 13 December 2006
The 2006 Old Mutual Bank PE2EL Challenge (which started this morning in Port Elizabeth) is 37 year old Pete Cole's fifth attempt at this extraordinary 244km race.
He's come 2nd in the doubles and he's twice come in 3rd in the singles. This year he's paddling singles again and is up against the likes of Paul Marais and Oscar Chalupsky.
244km, 4 days
So just how do you tackle a 244km, 4 day race? Do you race from the outset or do you conserve your energy, at least on the first day when you're faced with a non-stop 80km stretch from PE to Woody Cape?
"You just take each as it comes," said Pete, "and it depends largely on the weather. In downwind conditions you don't see anyone, but on the flat or into wind the guys tend to stick together and it becomes more tactical." This year the forecast is for flat conditions on at least two of the days.
"The first day is a challenge," Pete agreed, "because there's no check point - or at least the check point is on a boat - and you don't get off your bum for six hours or so. All the other days there's a half way check point on the beach."
Food and Drink
What do the paddlers do about food and drink on such a day? Further back in the fleet, the paddlers do take food but the guys in front, it seems, literally don't have time to stop. Pete takes 5-6l of juice but eats very little while he's paddling. "I'm not a great one for eating on the water." he said, "I'll probably eat a couple of energy bars, but you can't stop - the guys can disappear while you're eating!" Before the race he'll eat a wholewheat sandwich "with something greasy on it like peanut butter."
"As you get off the water though," Pete said, "it's important to eat quickly and re-hydrate to get your energy levels back up."
Training
As for training, Pete said that he'd changed his regime this year to do "a lot of quality". What does that mean? Instead of doing a lot of long slow paddles - "I think the longest I did this year was about four hours" - he's done plenty of "longish intervals, getting my heart rate up instead of just plodding". Another difference this year is that he's tried to train twice a day "to get the mileage in", but "tried not to overdo it".
Pete paddles all the year round - and started his serious PE2EL training after the Fish River canoe marathon at the beginning of October.
Surf
The PE2EL is notorious for surf and broken boats. At the end of the first day, the paddlers are faced with coming in at Woody Cape. Even worse, they have to go out through it the next morning.
"Two years ago I took forty minutes to get out at Woody Cape!" said Pete, "and that was my race. Touch wood, I've never had problems coming in.
"But I love the surf - for me it's part of the race and the PE2EL wouldn't be the same without it.
"What helps I think, and this goes for guys like Oscar and Paul Marais too, is that we have a surf lifesaving background so we're used to the surf. Some of the other guys who don't have that background do battle a bit."
Pete's approach is to watch the surf from about a kilometre away from the beach. "You're coming along the coast so you can see what's happening with the waves," he said. "When you commit, it's generally best to come all the way in. If you think about it, the waves are usually 12-15 seconds apart. In that time, if you're paddling hard, you can do 50-60m and that'll take you across the impact zone."
"But," Pete said, "I sometimes don't have the patience going out. Oscar and Paul will sit there watching the breaks. I sometimes find myself in the wrong place with a set coming in, not where you want to be!"
The Opposition
"Oscar is just awesome in this race! He's won it I don't know how many times. There is no-one in the world like him on big ocean swells. But this year we're forecast to have some flat days so hopefully conditions will favour the rest of us!"
Paul Marais "is definitely one of the best on a long race. He has the art of chasing runs while conserving energy for maybe 60km."
Paul and Oscar are probably the best in the race. But Wojtek Orzechowski is also there, and he's been in the top five before.
Special Race
What's so special about this race?
"It is something special. Part of it's the camaraderie - the first guy in will wait for the last guy to hit the beach. That kind of thing. I love it!"
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