Katja Steenkamp was the second woman to finish The Munga in 2016, and the tenth rider overall. A formidable achievement considering the challenge at hand. For those who don’t know: The Munga is a 1000 kilometre plus, nonstop race across the heart of the Karoo from Bloemfontein to Wellington, outside Cape Town. We spoke to her about the experience, and to try and learn a little more about the trials involved in finishing an ultra-endurance event like this.
Not many people would be attracted to a race like the Munga, covering over 1100km nonstop: what drew you to the race in the first place?
What was your weapon of choice: hardtail, dual suspension or gravel bike, and do you think it was the right call?
What was the hardest part of the race for you?
The hardest part of the race for me was the sleep deprivation in combination with the extreme heat and head wind. Your eyes just want to shut and the sun is frying you alive at the same time. It’s a very unpleasant feeling. One tends to slow down a lot. The trick is to push through that wall and keep on pacing, drink lots of coffee and Bioplus.
I tend not to over think or plan too much. I knew the distances of the main water points and race villages. That was about it. I had not looked at the profile or the areas we were going through. This approach served me well until I hit the Tankwa section (between Sutherland and Ceres). I had heard that it’s flat and fast and so I thought I will be in Ceres in a few hours. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This section was truly the most testing of the entire trip. We had dropped out of the mountains and ahead was this massive semi-desert basin stretching out forever to the horizon. I had no idea which direction I was going and just followed the navigation on my Garmin.
I ran out of water after about 4 hours of riding in blistering heat and had lost count of the kilometres that were left to the next water point. My Garmin had reset itself the night before and so I had to manually count the kilometres. My survival mode kicked in. Totally sleep deprived, exhausted, and dehydrated, it took me a moment to realised that I stood in front of a padstal. I had about 2 litres of coke and ate some of the owner’s food before I continued the suffering. From there it was ‘only’ another 90km to Ceres. A quick ride, the shop owner said.
About 20 km down the road, fighting with the angry head wind and baking conditions once more, I was close to crying and questioning for the first time why I had signed up for this. The corrugated road rolled over countless hills for about 40 km before the climbing started into Ceres. By that time, I could not stand as my knees started to hurt badly and I couldn’t sit as my bum was a total mess. I was nauseous from the pain, the exhaustion and dehydration. But I simply carried on as if it was my duty to do so. Arriving in Ceres and then carrying on to Wellington is all left in a blur.
To complete the Munga takes much courage, discipline, and a very high pain threshold. You need to be prepared to suffer for long durations. Against all odds, to be able to ride over that finish line feels extremely special and something only a Munga finisher can relate to. Once you are there, you know you can do whatever you put your mind to.