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Team Songlines

TEAM

Team Songlines is an expedition Adventure Racing team made up of athletes, obsessive wanderers, podium chasers, Type II fun hogs and friends. We love adventure racing because we love human-powered travel, maps, big skies and pushing over empty horizons.

A few people have asked what Songlines means and in short a Songline marks a route across land, sea and sky and has been used by Aboriginals for generations to find their way. The melody of these songs is said to describe the contours and features of the landscape which we thought was a beautifully apt way to think about navigating our way around an Adventure race course.

We are here to give you a peak into the sport of Adventure Racing - glimpses of seldom explored corners of the planet, tales of getting lost, winning, losing and the inevitable misery that comes with going too far and for too long.

TEAMMATES

Name: Kelvin Trautman - Outdoorsman, Photographer, Dad

  • Hometown: Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
  • Bio: I grew up in a family where sport and pushing one's physical limits were adorned. This love was the segway to building a career as an adventure photographer. I have a rubber arm when it comes to toeing start lines, especially for sports like adventure racing and I’m really enjoying getting the chance to compete again, this time as a dad.
  • Anything you would like to say about AR?: Nowadays, with all it’s creature comforts and convenience you rarely get an opportunity to learn where the boundaries of your body and mind are. AR makes you realise we can go much further than you actually think.
  • Career highlights: 
  1. Multiple expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica as documentary photographer and athlete
  2. Red Bull Photographer
  3. 2nd Nonstop Dusi paddling race
  4. Winner of Sailing World Champs - Maxi class
  5. Winner of Cape to Rio Sailing race

Name: Tamika Gandar - farm girl, endurance sport athlete, event organiser and financial planner

  • Hometown: Ixopo, Kwa Zulu Natal
  • Bio: Growing up on a farm and with a father who loved endurance sports there was almost no option for me not to love it myself. I watched from the side lines, with my mom who is the best second there has to be, as my dad raced adventure races, canoe marathons, running marathons etc. and as soon as I was old enough to do races myself there I was. It’s been a part of my life from the moment I was born and I will forever be grateful for this way of life.
  • Just like Owen, I now find myself balancing time between financial planning, race organising and squeezing in as many adventures as I can.
  • Anything you would like to say about AR?: It pushes you to levels you did not think you were capable of. Having a team where you are all friends and enduring the tough times together is special.
  • Career highlights:
  1. 2nd Women 2019 Dusi Canoe Marathon
  2. 1st Women 2020 Dusi Canoe Marathon
 

Name: Owen Gandar

  • Hometown: Ixopo, Kwa Zulu Natal
  • Bio: Growing up I was crazy about ball sports. Cricket, golf, rugby; you name it I most probably loved playing it. One thing I really loathed however was endurance sports. I was the guy at the back of the pack when it came to school cross country. However, what started out as a bit of fun joining the school canoeing club turned out to be a decision that planted the seed for adventure sports and I have been captured ever since
  • I now find myself balancing time between dairy farming, financial planning, race organizing and squeezing in as many adventures as I can.
  • Anything you would like to say about AR?: Often with adventure sports there is a limited team element which is something I missed from days on the sports field. Adventure racing however is as big a team sport as any other sport out there.
  • Career highlights:
  1. Multiple Dusi canoe marathon top 10 finisher
  2. 2 x podium finisher at Drak Challenge
  3. 2nd in Expedition Africa 500km

Name: Lance Kime

  • Hometown: Cape Town, South Africa
  • Bio: I grew up in a family that spent most of our weekends and holidays hiking and cycling which sparked my love for wild places and exploring. As an innately competitive person it was a natural progression for exploring to turn into racing, which led me to spend most of my teenage years entering as many kayaking, cycling and running races as I could. Nowadays when I’m not working as an engineer, I’m in the ocean, the mountains, or dreaming about my next adventure race.
  • Anything you would like to say about AR?: AR combines all the sports I love most with the challenge of navigation and carries on for days on end. And you get to share it all with 3 mates!
  • Career highlights:
  1. 2x winner of the Dusi Canoe Marathon, South Africa
  2. Winner of Avon Descent, Australia
  3. 9th at World Multisport Championships 2018, New Zealand
  4. 3rd in Expedition Africa 500km 2019, Mauritius
 

Name: Andrew Houston

  • Hometown: Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • Bio: I love competition and pushing myself. Growing up on a dairy farm in Mooi River, adventures were only a step away. AR was inevitable. Still looking for my favourite sport… not choosing anytime soon. Motorbikes, bicycles, canoeing, running and adventure racing to name a few.
  • Anything you would like to say about AR?: Whatever you think you are capable of, that’s not even a drop in the ocean. AR racing is opening our mind to what’s possible. It’s an activity where every event has created lifelong memories.
  • Career highlights:
  1. 2nd overall Knysna oyster festival
  2. 3rd overall Jonkershoek marathon
  3. 4th overall Dusi canoe marathon
  4. 4th overall Fish canoe marathon
  5. 1st junior Team Expedition Altay China 7th overall
  6. 3rd OR2 creighton National enduro