TRAIL
Robbie Simpson leads out the first start batch on the beach at Natures Valley
Outstanding Otter ‘ 24
Super-Scot Robbie Simpson and local hero Bianca Tarboton became just the fourth and fifth athletes to win back-to-back titles at the 16 th edition of the Otter TERREX Trail , presented by EasyEquities , but it was a heat-affected , drama-filled race for many of the athletes in the fabled Grail of Trails . – BY STEPHEN GRANGER
Rebecca Watney on her way to securing second place in the women ’ s race
While cool weather prevailed for the more social Otter TERREX Trail Challenge on Thursday 3 October , a heat wave turned the elite race on Saturday 5 October into a cauldron . It was certainly the hottest day in the history of the event , with the thermometer hitting 38 degrees Celsius , and many athletes struggled with heat exhaustion and dehydration .
Unsurprisingly , times for the marathon run on South Africa ’ s most iconic five-day hiking trail in the Tsitsikamma National Park , were significantly slower than in previous years , with Simpson ’ s winning time of 4:21:36 the slowest since 2012 , when Iain Don Wauchope won in 4:23:24 . Nevertheless , the Scot ’ s win saw him join Swiss athlete Marc Lauenstein and South Africans Johardt van Heerden and Toni McCann with consecutive wins , but not before unexpected drama , which raised excitement levels but ultimately left local hero Kane Reilly falling agonisingly short of what might have been .
One athlete , however , rose above the elemental challenges to record a remarkable run : 27-year-old Tarboton ’ s posted a 4:48:41 ( eighth overall ) to take the women ’ s title , and this was four minutes faster than her winning time last year in the Otter Edition , and just three minutes off her best for the Retto edition set in perfect conditions in 2021 . Part of the global adidas TERREX team , Cape Town-based Tarboton has achieved a number of top trail performances at home and abroad , but this was arguably the race of her life , taking into account the degree of difficulty due to the heat and high humidity .
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Coming from a European summer , Simpson was possibly better heat-conditioned than his South African rivals , and it was no surprise when he took the lead early , ahead of a trailing pack including Reilly , Jacques Buys , Jacques du Plessis , Mvuyisi Gcogco and Zimbabwe-born Admire Muzopwamba . However , out of sight of his pursuers , Simpson took a wrong turn shortly before the Andre Hut checkpoint at 8km , and by the time he ’ d got back on track he ’ d lost around four minutes .
Simpson went through the checkpoint in fourth position , one minute and 53 seconds behind joint leaders Reilly and Muzopambwa , with Du Plessis third . The two leaders reached the Bloukrans River
crossing together just over an hour into the race , but with the latter struggling across the roped river traverse , Reilly soon opened a lead , which grew to 2:43 as he led the field through halfway at the Oakhurst Huts . Fighting negativity following his navigational error , Simpson had lost further ground to Reilly , and trailed Muzopambwa by a minute .
Buys , who started conservatively with an eye on the temperature , had moved up into fourth place , just ten seconds adrift of Simpson . Running strongly , he overtook Simpson after the climb out of the Lottering River and went 1:10 ahead , but in the meantime , Reilly had increased the gap on the field and was 3:54 up on Buys through Scott Hut , and over five minutes clear of Simpson .
Timely Recovery
Whether it was the name of the checkpoint that inspired Simpson is uncertain , but the Scot then
Kane Reilly and Admire Muzopambwa taking on one of early brutal climbs
The Tsitsikamma forest offered a welcome canopy to protect runners from the heat
Images : David Sullivan , Fahwaaz Cornelius , Mentz Germishuis
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