January 29--Raiders in good spirits as 24-hour hike begins
By James Bowyer

Raiders will continue to battle rain during the 68-mile hike

It is unsettling that after five days on the move, Mack "The Machine" McIntyre still has the energy for such antics. He is part of the South African team Sun International Sport Trust that has surprised many with their current fifth place.

Many of the other leading teams who ended the horse-riding section today appeared equally fresh and relaxed. Teams approaching the end of the trail unmounted at a general store to use up some spare time, as anyone reaching the checkpoint before the specified time would be penalized. Most of the leading teams bravely murmured complaints about how easy the Raid has been so far.

Partly to blame may be the disarming Basotho hospitality. The teams that organizers hoped would spend a miserable night in the open battling storms were taken in by the mountain people. While some teams slept in tents, others were welcomed into warm stone huts. One village even slaughtered a lamb for a visiting team.

"I've slept well every night of the race so far," complained Bob Foster from third-place Team Endeavor. Others agreed that compulsory stops were holding back the consenting adults eager to push themselves beyond the reasonable. With the end of the "dead event" horse trail that has frozen positions, teams will now move back into real time.

The weather, for once, is on the Raiders' side. As quickly as the mist and clouds appeared they lifted, revealing startling views from the top of Africa.

Damaged feet will be rediscovered in the 68-mile hike along the escarpment of the Lesotho mountains. The hike has no curfew tonight, so teams will feel compelled to walk through the night to reach the checkpoint before the midday cut-off time tomorrow. Stragglers forced to hike through the night will have to navigate in the dark, adding further to their misery.

The hike will be broken by a section that requires teams to abseil down a sheer cliff. The section poses a classic Raid riddle: Either leading teams abseil down the cliff at night in misty conditions, or lose five hours by taking an alternate route.

After a 31-mile hike, many teams will chose the alternate route to avoid making critical mistakes. However, this will give teams who arrive at the section in the morning a chance to close the widening gap. Betting types expect the top 10 teams who carry on through the night to reach the swollen Umkomaas River as early as 8 a.m. tomorrow.

Those who this morning complained about the pace may have different opinions after they have completed the coming 24-hour march.

Quotes for the day

"I will pay for my children's school fees." --Phillip Mohale, discussing how he will spend the money he has made renting out his horse for the two-and-a-half-day trail. Raid organizers paid R400 ($90) per horse, a tidy sum considering that most of the mountain people earn R200 ($45) a month.

"We sleep comfortable every night so it has not been bad." --Phillipe Dutilleux, of second-place Infopoint/Hewlett-Packard.

"If they make a mistake it will be very dangerous." --Raid official discussing the nighttime abseiling section.

James Bowyer is a freelance journalist living in Cape Town, South Africa.