The Spur Cape Winter Trail Series™ kicked off with a bang at the Paul Cluver Estate as more than 1000 runners came out to take on the epic trail of Paul Cluver Estate during the weekend. There were some nervous runners during the week as a cold front hammered the Cape in the week leading up to the races but the weather improved significantly as the weekend arrived. Runners at the GLB46 Ultra on Saturday had to deal with cold and wet conditions but on Sunday we were treated to perfect trail running weather and though conditions were muddy underfoot this only added to the trail fun!
Robinson takes the GLB46 Ultra
Almost 100 runners took on this magnificent ultra that makes its way up and around the Groenlandberg. Will Robinson showed his intentions from the get-go and made it to checkpoint one first. He hung on to the lead throughout, eventually...
The weather gods decided to save the best for last as the final race in the Spur Cape Winter Trail Series™ 2014 in Kleinmond took place under incredible skies and ideal running conditions.
More than 950 excited runners turned up one final time to embrace the day and tackle the might of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.
As is tradition, race 4 included the XL race of 24km and some of the country’s finest trail runners were out to have some competitive fun on some of the Cape’s best trails.
In the XL the pace was frenetic from the outset as the leading group of elites were shadowing each other and stretching the legs before the first big climb of the day at the 13km mark. It was on this climb that Ake Fagereng made his move and broke away from the leading pack that included the likes of Dom Wills, Simon Muller, Noel Ernstzen,...
It was another epic trail running day as a packed house lined up at the iconic Taal Monument for Race 3 of the Spur Cape Winter Trail Series™ 2014.
Race 3 would see the long course Championship runners tackle a 13.8km loop of the Paarl Mountain Reserve which includes a trip up some 400 steps and between two of the largest granite boulders in the world, second only to Ayers Rock.
Despite the tricky conditions under foot, the pace was relentless from the start and once again it was the incredible Bernard Rukadza who broke the finishers tape in an astonishingly quick time of 52:35 (an average of 03:48 minutes per km!). In the process Rukadza sealed his fifth Spur Cape Winter Trail Series™ in a row, a remarkable show of consistency, talent and mental strength.
Peter Tsawayo and Duwayne Philander traded places on the podium this week as Tsawayo stormed home in...
Wet and testing conditions greeted more than 800 runners who ignored their snooze button and warm beds to embrace a cold day and hit the trails at the second race of the Spur Cape Winter Trail Series™ 2014. You could have bet your mother-in-law on the outcome of the race as Bernard Rukadza powered his way to yet another win, this time at the Tygerberg Nature Reserve.
Despite the notorious climb to wake the legs up, the pace was quick and the pack was led up the hill by young Raydon Balie. Rukadza was running well and in the end proved too strong as he cantered home in first place in the 12.7km Long Course Championship race in a time of 55:06, with Duwayne Philander landing his second runner’s up position in a row as he crossed under the arch in 56:01. Peter Tsawayo completed an identical podium to Race 1...
You may or may not have noticed the subtle change in the prize-giving structure at the Spur Trail Series™?
In a nutshell, we have refocused the prize-giving structure so that we can offer more for the top three overall in the Spur Trail Series™ Championship and Challenge across all categories, as well as build more value into the spot prizes.
What does this mean? Well, from the 2014 Spur Gauteng Winter Trail Series™ onwards, individual race-by-race prizes will only be awarded to the top three men and ladies over the line in both the Championship and Challenge routes, as well as the three junior categories. In the overall Spur Trail Series™ Championship and Challenge (over four races), prizes for the podium places across all of the categories will still apply.
Why, you ask? Well, instead of spreading the available prize pool thinly across all categories at all of the races in a Spur...
Race 2 in the 2014 edition of the Spur KZN Trail Series™ kept to the tradition of a wet affair as the rains came down at the magnificent Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve on Wednesday evening.
This race saw the short course Challenge runners traverse a loop of 5.3km with the long course Championship runners having a crack at two loops taking their distance to 10.6km.
Adding to this adventure is the fact that this was of course a night run! There is something quite special about running through forests, along the river and in and around wildlife with nothing but your headlamp to guide you.
In the men’s long course, the wait was not long as Ayanda Mlotshwa cruised up the finishing straight and across the line in a time of 47:17. Along with his third place finish in race 1, Ayanda now sits pretty in the overall Series results and will no...