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“ Overall , it was a life-changing experience , running in the wild through the night , with jackals following you for kilometres at a time , but nothing has ever happened to any runners , far as I know . Some of the back runners saw a fresh carcass during the race , and it was interesting , because afterwards , everyone was showing me pictures of how you could see how the buck disappeared bit by bit . It was also a challenging event , because you carry all your own nutrition , so my backpack weighed 11 kilograms , and it ’ s just you , really , out there , in a national park with wild animals , running through the night . Since then , everything else has been easy , by comparison .”
Racing Ryan ’ s Route In October 2020 , Matt decided to take on the 13 Peaks Challenge pioneered by Ryan Sandes , linking 13 different peaks on the Cape Peninsula in a plus-minus 110km looped route . Ryan had set the FKT ( Fastest Known Time ) of 15:51:48 in September 2019 , then shattered that time in August 2020 with a 13:41:10 ( and establishing the vaunted Impossible 13 Peaks sub-challenge ). Just under two months later , Matt set out to tackle the 13 Peaks himself , and came back with a 15:32:13 – faster than Ryan ’ s original FKT – but he was not satisfied with that .
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“ I actually did it the first time in 2020 because of Lockdown – there was nothing going on , no races – and I treated it more like a training run , so I was very chuffed with my time . Then , after taking a long time to recover from the Addo 100 Miler in early 2021 , I decided that I wanted to do the 13 Peaks again . I also thought that from a marketing and publicity point of view , I could get my sponsors some good mileage , but to be honest , I also wanted another crack at it ,” says Matt . |
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In preparation for his second attempt , Matt did a number of training runs on different parts of the route , including some runs with legendary Capetonian trail |
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mages : Craig Kolesky , Jonathan Ferreirra / ASICS , Wild Air Sports & courtesy Matt Healy |
Fortunately , with a treadmill and a huge garden to run in , Matt was able to maintain his fitness during the initial hard lockdown , and when restrictions were relaxed , he would head out from 6am to 9am . He also managed a 114km charity run in the garden to raise funds for the Support a Saffa Campaign , which was providing people with food during lockdown . “ My parents have quite a big garden , so it was a 900-metre loop , including the driveway , but it was quite taxing , as I had to run around my mom ’ s flowers , and I had a ladder to get over a wall at one point , so I was super-slow ! I started at four in the morning and my aim was to do 100km , but when I got there , I decided to carry on until the sun went down , and ended up on 114km .”
New Coach , New Career With COVID restrictions being gradually relaxed in 2021 and trail races coming back , Matt decided to turn professional , which in turn prompted a decision to switch coach , and he signed with James Montgomery of the Run Project . “ Even though Brendan was also still competing himself , he was always amazing , giving me all the time in the world ,
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but I felt like I couldn ’ t be bothering him with my pre-race things when he had his own going on . So , I wanted somebody that was coaching full-time , and James is also very science-based , but at the same time also holistic , including the mental stuff and all that , which I love about him . I think we ’ ve got a really good dynamic , and we trust each other .”
It was also around this time that Matt was approached by ASICS and invited to sign to run for their brand . “ They were looking to expand their global trail portfolio , and offered me a sponsorship to go run overseas , including a travel budget , but I said I didn ’ t feel ready for that yet , and that I wanted to be very careful how I go about my career , especially the beginning . We eventually came to an agreement that I would focus on local races to begin with , and then look to compete internationally ,” he recalls .
His first race for his new sponsor was the Addo 100 Miler early in 2021 , which started at midday in extreme heat , and ran through the night , both of which posed a challenge to Matt and the other runners . “ Running through the night is a whole other beast , just from a sleep cycle point of view , but it went well , and I not only won the race , but set the fastest time by a
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A change of coach and turning pro has led to international invites |
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