Tsumeb Gimnasium teacher embarks on gruelling physical challenge

Tsumeb Gimnasium’s geography teacher Nadine du Plessis, and her husband Dr Pieter du Plessis, recently took on their biggest challenge yet: Competing in Expedition Africa Namibia.

The multi-discipline endurance sport saw participants competing in teams, navigating from control point to control point in several disciplines - mountain biking, trekking, kayaking, rope work and orienteering.

Teams were expected to navigate using a map and landmarks, and had to operate in harsh remote environments in all weather conditions.

The Du Plessis couple are runners who love to do various challenges together and faced a series of physically demanding tasks during the event. To prepare, they trained with their online conditioning coach Morné Castelyn, a biokineticist and endurance athlete.

According to them, the anticipation of kayaking and cycling was silent torture, due to living in a landlocked town like Tsumeb.

After waiting in anticipation with sweaty palms and butterflies in their stomachs, their race into the unknown was to start. Sea sickness and burning legs were just some of the obstacles that they had to overcome, they said.





With a short strategic planning session after 48 hours on the bumpy track and one to two hours of sleeping breaks with the sun baking like an oven on their backs, their physical abilities were challenged to their ultimate limit. On their way to Death Valley, they met a friendly photographer who provided some much-needed shade with his vehicle.

The couple said their motivation hit rock-bottom at the Spitzkoppe, but their children and family welcomed them and gave them enough courage to carry on with this race of a lifetime. Leaving the Spitzkoppe with new motivation and ease on their shoulders, they had enough to carry on with the excruciating race that really tested their boundaries.

They had to encourage each other and keep themselves motivated. In the final stretch, Pieter started showing signs of sleep deprivation, his wife narrated. Nadine encouraged him, and with his fuzzy brain, he remembered he had two slices of toast. This was enough to give them the energy they needed to push through the last stretch of the race, she said.

Welcoming arms embraced them as their two children - half asleep, but full of excitement - awaited them at the finish line. History was made at midnight. Their quest is an inspiration to the learners of Tsumeb Gimnasium, showing the value of the subject geography, as well as the fact that their teacher really knows her stuff!