The Two Oceans Trail Run 22km

 

As a rube from the countryside, coming into the big city, the two oceans trail run to me was a slightly intimidating event. Having 800 entrants, it was the biggest trail run, I'd certainly participated in. And the hullabaloo started nearly the moment I arrived in the mother city, when I jumped the vipers pit (or perhaps the Labyrinth) of the Cape Town Convention Centre and queued for my race pack; the arena had been transfigured into a temple for running related kibble (items which in retrospect are indistinguishable from the contents of one's waste basket). Now don't get me wrong, as a runner who, to use that deeply irrational cliché, 'gives it his hundred and ten percent', I certainly salivate over high performance equipment and nutritional supplements (GU) and was persuaded to purchase some items which would protect me from Mr. Sun -namely the blurry cap and the snazzy blurry glasses seen in the blurry picture above- but I found it quite disturbing that the simplicity and almost universal accessibility of running was hijacked by hundreds of little widgets and doodahs, such as Magic Shoelaces, amulets and little running pouches which attach to your shoes - are not pockets good enough?! Wending my way out of this web, I left for my aunts house, getting ready for a rude start and looking forward to what should (and would prove to be) a good race.

 

The Race!

The start was a windy one, making it slightly chilly. As we had arrived punctually I had the luxury of exploring the historic buildings of UCT during my warm-up, as we waited for the five batches of 10km runners to leave the chutes. After that, grinning foolishly in the start shoot, I waited, along with approximately 800 other runners in the start shoot, as Trevor Ball  tried his very best to instill a little fear into our hearts - for the fun of it. It was not entirely unjustified however, as a brutally fast start leads us upwards towards Devils Peak. With a good understanding of a trail runner's not entirely correct psyche and a proficiency in crowd dynamics, the several first gruelling kilometers were on double track terrain, which naturally led to a lot of foolish and nonstrategic dicing upon my part, despite being insulated from the world by a pair of polarised lens. 

Eventually the path narrowed and then the fun began. As usual in these things, upon nearing the summit and usually the half way point, one usually talks about the view, which is always inevitably magnificent and profound, offering a truth or another. Instead I'll talk about Mr. Green, so called because of the shirt he was wearing. I'd been sticking with him for much of the way and so I took it as a personal affront when as I fatigued, he only sped up. Eventually he and two others disappeared around the one of the many turns of the twisting trail, even as I tried my best not to flag. That was when I entered what I'll nickname 'Prickle Path', a two kilometre stretch of fynbos, which left me scratched and bleeding and also slightly confused, when I momentarily left the trail. This momentary lapse, led the leading lady at the time, KATYA SOGGOT to overtake me on the challenging and hazardous descent to the famed Cape Town cannons. 

With energy at a bit of an ebb after the cannons, up a hill known unofficially as a Bastard to even the local capetonians (who should in all other circumstances take delight in breaking a man) , I was again overtaken, this time by the infamous and once local to George, LANDIE VISSER.

At the four k to go mark, I found renewed vigour and to my delight was able to overtake a number of runners, through the fun little section towards the blockhouse and UCT, including the now second place Katya and my new arch-rival, Mr. Green. It was a relief to collapse at the finishing mat with a 19th Men's open and 2nd Junior man's placing. It was indeed a blustery day.

Thank you Pennypinchers for the trip.

The Cairnbrogie Trail Run 2012

The Start

( I love it when  everyone stands back from the start showing so respect to the course to come)

Good Friday, the first day of the Easter long weekend and also the day of the Cairnbrogie Easter Trail Run. Now in its second year the Pennypinchers Adventure Racing Team had spent the last 2 months preparing the exciting routes on the Cairnbrogie dairy Farm outside Plettenberg Bay.  With 4 different routes on offer there was something for the whole family, young to old, fit to not so fit. With Magnetic South and thier new ESC (Every Seciond Counts) timing system we were able to run all three races at the same time.

Runners from all three runs cross the line (Every Second Counts captures the positions)

There were two short routes for the kids with the 4km Fun Trail Run only having prizes which were sponsored by Spur for boys and girls under the age of 12. This resulted in a fast race where the local Plett Surf Nippers dominated with the Roode, and Dugmore clan cleaning up again. Part of the kid’s package was also a 1,5km Adventure Trail where the younger kids and also the Wheel chair kids from Die Sterreweg went on a self guided walk /run/sprint through the forest and back past a number of newly born calves and to cup cakes and a Spur Goodie Bag.

Plett Surf Nippers Rule the Trail to!!!

The 7km Trail run was tackled by a whole host of runners and local runner Marius Schlecther in his first off road venture came in first. The route incorporated some of the specially made single track on the Cairnbrogie Farm.

The Blue Ribbon event of the day was 13 km run. The garden Routes best trail runners were on the line. Local Victor Gugushe, Knysna based Melakhaya Msitzi and Mark Collins were all eyeing each other on the start line. It was the unknown face of Stuart Marais that in under an hour (52 minutes) arrived at the finish line followed by Msitzi and then Collins. The ladies was won by Port Elizabeth based Triathlete Kirsty Wier in a time of 1hr 18 min. Marias who hails from Stellenbosch is a top Xterra athlete and flew in under the radar and really put on a great performance. His comments on the route were “this is a proper trail run “

Stuart Marais (1st) Andrew Hill (Cairnbrogie Farm), Melkahya Msitzi 2nd,Mark Collins 3rd

Apart from the running there were two groups of local dancers on display with the House of Hope girls giving a display of the Zamba dance with a very modern vibe and then the Reel Dancers from the Griekwa Church put on a display of the more traditional dancing from their community. The ladies from the Griekwa church had a great stall selling rooster koek and pancakes and had a great fund raising day.

With the long run being fully subscribed (100 only)and the two shorter runs having about 70 runners in each and the Kids Adventure Trail entertaining about 80-100 kids the day was a huge success made possible by the Pennypinchers AR Team, Cairnbrogie Farm, Chris von Christierson and a whole host of volunteers and local business sponsors.Pictures from Glen Murray

The album from Glen Murray is at https://picasaweb.google.com/114421207657151811852/CairnbrogieEasterTrailRun?authkey=Gv1sRgCIzrmeP1h-K57gE#

Results at http://www.trailrunning.co.za/news.php?newsId=951
For other photos of the day go to showmeplett website and go to the galleries.

The Salomon Sky Run Story

The Lady Grey Country Club has two influxes of people during the year . One the Wartrail Multisporters in March and then the runners for Sky Run in November. We visit on both occasions but prefer the laid back and smaller filed of the Adventure Racing crowd in March.

Before we could even register we had to under a a quick medical check. Blood pressure,heart rate and wieght. Having spent the whole day in eating in the car and just arrived in to a hall full of people and the excitement of the race hardly made for great healthy results. In fact the fear of God was put in to Petrus with his blood pressure sky high ( by the time he reached Balloch the next day it was way down ).

As always a great pasta meal was provided and the race briefing revealed a huge part of the field were novices. (Adrian Saffy organiser and sweep was in for a long day). Our little group hit the sack and tried to sleep thrugh the noise of a local party and a new kid on the drag rtacing scene. 2:25 am came all to soon and the ritual forcing of a breakfast and some water began .

After a few words of wisdom and caution from the organiser,Adrian Saffy, the race was on. Unlike the casual jog of the Wartrail out of Lady Grey, the front Sky runners (racing snakes) took off like they were doing the 100m sprint!!!
After 40 min the headlights were already off and one knew at this stage it was going to be a hot day with the sweat dripping from ones body. After 1hr 40min myself (Garth), Lettuce, Jeff and Petrus had reached the Tower CP1. At this stage the field was staggered and groups already formed.
From the Tower, past CP2(Olympus) and on to CP3(Snowden) was all about getting into a steady rhythm and doing a little base work to open a gap and push.
With water been Scarce and a steady berg wind the natural river spring just after Snowden was a stop for all. Fuel up,and splash those faces before moving on again for the climb up to Avoca. All the way one needs to remember to turn those heads and take in those spectacular views we so often forget about when racing.
Once at Avoca (CP4) and a 5min stop to refuel again properly and appreciate the country side again we were off. Off to Skiddaw via the Dragons Back. By this stage the North wind was howling so crossing the Dragons Back was hair raising for some allowing us(Garth, Lettuce, Jeff and Petrus) to pass a large group taking a more conservative route and not going straight over the Dragons Back. (How could one not go over the Dragons Back. One of the main highlights of the race!!!).
Shortly after passing through Skiddaw(CP5) we lost Jeff to not feeling so well and decided to push on and wait at Balloch. All that was left before reaching Balloch was that horrid knee crunching, ankle twisting downhill that went on for ever before reaching the path in the valley below and meandering all the way in to the picturesque Ballock(CP6). Here we were met by our organised family and friends being our seconds.(What would we do without them) We were immediately given a kit check and herded in like cattle to the medics for a clearance to keep going. There after downing a red bull from the sponsors and plonking our backsides on chairs for a well deserved breather.

KIT CHECK AT BALLOCH AND THEN TO A MEDICAL WHERE LETTUCE HAD LOST 4,5KGS (There you have a new diet)

Lettuce was given strict instructions to drink rehydrate by the medics to carry on(He does sweat like a muel!!) and Jeff who came in 30min after us was failed and forced to rest until further inspections by the medics. After 8hrs sleep and 5 medical inspections, unfortunately Jeff was not permitted to carry on.

REFILL,REFUEL,REHYDRATE, RE GU AND GO

At about 4;50pm we decided it was time to get going as Balloch Wall ( a sheer 400m climb up and over a 3 meter wide saddle and down the other side) lay ahead of us and doing this section in the dark would not be pleasant. Balloch wall – Straight up and Straight down. Little off sides I thought, but a lot more humorous once down the otherside having passed a few competitors and a couple Emus ( yip thats what I said) From here on to Edgehill it was pretty straight forward following the gravel road.

From Edgehill to Bridal Way Path was where all the fun and games started again. Bridal Way Path was nothing compared to the approach to Bridal Way Path. This seemed to be forgotten about and I don’t know why. Good for us though because after grouping with a couple people at Edgehill, we seemed to make good work at dropping them on this climb. Then after coming out the top of the pass some bright spark said it was only 7km to the turn around. Not knowing this section of the route I soon realised that after 2hrs and not yet at the turn around the bright spark wasn’t to bright with there distances after all.

The Turn Around (CP8) was a life saver. We arrived at 00h00. Up until 23h00 there were berg winds blowing and heat was a issue. From 23h00 onwards the weather made a turn from Hot to Freezing. At the turn around the tea, coffee, rusks, sandwiches, soup, red bulls, blankets and willing people just wanting to help and make us comfortable was most welcomed. Leaving that warm loving environment was a tough one which had to be done quickly to avoid losing to much body heat and getting to comfy. At this point we seemed to bunny hop a few more contestants sleeping and recovering. The course had taken it’s toll on them.....!!

Here is what Sky Run novice Petrus Maree had to say about the last strech home" The night got freezing cold and when we reached the Turn at around 12 for a tea stop I had to put on all 4 layers and 2 buffs. Our pace from there was "hiking on steroids" and trying to keep the pace constant and focus on the GPS and path in front of you, ankles were fragile and I was tired. We could see Checkpoint 9 on top of the mountain, it was hard few km's to get there with lots of crazy climbing but that was the last checkpoint so I was super excited"

The final CP(Halstone) was the last climb of the day with shear 100m drop offs literally a meter from us. Climbing was one thing but descending it was another. We opted for the faster less safe shear downhill route. By this stage it was time to get this thing finished with as soon as possible.

Petrus again "The view of the Salomon blow up arch was PRICELESS! 25h19 mins I am stoked! Lettuce, Garth, Jeffrey, you guys rock, thanks for the experience and guiding, learning from the best! Will I do it again next year...hell yes!

We strolled into the finish just after 05h00 Sun morning to a surprising 18th, 19th and 20th .

HATS OFF BOYS.
HAPPY DIRTY AND TIRED THATS WHY WE DO IT

What an event!! Well done Pennypinchers!!

Thanks Adrian and Mike of Pure Adventures,

Big thanks to Matty,Tammy,Lynne and David for seconding,

the Bloem 4x4 club for being up on the mountain for us

and Jeffery for driving us back...

Outeniqua Traverse 6 August 2011

A race report by Nick Cuthbert

Saturday the 6th August 2011. It's 7:30 AM, and as we coast to a stop outside the Garden Route Botanical Gardens, already have the brave (and arguably insane) men and woman, participating in the 38km Traverse, have departed a half of an hour ago. For this I salute them, for the morning is chilly, the terrain is tough, and the hour was early.

Walking into the Voortrekker hall across from the gardens, for registration, there is an almost reverential air inside; perhaps because of the weight of the building’s history, but most likely because of the slight apprehension radiating from each and every person in the saal, meditating on what they’d got themselves into. Greeting two of my friends and the Merell Adv. Addicts team, who were working at registration, I grabbed my race goodie bag and then rushed back to the car to get ready for the race.

It’s now 7:45 AM and things were more relaxed at the start line, until Graeme “Tweet” Bird began the race briefing. The convoluted course he described slipped quickly out of one’s mind. But it turns out that there is little to worry about for it is simply the opposite to last year’s route and is well marked. As the seconds tick away till the start, I smile, for the lure of proper mountains draws me like no other terrain does. Today was going to be muddy and tough. It had rained in the night and in the preceding days, and much of the first half of the race is all uphill.

8:00 AM and the race starts. Passing the watchful eye of a camera, we head out of the botanical gardens to wilder, less carefully cultivated pastures. Surprisingly, the pace starts off slowly as we weave on and off the railways tracks, through relatively flat but enjoyable trails. This suits me, as my game plan today, is to keep energy in reserve for the downhill after Tierkop, the turning point of the day. Several kms in, and the leaders had been reduced to three, Rian Van der Sandt, Maritz Van Rensburg and I. After a short downhill to a river crossing, very near the Garden Route Dam, Maritz and I, left Van der Sandt behind, to start the scenic but lung busting uphill to Tierkop.Travelling through a short indigenous forest section and then past fynbos fields, steadily gaining altitude van Rensburg and I, diced a bit, testing each other’s elastics. Running then power walking up the versant (a mountain slope, thank a thesaurus today) alternatively, we must have looked comical, pantomime pursuers. I finally got the jump on Van Rensburg when we entered a technical upward trail approximately a kilometre or so from Tierkop.

It’s now about 9:00 AM and descending a short Jeep track, I turn into a trail. It’s fast but technical and follows the mountain contours. It’s is also likely even more beautiful than what has gone before, however I’m in no state to appreciate it, as it’s treacherous and slippery and a misstep could result in a painful tumble. I also know that I have only a thin buffer between first and secondly place, so I attempt to ‘put the hammer down’. Despite my best efforts, I took a spill a way in this section and for a few painful moments, I am worried that I have strained a muscle but it loosens as I see surprisingly not Van Rensburg but Van der Sandt closing in. I reach the George Dam only moments before Rian and climb out of the gorge desperately, stopping to draw a few breaths as he emerges behind me. The route takes us up a slippery slope, as I tell myself to not let Rian pass. Taking on board nutrition, I make this a mantra. “Not this time”, becomes my metre. The last few longer races I did, after having been in the lead for much of the way, I had been overtaken, in the last few kilometres. I did not want this to happen again.

At around 10:00 AM, we crest the slope and George is in sight. The trail hereafter, is technical and slightly downhill, which allows me to take off with “Not this time” and strangely the tune “Puff the Magic Dragon” reverberating through my brain. I now have a little time to appreciate the view and how far I’ve come out the corner of my eye. The mud makes everything tricky however and I bail in a wooded section of the track, adding a few new grazes to the body. The end (distantly) can be seen.

On the final downhill, with perhaps two kilometers to go, I start cramping, and I grow afraid that my opportunity has ended, as I half hobble onward and I become sure that Rian or Maritz will catch me. Internally, I scream at my body, willing it to run and with a shambling movement, I pop out at the gardens, with the line in sight. I cross it, in a time of 2:29:26. Finishing second is Rian Van der Sandt, nursing quadruple as many injuries as I am and third is Maritz van Rensburg. The first lady was Barbara Hage, coming in at a time of 3:13:28. The winner of the 38km, looking understandably exhausted was Jacques Mouton, in a time of 4:18:56, Second overall and first female was Landie Fisser, in a time of 4:43:56. Well done everyone who finished this tricky and tough course. It definitely seemed tougher than last year.

In this race, I’ve learnt a few important lessons:

1. 
   
   It is important to go into a race, especially one you’ve competed in before with a race plan.


2. 
   
   Nutrition is important. Timing carb and water intake in an endurance race, is vital, for optimum performance.


3. 
   
   Never say that you don’t cramp in a running race and take measures to avoid it in the first place/

Thank you Tatum, Graeme, Hano and the rest of the team for organising a great event. It was well marked, professional, fun and exhilarating. Thanks too go out to Nick and Laura who got up extra early to help with registration.

On a side note, I’d like to apologise to Tatum for being overly hyperactive/excited after the race finished. I’ve probably caused a leetle bit of problems with editing the video footage for the event.

;)