The Mondi Hippo Challenge

At 6am on Sunday we were up and packing everything into the car. From Richards Bay we drove a further 45 minutes north to the Mtuba golf course for the Hippo Challenge. Although I only saw the last hole of the course it certainly looks well maintained and worth a visit sometime in the future. It was also relatively cheap, although I can’t remember exactly what the green fees were.

Registration was quick and painless, although I must bitch that we were promised shirts and didn’t get any. Grrr! Don’t tell me I’m going to get something and then not deliver.

Sharon and I rode the 25km route. It was a fast course and had very few hills in it. That said, we did get to carry bikes over a crocodile infested canal *manly grunt*. We’ve now done 3 races and this was our best so far, with a time of 1:25.

Thankfully we weren’t too dirty after the race, so after finishing we got straight into the car and started the long drive home. We stopped off at Steers for yet another burger (three in two days, now that’s good going) and finally made it home at around 2pm.

Amazingly, when I took the bikes off the car, both had punctures. At first I suspected foul play, but upon closer inspection we’d both ridden over thorns in the race. On the up side the bikes lasted ’til the finish, but it was still somewhat annoying to have to change the tires in amongst all the usual Sunday afternoon admin.