This past Sunday the grand finale of Spur Cape Summer Trail Series® 2017 (CSTS) took place on the beautiful mountain bike trails of Oak-Valley wine estate. The Elgin Valley dished out some of its best weather it had to offer, making for a perfect morning of running.

Oak-Valley’s epic mountain bike trails are normally closed off to runners, but once a year we get exclusive access for the Spur Trail Series® runners to head out and enjoy these fast, flowy and fun trails.

With this being more of a mountain bike trail as well and slightly less technical mountain running, it meant we were also in for an extremely fast morning of running. Especially after having a look at the start line up for the XL. Race 4 see’s the addition of the Elgin Valley Summer XL. And on Sunday we had some big names line up, the likes of  Nicholas Rupanga, Edson Kumwamba, Jarryd Dunn, Ben Brimble, Noel Ernstzen, Katya Soggot, Annamart Laubscher (Marloth 24,5km winner as well CTM Peace Trail Winner), Ashleigh Simonis, Tish Jones and wildcard Ben Matiso all lining up to take on the XL. Making for one extremely exciting morning of racing.

The XL set off at 6:30 and the heat was immediately turned right up with the front runners setting a silly pace of 3:05 for the first km. It wasn’t long before road running top dog Ben Matiso (top 20 at Comrades) decided to really put the gas down, and came sprinting across the finish line in incredible time of 1:42:50. Nicholas Rupanga came in nearly a minute after Ben to take 2nd place, and 3rd place male was Edson Kumwamba.

In The ladies race top duo Tish Jones and Ashleigh Simonis crossed the line together, with Tish Jones taking the top step in an impressive time of 1:55:22 and Ashleigh Simonis a mere 2 seconds behind her. Final spot on the ladies podium, Annamart Laubscher who crossed the line in a time of 1:58:36, this girl is making some serious noise out on the trail running scene with her impressive CV so far.

Even though the long course missed out on a few of the top runners due to them taking part in the XL it didn’t seem to slow this bunch down at all. Racing kicked off at 7:30 for the A-Batch. With Series favourite Raydon Balie still away on his training camp, Emmanuel Dlamini seized the moment by whipping around this 15,7km course in a time of 1:02:05. Coming in second and 3rd place respectively was Ricardo Jaftha and Enok Jimani.

Svenja Gliem took a clear win in the ladies race, in a time of 1:15:24. Second place, Julie Huckle, came in a good 4min behind Svenja, and claiming the last step in the ladies race was Devon Basson coming in 3rd.

The short course racing snakes came sprinting across the finish line as fast as they set out. First place went to Evan Fortuin in a time of 28:21, second Gershon Aziza and third Llewlyn Jacobs. First to fly over the finish line in the ladies race, after a strategic call to downgrade from the long course, was Chantel Berowsky, claiming her first Trail Series podium. Second place went to Jade Bremner and wrapping up the ladies podium for the day was Josie McCann.

A seriously fast paced and impressive morning of running was had by all and we couldn’t have asked for a more exciting way to finish off this excitement that was Cape Summer Trail Series® 2017.

A big congratulations to our overall series champs (see below) as well as to all who completed the series.

Championship Results:

Open Men

  1. Emmanuel Dlamini

  2. Jarryd Dunn

  3. Ricardo Jaftha

Open Ladies

  1. Sophie Cope

  2. Emily Yeo

  3. Lize Cornellius

Veteran Men

  1. Shaun Gregory

  2. Mogale Piloso

  3. Mark Jacobson

Veteran Ladies

  1. Julie Huckle

  2. Bianca Daniels

  3. Jane Fisher

Master Men

  1. Neil Hermann

  2. Arno Lawrenz

  3. Hans Woermann

Master Ladies

  1. Maxine Reilly

  2. Paola Vignani

  3. Elvera Schwan

Challenge Results:

Open Men

  1. Dino Adams

  2. Evan Fortuin

  3. Llwelyn Jacobs

Open Ladies

  1. Josie McCann

  2. Caro Jordaan

  3. Elmarie Meyer

Veteran Men

  1. Rudi Bezuidenhout

  2. Arno Rossouw

  3. Bill Dunn

Veteran Ladies

  1. Nicolette Herring

  2. Frances Fuchs

  3. Anneke Von Maltitz

Master Men

  1. Leslie Chivell

  2. Richard Rossiter

  3. Gary Green

Master Ladies

  1. Lollos Rodseth

  2. Tania Morkel

  3. Michelle Groenewaldt

Junior Male

  1. Gershon Aziza

  2. Daniel Arendse

  3. Stephen Millard

Minimee

  1. Jethro Dunn

  2. Christiaan Engelbrecht

  3. Jade Bremner

Thank you all for coming out to play on the dirty trails with us this summer. We had an absolute blast with everyone. We look forward to seeing you all at the winter series kicking off on the 23rd of July at Paul Cluver. Until then keep on choosing adventure and enjoy exploring all the wonderful trails this country of ours has to offer.

Shout out to all our sponsors and partners who help make the events just that much more awesome. Spur Steak Ranches, Raidlight, BOS Sport, Steenberg Vineyards and WWF.

For more race results click here, for series results click here and to check out the awesome race day photos click here.