How to avoid stomach problems on Cape Epic

[Danger Dassie]

On 1/15/2024 at 5:14 PM, NotSoBigBen said:

A bit anecdotal but after some advice from the Sheriff and my GP my brother and I took probiotics starting a few days before and then every day at Epic. Were careful as we could be as far as hygiene goes without being stupid about it and had no stomach issues

Did the pleb meal and sleep tent option .... luck or planning we'll never know?

 

 

 

Built differently in Alberton, hulle eet nie wat julle eet nie! 

[ajnkzn]

From a Dusi paddling history (SA canoe race down what is essentially an open sewer over three days…)

 

As above (be paranoid about cleanliness , especially around communal food etc) but also;

 

1) You get bike bottles with that extra cap over the nozzle - keeps mud / dirty water / animal poop off the nozzle 

2) High quality probiotic - always - the studies around gut health and sports performance are more and more compelling

3) Travelan - we don’t seem to get it here in SA anymore but I think it’s available overseas. Great preventative product that contains Colostrum if I recall. 

4) Kantrexil is also the go to if things go south - some of us even used to just start a course on the morning of the race as a cautionary dose. 

5) Smecta is a great product for low grade tummy runs. 

Edited January 26 by ajnkzn

[Robbie Stewart]

Not doing the Epic, but I did two Enduro races last year where I ended up with gut issues so bad I tapped out on both occasions and didn't finish the last two stages. I got some valuable info in this thread.

[shambler]

I'm from Europe and rode and finished Cape Epic in 2023. I'm still baffled by the fact 80 teams had to give up during and before stage 2, mostly because of Gastrointestinal illnesses. This is not due to people being weak, that mostly happens after more race days. There must have been a real source of contamination somewhere. 

I'm used to race multiday stage races all over the planet for more then 15 years and know how to look for myself (joberg2c, Swiss Epic, Alps Epic, Breck Epic, Transportugal...).  I also took probiotics before hand.

We also struggled a lot in the night of day 1 and day 2 and started day 2 with a lot of doubt whether we could finish. We didnt slept at all due to being sick and the howling wind. We started day 2 as being tourists and in the end we finished the stage successfully. The next days we had better legs and stomachs but our appetite was gone for the rest of the race and the ****s remained for 4 more weeks (!).

We had to ride through a cowshed in the prologue. And also through a lot of farmland on day 1. That could have been a potential source of contamination.

We didnt use the water in the race village up until we got sick because we still had bottled water in our tent. Only possible contaminated water source could have been the water point.

Another possibility could have been the after race dinner. Which had a lot debatble choices throughout the week. Since we never got real hungry anymore the rest of the days we skipped most of it.

When using the facilities I always had hand spray with me.

I was checked by doctors almost every day from day 3 onwards if it was still safe to race. Kudos for them for being so patient.
Back at home I was diagnosed with Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli. Which I suppose most people had.

You can avoid all of the above by going fully "Pro" and avoid the race village/food/aid stations all together, but we are just working people and the price for the Epic is already ridiculously overpriced that this not an option for the majority of the people.

I guess sometimes it's just down to bad luck, because we really tried to avoid this.

[Donovan Le Cok]

To echo the sentiments of what others have already said, for me, I think in 2023 the post-stage lunches were so source of lots of problems. Every single post-stage lunch we received smelt off, and I threw the first few days' worth away. The bolognese smelt like death one day. I eventually just stopped taking them. 

Stage 1, we passed multiple teams with guys throwing up next to the trail. That can't be from gut strain so early on.

[Wouter van den Heever]

Dr Darren Green, race doctor of the Absa Cape Epic, covers the topic of stomach issues and how to prevent it, in detail in this film of the 2024 Absa Cape Epic.