2022 Rhino Run Report: Updates from Days 5-8

Words by Jesse Carlsson, photos by Rae Trew-Browne

Following several years of planning, the first edition of the Rhino Run officially launched shortly after 6 a.m. on Friday, October 21st, with riders departing from Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. The 2,750-kilometre bikepacking race opens by traversing the Cross Cape cycle route, which boasts stunning gravel passes and sweeping coastal range views en route to the vineyards of Stellenbosch. It then turns north and makes its way through rough and remote terrain before entering Namibia, crossing the Namib Desert, and ultimately finishing in the capital, Windhoek.

Part one of our Rhino Race reportage introduced the race and covered the first four days, during which the lead riders pedalled some 1,365 kilometres across South Africa, setting a blistering pace and nearly reaching the border. If you haven’t, be sure to read that here before continuing on, then find written and video recaps of days 5-8 below.

Rhino Run Day 5

Abdullah and Kevin continued their battle along the R355 through the night, arriving in Springbok in the mid-morning, 1,530 kilometres into the race. Conditions were overcast and cooler for the lead riders, a welcome change from the scorching conditions of the previous days. After four solid days of riding, no gap established by one of these leaders ever survived the day. Rolling into Springbok, it was clear that an unspoken truce had been decided for the time being.

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The strain of four days of battle was clear on day five. Both Kevin and Abdullah spent nearly an hour at Springbok and the same at Steinkopf, despite a short 60 kilometres between the two towns. The resupply scene in front of the Springbok supermarket was comical, but also typical of bikepacking racing at the pointy end. At one point, Kevin struggled for around five minutes trying to zip up a hydration pack, his dexterity suffering from hours of pounding on the rough roads. At the same time, Abdullah was brushing his teeth in the sunshine while confused locals doing their morning shopping looked on.

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The long breaks from the weary leaders were clearly an escape from the strain of racing. They also allowed Jimmy Ashby in third place to reduce his gap to the leaders down to 150 kilometres, after blowing out through the night while Jimmy slept and Abdullah and Kevin pushed on. While Jimmy has a significant gap to close, he has an opportunity to apply pressure in the coming days – he is arguably fresher, having had more rest than the leaders. Anything can happen in this style of racing, and repairs requiring spare parts will take more than a day to fix, with no bike shops on course until the end. The conditions are brutal on gear, and so issues with tyres and drivetrains are always possible. Increasingly so as the days of riding accumulate.

The riding for the leaders was much the same as the previous day, with corrugated dirt roads through remote and barren country. A section of sandy farm tracks into Steinkopf and a commute through the stunning Richtersvelt peaks at sunset finished day five for the leaders. As the day closed, Abdullah and Kevin were still locked together. They were expecting to cross into Namibia during the night.

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Further back in the field, Jono Botha, riding in fourth place at the time, pulled himself out of the race just 12 kilometres short of Calvinia, citing Achilles issues. After some rest and self-treatment, Jono decided to continue, finding his way back to the spot where he withdrew, turning around, and continuing. Experienced bikepacking athlete Josh Ibbett withdrew from the race early on day five. Josh completed the Atlas Mountain Race only weeks ago, and had not yet recovered. He decided it was best to withdraw at Clanwilliam, after 1,020 kilometres, before the more remote sections of the course.

At nightfall on day five, the Team Amani riders were still going strong, with brothers Wasswa Peter and Kato Paul together in fifth and sixth place. Their sister Florence Nakaggwa was in ninth place. The performance from these young Ugandan athletes in their first bikepacking event has been truly remarkable. To support the Masaka Cycling Club, and help the discovery and development of Ugandan cycling talent like Wasswa, Kato and Florence, checkout MasakaCyclingClub.com and get behind this great foundation.

Day 5 Video Recap

Rhino Run Day 6

As day six began, race leaders Abdullah and Kevin were at the Vioolsdrift border control making their way into Namibia. It was a surprisingly late start, with both riders having more rest than on any other night during the race so far. Both stopped for over five hours in Vioolsdrift. Kevin reported that he slept through his 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. alarms and eventually woke at 5:45 a.m. Abdullah also slept longer than expected; he later said that his mum called to check on him during his unusually long break. It seems like both riders reset themselves before entering Namibia, viewing this section as a new phase of the race.

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After clearing customs and resupplying at a service station not far from the border, both riders took off on their first Namibian section at 7:45 a.m. Namibian mobile phone service requires a new SIM card and a tutorial on how to load it with phone and data credit. With passport control, customs, phone connection, and food and water resupply, there was a lot of admin to complete.

Abdullah reported two heavy falls during the previous night, both on the rocky 4WD track through the Richtersveld. On the first, he broke a strap on his lightweight backpack. On the second, he broke the other strap. He lost his sunglasses at some point in the commotion. By the time he left Aussenkehr, 60 kilometres from the border, Abdullah was sporting some cheap service station sunglasses. As he rolled on towards Rosh Pinah, he had a new backpack – nothing special, just a basic schoolkid bag that he found somewhere along the way.

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Heading away from the border, it was clear that the truce of yesterday was well and truly in the past. With 1,000 kilometres left to ride, Kevin was in race mode and hit the gas, quickly opening a gap of several kilometers on Abdullah as the course wound its way along the Orange River. Kevin appeared confident and in control, stating that his plan for the day was to “seal the deal.” At the same time, Abdullah seemed to be fatigued but calm and appeared content enjoying the change of scenery after his heavy falls the night before.

The Namibian section of the Rhino Run starts in truly spectacular fashion. After passing the straw hut township on the outskirts of Aussenkehr, a ridiculous landscape materialises with jagged peaks and a barren landscape reminiscent of Star Wars or Dune. The mountain vistas are painted with soft pastel colours, and there is barely any vegetation away from the Orange River. If you look carefully, you will see baboons cooling off in the river. It is very clear that you’re now in a different world.

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Kevin and Abdullah benefited from roaring tailwinds and unusually cool conditions (low 30s rather than the typical low 40s), as the course turned north beyond Rosh Pinah. But the winds in Namibia are unpredictable. A strong tailwind can become a scorching headwind in a snap. In the extremely dry heat, facing those headwinds is like staring into a hair drier. Strong winds can also mean sandstorms, and on the road from Rosh Pinah to Aus, our leaders experienced the first of many sandy plains. In the distance, you can often see whirlwinds kicking up spirals of sand. There always seems to be a jagged peak or range in the distance in one direction or another.

Amazingly, in a late afternoon charge, Abdullah managed to catch Kevin, and the race was on again. Kevin counter-attacked, and as night fell on day six, he had a lead of less than five kilometres. It is extremely rare to see an ultra-endurance race be so closely contested the entire way. With neither leader able to establish a gap, it is likely to be a tough battle to the end. The last 800 kilometres will be exciting to watch. One of them is bound to make a run for it and make a final push sometime soon, possibly after one last sleep break. The battle for third place has also intensified, with Steve Halligan catching Jimmy Ashby at the Namibian border. They are now 250 kilometres from the lead.

Day 6 Video Recap

Rhino Run Day 7

As day seven began, Abdullah surprised Kevin with a 60-kilometre gap. While Kevin stopped in Aus for three hours overnight, Abdullah pushed on, only stopping for a short roadside nap of maybe 40 minutes. “Hats off to him if he can pull this off,” Kevin said, clearly surprised that Abdullah rested so little with 800 kilometres still to ride.

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Kevin checked the tracker when he left Aus and knew that Abdullah had a two-hour and twenty-minute break on him, but knowing how little Abdullah rested, he was confident he could close the gap. There is no phone signal between Aus and Betta, so checking the race tracker on the road was not an option for Abdullah or Kevin on this long 200-kilometre stretch. The same is the case between most towns on the course.

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The route to Betta follows the D707. Those who ride this road are unlikely to forget it. It was in a shocking state for the leaders, with long sections of sand punctuated by rocky corrugated segments. Back roads like these are formed by graders pushing the sand to one side and repeating the process every few weeks after the sand blows back. Tyre tracks snake back and forth across the road, the fatigued riders constantly searching for a better line. Unlike bitumen, it’s impossible to hide your tracks. While the riding was challenging the conditions were cooler than expected, the jaw-dropping desert scenery continued. The jagged rocky peaks are fewer out here, and the desert hues turn pink.

Fifteen kilometres onto the D707 road, Abdullah was kneeling in the sand and clearly distressed. His bike was next to him, upside down in the middle of the road. Surrounding Abdullah, the sandy surface was disturbed. He had been frantically searching for something in the sand – it looked like a sand pit after the kids have finished with it. While replacing a derailleur hanger, a tiny grub screw dropped into the sand and was instantly buried. While only a few millimeters long, this grub screw was critical for Abdullah to tighten his rear axle. He had been digging in the sand for two hours without finding the screw. Eventually Abdullah worked out that another screw from elsewhere on his bike could do the job (we think it was a spring tension screw from his pedal). He tried it. It worked, and Abdullah was back on the road again. The gap that he had sacrificed sleep for was all but gone – down to just 20 minutes.

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Abdullah has faced issue after issue since day one. He lost his phone and sunglasses, struggled with sleep early on, damaged a wheel, fixed punctures, had at least two heavy falls, and destroyed two backpacks. And that was all before today’s drama. Short of a meteor impact, the universe has thrown every challenge at Abdullah in this race, and each time, he has dusted himself off and found a way to continue. It has been incredible to watch.

After a long section of deeper sand on the D707, Kevin eventually caught Abdullah at 10:30 a.m., still 90 kilometres from Betta. Yet another gap had evaporated. The battle was on again. From Betta, there are only 500 kilometres to the finish in Windhoek. Betta is a small outpost with fuel, a basic café with meager supplies, and simple accommodation for those passing by. It’s a little oasis in the desert. From this point on, resupply will be critical. Both leaders will not want to wait around for stores to open to find food further down the road at Sesriem or Solitaire, the final two resupply options.

As it turned out Kevin rolled into Betta first, just before 4 p.m. Abdullah arrived a few minutes later. On arrival, Kevin took his backpack and jersey off and lay on the ground in front of the small outpost store, declaring the previous section his hardest he had ever done in a race. It was clearly a tough section for both riders. Abdullah said next time he lines up for this race, he will have at least 60mm wide tyres, after seeing Kevin ride the sand with his wider tyres and a dynamo.

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It appears that both Kevin and Abdullah decided to rest in Betta. With 500 kilometres to go, the race was neutralised again. It’s likely that both leaders will make a final push straight through to Windhoek in a 500-kilometre sprint race. It is going to be a nail-biting conclusion to this incredible race. We’re expecting the first rider to reach the finish at Christuskirche, overlooking central Windhoek, late tomorrow night.

As night fell on day seven, the ever-consistent Steve Halligan was sitting in third place, 230 kilometres from the lead. Further back in the field, Team Amani faced some issues at the border post. With Ugandan passports, the riders were not allowed into Namibia. After some diplomatic negotiation, they were let through and started the Namibian section of the course after a long and stressful delay.

Day 7 Video Recap

Rhino Run Day 8

In a remarkable series of events, Abdullah Zeinab has won the inaugural Rhino Run, rolling into Windhoek in the early hours of the morning. Abdullah completed the extremely tough 2,741-kilometre course across South Africa and remote Namibia in 7 days, 20 hours, and 4 minutes. Kevin Benkenstein finished just 17 minutes later. Both riders dominated the race from the very start, but the final hour was one of the most exciting seen in this style of racing.

It is extremely rare for an ultra-endurance race to be decided by a sprint finish, but that is exactly what happened in the mountains surrounding Windhoek late on Friday night. The race started with Abdullah and Kevin testing each other on the first climb of the race, not far from the idyllic start on the beach at Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. They continued to test each other, every day of the race. When one of them established a gap, the other would somehow manage to close it. Such a close battle is rarely seen in this racing genre, and with daily update videos showing the race unfolding, dot-watchers around the world were captivated by the remarkable performance of the first two finishers.

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Abdullah is an experienced ultra-endurance athlete, with wins in the Trans Am Bike Race and the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, but this was his first time lining up for an off-road ultra. Abdullah’s resilience was tested to ridiculous levels, and each time, he somehow found a way to keep going. If the script of his ride was sent to a Hollywood producer, it would be returned as too far-fetched. Early on, Abdullah struggled to sleep, he lost his phone, he seriously damaged a rim on a rocky descent, he lost his sunglasses, destroyed at least two backpacks, and had two major falls on technical 4WD tracks. When his ultra-light backpack was destroyed, Abdullah bought a backpack from a shop along the way – the sort you see on schoolkids’ backs. When that failed, he bought another one to carry the huge amounts of water he needed to ride the brutal course safely.

At a pivotal moment of the race, Abdullah lost a grub-screw essential for tightening his rear axle. It slipped through his fingers and disappeared in the deep desert sand while replacing a derailleur hanger. He searched the sand for two hours without luck. Eventually Abdullah, worked out that a bolt from his Garmin mount would solve his problem. He tried it. It worked, and Abdullah was off into the desert again, but the lead he gained by sacrificing sleep had evaporated.

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Abdullah and Kevin started their final push to the finish from the remote desert outpost, Betta, on Thursday evening, 480 kilometres from the finish. It was a harsh push in the heat through some very remote country. After cresting the Gamsberg Pass with a stunning sunset overlooking a sea of rugged mountains, Kevin saw that he had a 20-kilometre lead on the race tracker. At this stage, he only had 115 kilometres to ride. Remarkably, Abdullah was able to close the gap, using Kevin’s flashing rear light as motivation. Dot-watchers were furiously refreshing the tracker, trying to work out who was in the lead. When Abdullah finished first, race fans were scratching their heads. How on earth had he done it?

Both Abdullah and Kevin put on a remarkable show. Kevin’s performance was extremely impressive – he pushed Abdullah to the limit, and the pace they set was the fastest seen in an off-road ultra of this type. At the finish line, Abdullah apologised to Kevin for the heartbreaking conclusion. Kevin stated that he was proud of both his and Abdullah’s performance, in this first race of its kind, starting in his home country. The next rider on course, Steve Halligan, was 380 kilometres from Windhoek as Kevin and Abdullah dragged their fatigued bodies away to search for some food and clean clothes. Ten minutes later, the Christuskirche returned to darkness, and it was like nothing ever happened.

Day 8 Video Recap

The Route

You can keep up with the event on the map above or on Instagram by following @the_rhino_run and @curvecycling.

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