LOCAL BUSINESS SPONSORS

Swimming in the river, an enjoyable but technical mountain bike trail and ending off with a run on dirt roads and in the Kalahari veld.

The extreme is the longer and more challenging choice. A 800m swim, 28km mountain bike route and 10km trail run.

The Lite is an easier and shorter route. A 250m swim, 14km mountain bike route and 5km trail run.

New Event – Extreme Kids for all kids between 6 – 11 years old. A 20m swim, 1km mountain bike route and 500m run. Entire event will be held within the borders of the Oranje Rus Resort.

Teams

Athletes can decide whether they want to participate individually or in a team of 3. Individuals obviously do all three different legs themselves (Swimming, running and cycling), completed one after the other, whereafter the final time is taken as soon as the last leg of the event is completed.

In a team context, each member does one of the three disciplines. This is also done one after the other and the total team time is taken as soon as the last team member completes the last leg of the event.

LOCAL BUSINESS SPONSORS

The Extreme is fortunate to have two local businesses as main sponsors, namely Upington Toyota and Upington Toyota Financial Services. Without these sponsorships it would not have been possible to offer such an event in the way it is done. Furthermore, there are several additional sponsors who contribute water points and staff all working towards the success of the Upington Toyota Extreme.

Years ago, the Ysterspan Competition was hosted in Upington, a popular and well-known sporting event on the Upington Sports Calendar. It was a fairly long and logistically challenging event to host as it stretched over 2 days, participants took part in teams of 5 and swam, ran, cycled and also paddled. The Ysterspan Competition unfortunately came to an end leaving a huge void in Upingtons sports calendar.

In 2007, Upington’s Rotary Club began contemplating of re-establishing the Ysterspan Competition but in a new, shorter form that would take place in one day. Additionaly the idea was to offer an easier version to involve the younger generation and give the more senior athletes the chance to participate.

In 2008, the first Upington Extreme was presented at Oranjerus.  Since then, there has been much planning and refining to where it is today. At the first Extreme there were about 15 athletes and it has since grown to nearly 200 athletes anually.