“Anything can happen in a race that lasts multiple days and believe me, The Coastal Challenge provided more than its fair share of excitement. But as a battle raged at the front, behind, the story was one of survival, perseverance and enjoyment in equal measure.”
Read the full article and view a selection of images from the 2015
The Coastal Challenge
A full selection of images are available HERE
And you can read daily reports with images from the race here:
Day 1 HERE
Day 2 HERE
Day 6 HERE
Justin Mock writes for runnersworld.com about the 2015 The Coastal Challenge and talks with Speedgoat Karl Meltzer and Joe Grant.
“There’s no motel room, no shower, no air conditioning. That would be a lot easier,” Meltzer laughed. “It’s 110 degrees in your tent, you just lie there in a pool of sweat.”
You can read the full article HERE
View The Coastal Challenge 2015 image gallery by iancorless.com
Entries for the 2016 event, open today, Friday 13th 2015
For full details and to reserve your slot now, contact your region’s agent or email us directly at INFO@TCCCOSTARICA.COM. Pura vida!
North America – Tim Holmstrom: tim@thecoastalchallenge.com – Limited Slots!
USA: Krista Baker: racequesttravel@gmail.com – Limited Slots!
United Kingdom, South Africa – Steve Dietrich: info@thecoastalchallenge.co.uk – Limited Slots!
Spain, Morocco, Portugal – Olivier Sepulchre: oliviersep@gmail.com – Limited Slots!
Canada – Hailey Van Dyk: hailey@runlikeagirl.ca – Limited Slots!
Central America, South America, Caribbean – Rodrigo Carazo & Sergio Sánchez: info@tcccostarica.com – Limited Slots!
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The South African Skyrunner® Series 2014 blasted off to an exciting start with the successful staging of the Ingeli Skymarathon® this weekend.
Dubbed “the green mamba of trail running” for the several nasty “bites” of ascent the route delivered, the 42km course through the Ingeli mountain range in Kwa-Zulu Natal covered 2100m of vertical gain, making it one of the toughest races of this distance in the province.
The race was won in 3:37:19 by one of South Africa’s up and coming trail stars Lucky Miya (Saucony), who dominated the race after overtaking early leader Jock Green (Salomon) after the 9km mark. Prodigal Khumalo (Mr Price) finished in a close 2nd place (3:42:05), followed by Lesotho Ultra Trail winner Andrew Hagan (Vibram Fivefingers) just six minutes later.
“My race strategy was to start conservatively and then pick up the pace as I needed to, depending on the competition. I realised on the first climb that I was stronger than the other guys so I pushed hard and opened a gap. The course had a good mix of steep climbs and descents, and long runnable forest sections. It’s been a dream of mine for a long time to win a skyrunning race, so I’m very excited,” said Miya.
Ladies winner Su Don-Wauchope (The North Face) ran a very strong race, leading the women’s field from the start and finishing in an impressive 5th position overall in 4:16:29. South African ultra-distance trail running champion in 2013 Tracy Zunckel (Salomon/Race Food) finished in 2nd place (4:35:42), followed by Erika Walker in 3rd position, almost a full hour behind Don-Wauchope.
The ladies race was always going to be between Don-Wauchope and Zunckel, both strong climbers and both living at fairly high altitude in the foothills of the Berg region.
“I knew Tracy was going to be strong, she always is, particularly over longer distances. I was worried I had started out too fast, but I’ve been doing a lot of hill training, and felt very strong on the ups. I approached the long descent cautiously, and once I got into the forest I tried to relax and stride out. I had a great day and had legs all the way to the finish!” said an elated Don-Wauchope.
Miya’s and Don-Wauchope’s wins secure both runners entries for the 2014 Skyrunning World Championships to be held in June in Chamonix, France.
“I’m so excited to have the chance to compete in an international Skyrunning race and be able to show the world how capable I am as a runner,” said Miya.
Being part of the South African Skyrunner® Series, points were allocated to the first 40 men and 15 women finishers of the Ingeli Skymarathon® by the South African Skyrunning Association (SASA). Next up in the Skyrunner® Series 2014 will be the Matroosberg Skymarathon® in October.
Ingeli Skymarathon® race organiser Andrew Booth says the Ingeli Skymarathon® is unique.
“The Ingeli mountain has huge allure – it’s an uninhabited wilderness of grasslands, wetlands, rocks and trails, where proteas grow, and antelope and caracal roam wild. The race was an enormous success. The front end of the men’s field was particularly competitive – there was no room to slack for Lucky and he had to push hard the whole way.”
All photo credits: ©Anthony Grote | www.anthonygrote.com
With less than 36 hours to go before the 55km ultra trail race through the Tsehlanyane National Park in the heart of Lesotho’s Maloti Mountains, anticipation is building amongst the trail running community for this, the second South Africa Skyrunning Association (SASA)-sanctioned event on the South African trail running calendar
After the success of the Matroosberg SkyMarathon® in October, skyrunning fever is running high, setting the ground for the imminent announcement of a national skyrunning series in 2014.
Presented by Maliba Lodge, KZN Trail Running and The North Face, the Lesotho Ultra Trail will see a selection of South Africa’s best trail runners facing the challenge of an ultra-distance, high altitude course boasting more than three kilometres of vertical ascent, peaking at 3155m above sea level.
Big names include South African trail star and winner of the Verdon Canyon Challenge in France AJ Calitz (K-Way/Vivobarefoot), mountain running legend and winner of the 2012 Otter African Trail Run Iain Don Wauchope (The North Face), 2013 SA Ultra Trail winner Nic de Beer, Stellenbosch-based mountain runner Andrew Hagen (Vibram) and Gauteng trail speedster Lucky Mia.
In the women’s field, Canadian ultra trail star Stacie Carrigan will be dicing one of the most competitive women’s contingent of any southern African ultra trail race to date, including Matroosberg SkyMarathon® winner Robyn Kime (The North face), 2013 SA Ultra trail champ Tracy Zunckel (Race Food), 2011 Otter African Trail Run winner Su Don Wauchope (The North Face) and SA ultra running legend Linda Doke (Salomon).
With Lesotho offering world class skyrunning terrain and warm hospitality, the Lesotho Ultra Trail is set to become one of the continent’s premier off-road ultras.
For more information about the race, visit www.lesothoultratrail.com of follow the race live via Twitter [www.twitter.com/lesothoultra]
Article ©lesothoultra
Feature on AJ Calitz
AJ Calitz in Europe, early 2013. Zegama-Aizkorri
In just the last two months K-Way athlete AJ Calitz has been on the podium, won or set course records at many competitive trail races. As the year winds down, so does his racing schedule. This weekend’s 55-kilometre Lesotho Ultra Trail race will be his last for the year.
Two weeks ago Calitz took part in the annual Salomon SkyRun – only a week after winning Red Bull LionHeart.
“I didn’t expect to still feel LionHeart in my legs, but I did – unfortunately,” he says.
“SkyRun was a tough one,” Calitz says, recalling the challenging terrain and adverse weather conditions that led to the course being shortened and runners diverted off the mountain and down to safety.
After getting horribly lost between checkpoints one and two, Calitz managed to catch up to the chasing group. He stayed with them – safety in numbers.
“The weather was horrific with torrential ice-rain and winds of 100kph. It was very dangerous on the Dragon’s Back, but luckily I had all my emergency kit to keep me going.
“I really had a terrible day from the start and with the cold and navigation problems I didn’t eat as well as I should have. I felt the effects of this towards Balloch,” he explains.
Reaching Balloch he was already very cold. “I just couldn’t warm up again,” he remembers. He decided not to carry on.
But then, his K-Way teammate Annemien Ganzevoort – the leading woman runner – came in and told Calitz that she was carrying on. He decided to join her.
“If something happened to her in those conditions and I could have gone along – but didn’t – I would never have forgiven myself… and I really didn’t want to have a DNF on my first SkyRun either. So, we suited up in our K-Way mountain-trekking and cold-weather gear and carried on. We were halted by race organisation just short of Edgehill Farm though.”
“It’s amazing how weather like that can draw athletes closer together… where you switch from competing to surviving in only a few moments. I love this kind of racing. It’s not all about the winning or prize money or whatever the reason why you run, but it becomes an expedition and a truly valuable life experience,” says Ganzevoort.
While Ganzevoort takes a well-deserved rest, Calitz has one more race before he can put his feet up.
Lesotho Ultra Trail is a marked route that is 55-kilometres in distance and, staged in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho, the 3200-metres of accumulative ascent comes as no surprise. The course description promises stream crossings, loose rocks, steep descents and “two notable climbs”. The section between nine and 22 kilometres is run at over 3000-metres in altitude.
The men’s (and women’s) field is very competitive and Calitz is expecting to work hard to gain ground on Nic de Beer, Iain Don-Wauchope and Lucky Mia.
“I’m just going to take it as it comes,” he adds.
Although your money can be safely bet on Su Don-Wauchope or Robyn Kime for a win in the women’s race, the odds are fairly good that Linda Doke, Tracey Zunkel, Chantal Nienaber, Megan Mackenzie or Stacie Carrigan (Canada) could be up front too.
IAN CORLESS 