Stage 3 – Through the Messum crater

The first three kilometres through the river bed were intense as the heat of the sun radiated back on to us from a sheer rock wall but soon the day began to cool and we embarked on our best section of the race.
A short half hour climb took us to the lip of the crater and stretching below us was a stunning sea of green speckled with two pairs of springbok.
By now we were laughing and joking, inspired by the landscape and the exhilaration of being in a place where few humans ever tread.
Untouched, rarely traversed, the Messum crater is a special place. As the sun began to set we took our last pictures and packed away the camera.
We knew a long dark night lay ahead. Slightly disorientated we used our GPS to take a bearing for the first time.
As we trekked across the crater we felt we were nearly half way, and in a race of this distance, these moments of elation quickly seem false.
Darkness was closing in and for the first time we were able to see a strobe light marking the third check point. Again, the last three kilometres seemed everlasting but we arrived strong and were again quickly into our check point routine. Again we had caught up with some others and were able to get information about the front runners.
Everyone was suffering and we could share experiences of aches, pains and blisters. One runner had fallen foul of the sun and was pulled out by the race doctor suffering from extreme heat exhaustion and severe leg cramps.
The perverse nature of the desert climate meant we were suddenly cold and pulled our running fleeces and leggings on to keep out what felt like an icy wind. We cooked for a second time and left on a downhill slope into the darkness