Merrell Songlines off to a winning start in 2024
Team Merrell Songlines took just over 26 hours to take line honours at the first race of the Africa Adventure Race World Series on 3rd February.
Race director, Adrian Saffy set the 36hr race competitors a 200km course starting and finishing in the mountain town of Rhodes, high up in the Maluti mountains of the Eastern Cape province.
“We knew the race would be a good physical test given the area’s altitude and mountainous terrain, and we weren’t wrong. The first leg really set the tone with a 30km, 1000m mountain bike climb up the infamous Naudes Nek Pass.” said Kelvin Trautman.
“The course had plenty scenic highlights including biking the highest contour road in South Africa, traversing along plenty exposed mountain ridgelines and down some pristine rivers full of wild trout.”
“We really got lucky with the weather too, only once getting caught in one of the area’s notoriously violent summer thunderstorms. All in all things went relatively smoothly throughout the race and Kelvin and I really enjoyed teaming up with Andrew Houston and Bianca Haw again.” said Lance Kime.
“We raced with Merrell Songlines back in 2021 are excited to be back in the fold for the 2024 season.” said KZN star athlete Bianca Haw. Andrew added “This race was the first time I have had the opportunity to run in the new Merrell Agility Peak 5’s and I was super impressed. I wore the shoes pretty much out the box and no issues during the 80kms of rough mountain trekking. I also really enjoyed the stack height of the shoe. It made for a very comfy and stable ride, especially considering we were off trail for most of the trek legs.”
Merrell, and Team Songlines, will continue their partnership through the 2024 adventure racing season in South Africa and at Adventure Race World Champs in Ecuador in November.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to fly the Merrell flag again. It definitely feels like being part of a family, and with their support we are really excited to give racing on the world stage another good crack this year.” said Kelvin Trautman.
“Our big goal is obviously World Champs in Ecuador in November. Ecuador is a place none of us have been to let alone raced so we are all looking forward to having a quintessential adventure by seeing and exploring somewhere new. As prep for Worlds we aim to do the Africa Adventure Race Series made up of 5 races across South Africa. Excitingly, these 5 races are being put on by 5 different race directors. It’s great to see both new and established race directors stepping up to host races and help build our sport.”
Looking abroad, the team is also aiming to do Expedition Africa Namibia in May. “Namibia is one of those unique and wild corners of the planet that few of us have explored, and we are excited to see where the race director stalwarts, Heidi and Stephan (Muller) send us.” said Lance Kime.
The next adventure race for Merrell Songlines is a 125km lap of the hills, valleys and rivers near Port Elizabeth in early April. The race is the second installment of the Africa Adventure Race World Series, and is organized by local adventure race team Mountain Mammoth.
