo.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew if I didn\u2019t make 1pm, I would have to wait 17 hours to the next window and that would be the end of the attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the last few kilometres of the river crossings were really overgrown and it was touch and go, but he made the gate with about an hour to spare.<\/p>\n \u201cThis meant however pushing on, and so by the end of day seven I had gone two full days with no sleep. But I was still on schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n On day eight and nine I pushed hard to make the exit out of Stettyns Kloof in the light, but just missed it by about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cThese 20 minutes now meant a cautious exit of the Kloof, which took another five hours, but I had done enough in the previous two days to store up some extra time to still make the sub 10 cut off.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall, Harris said he enjoyed day four the most as this was the key to the sub 10 and he was not sure how doable this would be in the planning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day I enjoyed the least was the final day – going up Stettyns Kloof. I thought I had plenty of time, but the Kloof always has a way of messing you around. It was highly stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris added that there were numerous highlights, but also a couple of challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best was experiencing the sunsets. During this time of the year they are spectacular. Also, the remoteness of Leeukloof near Willowmore – there were lots of animals.<\/p>\n \u201cI struggled the most with the heat and making sure I stopped at windmills for water.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sleep deprivation was also challenging, and taking power naps on the side of the road when I really needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>Alex Harris tackles a challenging section during the Race Across South Africa (RASA), which started in Pietermaritzburg and finished in Wellington 2 150km later. Photo: Llewellyn Lloyd \/ RebelX Photography<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Alex Harris on his way to breaking the Race Across South Africa (RASA) record. Photo: Llewellyn Lloyd \/ RebelX Photography<\/span><\/p>\n