Over 100 competitors lined up for the final leg of the Spur PE Trail Series® 2016 at the Hopewell Conservation Estate. Runners were greeted by picture perfect weather for trail running. There was great excitement as runners where about to run amoung some magnifisent wild life such as rare Cape mountain zebra, iconic eland, prancing springbok, red hartebeest, mountain reedbuck, ostrich and kudu.
In the men’s 11km long course it was the familiar forces doing battle up front as the race for the overall series was still up for grabs. As the runners traversed along the flowing single track and valley’s in the breathe taking Hopewell Estate it was Lumkile Thu who emerged up the final hill of the day and into the finish straight in a time of 00:39:35 minutes with Terence Njekula settling for second place in a time of 00:41:33 minutes and in third place, with a time of...
Owen Middleton, MD of Wildrunner talks to Gordon Graham from Algoa FM about the PE Trail Series. Click here to listen to the interview
Close to perfect running conditions greeted the runners at the 3rd leg of the Spur PE Trail Series® kicked off at Pine Loge this past Sunday. Both courses experienced some magnificent flowing single track through lush sea bush taking them past the old Fort in Cape Recife before dropping them onto the deserted beaches on the wild side of Port Elizabeth.
In the men’s 10km km long course Championship race, it was the local Lumkile Thu who beat the tide in a cracking time of 00:41:26 followed by his good friend Terrence Mjekula coming in second in a time of 00:43:02 and last week’s winner Werner Du Preez scooping the last place on the podium in a time of 00:46:23.
In the ladies long course race, it was once again Odessa Perelson who took the win and really cementing her chance to take the overall Championship with a time of 00:55:20...
WOW! Maybe not the most grammatically correct sentence to start a post with. But it’s the best way to describe the venue, Taal Monument & Paarl Mountain, for the penultimate race in the Spur Cape Winter Trail Series® that took place this past weekend.
Runners had to do a short warm up climb to the start line, before arriving at the start venue. But the view was way worth the climb.
With a little more heat in the air this weekend, way more mouths were moving around from happy chatter rather than the usual shivering, quivering lips.
In the long course, runners set out on a stunning route with exceptional views. The course was mostly jeep track this weekend, making for a much faster run. Raydon Balie and Siviwe Nkombi continued their leap frog battle up front for the podium position, with Siviwe coming out on top this weekend at a rapid pace...
“Brrrrrr…”
That was exactly how Sean Falconer welcomed the runners on Saturday morning when rocking up for MC duty at Paul Cluver estate for the first race of the Spur Cape Winter Trail Series®.
With snow on the mountains around the corner at jonkershoek, runners were welcomed by a freezing bite in the air. Luckily, as seems to be the tradition at this venue, the sky cleared up after a big down pour on Saturday, making for sunny blue skies and muddy trails. A perfect day for playing out on the trails.
In the Long Course Championship race the runners set out guns blazing, with a fast competitive field. The runners had quite a task layed out ahead of them, with an unforgiving hill waiting for them around the half way mark, shortly followed by some technical downhill and a rather shaky rope crossing.
Not allowing the obstacle en route to slow him down...
The Spur Gauteng Winter Trail Series® wrapped up this past weekend at Leeuwenkloof on another stunning Highveld winters day. This was the second winter that we held the finale at this venue, which offers the runners some beautiful views, a few unforgiving hills, an eery but awesome tunnel and some playful single track.
In the men’s long course Championship, Collins Mabu continued his streak, by claiming his fourth straight victory, flying across the finish line in an impressive time of 56:21. Making his stamp of dominance as this winter’s Trail Series® king and his presence noticed as a newbie to the trail running scene. Second place runner coming in over a minute behind, was Lesiba Peu in a time of 58:00. Also taking second place overall in the Championship. And closing of the podium for the overall men’s race 4 as well as the Championship was Walter Mepha in a time...
Schools out for the winter.
It was a chilly start to the day, with a fresh cold bite in the air. But soon as the sun came out to play the cold ran away and stunning scene was set out at Segwati Game Ranch for the penultimate race of the Spur Gauteng Winter Trail Series®.
In the Long Course Championship race, Collins Mabu claimed his hat trick of victories as he came flying over the finish line at a rapid pace of 47:00. Securing his place as King of the Spur Gauteng Winter Trail Series®. Lesiba Peu came racing over in 2nd place, a minute after our champion and 3rd in the men’s challenge was with an exceptional time of 49:30 was Walter Mepha, running club teammate of Collins Mabu. With 2 spots on the podium so far for Mepha, he still stands a chance of claiming a spot on the podium...
This weekend saw the second instalment of the Spur Gauteng Winter Trail Series® take place at Hennops. What a day it was. A few bumps, a couple of bruises, and a whole lot of smiles.
As per usual Race 2 at Hennops includes the addition of the XL course, an 18,77km trail, which offers great scenery, and great diversity of fun trails.
In the men’s XL race Lawrence Mogano came speeding over the line in a phenomenal time of 01:36:13, creating almost a 10min gap between himself and second place runner Tarquin Meszaros. Closing off the top 3 for the men’s race was Richard Lawson in a time of 01:50:54.
In the female XL race Yolande Maclean brought it home for the ladies in a superb time of 01:57:47, with a similar close on 10min lead over runner up Vicky van der Merwe, who claimed second place in a time of 02:06:04. Finishing...
Same Same, But Different.
This weekend saw us a kick off 2016’s edition of the Spur Gauteng Winter Trail Series® at B’Sorah, and what a great start it was.
Once again we started the series off at B’Sorah tented camp, our resident Race 1 venue for the last 2 years.
For our annual winter series runners, they were met with a familiar sight when rocking up at the start venue, but before they got too comfortable we informed them of a few changes out on the route. Due to some recent veld fires at the venue we had to adjust the course a little bit, and although mostly the same course, the regulars would have noticed that some of the trails that they had run on in the past were now being done in reverse. Thanks to our awesome team of course markers, no confusion was had on the course and all runners...
Yes it's that time of year again to get your entries in for the Spur Winter Trail Series! Entries open on the 20th of April at midday for the 9th edition of both the Gauteng and Cape Winter Trail Series.