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Ultra-Trail Cape Town, a story for the campfire

• 5 Days Ago 29 November 2024

Namibians excelled in the tough challenge of the RMB Ultra-Trail Cape Town last weekend.

The Mother City, shaped by two oceans, offered distances to suit every trail runner – namely a 100-miler (160 km), 100 km, 55 km, 35 km, 23 km and 16 km. The popular event drew competitors from all over Europe and the world.

Among the big Namibian achievers was Anja Schroder, first over the 55 kilometre finish line for masters women in 9 hours 01 minute 20 seconds, with Lara Charnock (13:00:33) finishing eleventh in this category. The route for this distance encompassed 2 706 metres of vertical climbing and had a cut-off of 14 hours.

National triathlete Julika Pahl finished in an impressive third place in the open female 55 km race after seven hours 10 minutes 46 seconds, behind two French women.

Wano Katjiri made the top five in the 35 km open male category (1954 m of climbing) after 4:4:14:54.

Hannes Arangies and Christiaan Horn (both masters male) entered the 100 km distance, but completed about 48 km and 56 km, respectively, before dropping out.

Jannes Reddig (7:51:02), Gido Kazana, Harmen Potgieter, Carl Joone, Gys Joubert, Bothma Keyser, Geon Ellis, Elloise Ellis, Kyle Rix and Magdalena Nghiiki also beat the 55 km cut-off time.

The experience

The 49-year-old Geon Ellis from Windhoek completed the 55 km distance in a tough time of 11 hours 53 minutes. His wife Elloise completed the same race in 10:28:39.

Geon says the Namibian realities make it quite challenging to adequately prepare to take on the intimidating climbs around Cape Town.

“We trained during weekdays before work and on weekends at the highest climbs we could find around Windhoek, such as near Yellowstone Trails in Ludwigsdorf, or Farm Windhoek in Kleine Kuppe. In training, we worked up to five-hour stretches of trailing on weekends.

“But none of those climbs compare even remotely to the route. Once you arrive at Table Mountain, you are humbled when you realise that the 1000 metres you did for an entire Saturday in Windhoek are about to be tripled.

“You need to be mentally prepared to be out there an entire day. It’s always a good idea to arrive at the start with no pain or injuries. Arriving at the race registration and looking up from the race village at the mountains towering above you, the nerves starting working in your stomach.

“We had favourable conditions at the start from Llandudno on Friday morning, with cloud cover moving in from the sea after the sunny days we had before.

“After passing Sandy Bay we started climbing Suther Peak, down to Hout Bay. The clouds and misty weather remained, which was an answer to my prayers.

“The humidity factor of 73 made it difficult to breathe the thick air and caused you to sweat. A big focus throughout is to remain hydrated and to manage eating sufficiently to cover such a distance. Pretty soon you might start feeling like you don’t want to eat anymore, but you burn energy constantly and you’ll start suffering if you don’t, because it goes on the whole day.

“Up Chapman’s Peak next to Hout Bay, the route then took us on to Constantia, through the vineyards, followed by another slow technical climb up Cecilia and Newlands Forests. After about the first 30 kilometres of the day we saw the sun coming out for the first time.

"We had a steep descent around to UCT, then the steepest and hardest climb rated by Garmin up to the notorious Blockhouse, and back to the race village at Gardens Rugby Club.

“My knees were paining. Going down Constantia Glen I could feel how my toenails were starting to pull off. I lost two of them.

“So, casualties start emerging and next thing you’ll be stepping awkwardly because your feet are paining. But this is the time you start drawing on the family time you had sacrificed in training. That is when Namibia comes through, like camelthorn wood and vasbyt, keeping on despite droughts. I reckon in our harsh country we develop a kind of endurance for such events.

“The last stretch home, going over the red carpet at the finish line amid cheering and high fives, makes you realise it was worth it.

“You won’t believe the camaraderie among ultra trail runners. As the saying goes, you are bonded by suffering. There is mutual respect as everyone there knows exactly what you have been through and the courage it took to start, irrespective of which distance you had entered for.”

Ellis says he is looking forward to take on more such challenges.

“It is so easy to slip into a comfort zone, or into a pattern of doing exactly the same thing every day. This presents a breakaway, where you could learn about suffering and appreciating the small things.

“My vision is to attempt at least one such really tough challenge every year. I’ve previously done Ironman triathlons, to stretch yourselves. It is insightful how much this reflects in your family and those around you; how they see you as an inspiration.

“For us who are not professional sports people, for a normal guy to achieve something really difficult, it helps to inspire others, which I see as a good thing for our country.”

Ellis says he found truth in a saying that whatever you can do in training during one week, you can replicate in one day of competition.