Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 113, December 2018 | Page 26

Surprise
Package
TRAIL RUNNING
South Africa’s Otter
African Trail Run is known
as the Grail of Trail, and
attracts some of the
best trail runners in the
world to the Southern
Cape. Even so, this year’s
race on 20 October was
extra special, as the
race hosted the Grand
Finale of the inaugural
international Golden Trail
Series, with the world’s
top 10 men and women
competing alongside SA’s
best trailers. However,
it was virtual unknown
Toni McCann from Cape
Town who stole the show
as she finished third in a
stellar women’s field.
– BY SEAN FALCONER
“I never in my wildest dreams expected a result
like that. I killed myself in the prologue to get into
the women’s top 16 and start up front with the
Abangeni Group, because I figured it would be my
only opportunity to race them. I actually went into the
Toni enjoying the
trails of Cape Town
race not even expecting
to make the top 10, so
couldn’t believe it when I
found myself leading with
Silvia Rampazzo of Italy
after 12km, and even less
so when I broke away from her after the Bloukrans
crossing. It’s difficult to describe my feelings as I
found myself leading a race while competing against
all my running idols!”
“I actually think my naïveté about the course and the
distance helped me, because I didn’t know what was
coming, so I didn’t slow down as much as I should
have to save something for the end, but I didn’t know
how far back the others were. I kept looking over my
shoulder, expecting them all to catch me, and I just
kept thinking this can’t be happening. Eventually Holly
and Ruth did pass me, much later than I expected,
but I managed to hold off the rest, in spite of being
exhausted. It was simply surreal to finish on the
podium, in the fastest time ever by a South African,
when I had originally just worried about finishing!”
Late Starter
Toni was born and raised in Kloof, near Durban, but
now lives in Cape Town, where she studied Human
Nutrition and Dietetics at UCT. She actually took a
‘gap year’ in 2018, putting her compulsory community
service year on hold, in order to focus on her running,
while paying the bills by working as a production
manager in a design agency doing food-based
activations. Having grown up playing all the sports at
school, she earned provincial colours in hockey while
at UCT, but stopped playing in her third year, and
instead started running more frequently.
“I was initially just a social runner, but then a friend got
me into the Two Oceans Half Marathon in 2016, and
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ISSUE 113 DECEMBER 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
I really enjoyed it. I ran 1:45:49, on minimal training
of three to four 5km runs a week, but after that I took
it more seriously. My first proper trail runs came at a
Dirtopia event near Stellenbosch, and then I got my
butt spanked attempting the Trail Du Mont Rochelle
26km. Anybody who has run it will know it is straight
up, so you need to be trained.”
Fast forward to 2018 and Toni admits all her running
success has come as a huge surprise, including
strong results or podium finishes at the Elgin XL,
Ultra Trail Drakensberg, Bastile Day 25km and VWS
20km, and of course the Otter. “I always did well in
school running events, but never in my wildest dreams
thought I would do this well in my first year of taking
it mildly seriously. I must give credit to my coaches,
Meg Mackenzie and Greg ‘Monty’ Montgomery –
the growth in my running from the first race at the
beginning of this year at Elgin to the Otter is just
mind-blowing.”
Travel Plans
Having beaten most of the world’s best trail runners,
the obvious question now is what is next for Toni.
“My Otter result definitely makes me want to race
the Golden Series next year, if I can wrangle some
funds together. I am sponsored by Altra and they
have said they will try to help me get overseas,” she
says. “Locally, I will probably aim to run the Hout Bay
Trail Challenge, which will once again host the SA
Champs, as I would love to make the SA Team for
Trail World Champs in Portugal. I’ve got big dreams
for 2019, but for now I’m holding out to see how the
funding works out.”
I
t came as no surprise that both course records
fell at this year’s Otter, with Poland’s Bartlomiej
Przedwojewski clocking 3:40:48 to take 14 minutes
off the men’s record and winning by a comfortable
10-minute margin. A bit later, the women’s record fell
to the UK’s Holly Page as she came home in 4:37:48,
followed closely by New Zealander Ruth Croft
(4:38:22), but the highlight of the day for local fans
was undoubtedly Toni (24) crossing the line in tears
of joy to take third place in 4:41:38. She had actually
led until the 30km mark, and what made her podium
finish all the more remarkable was that this was the
first time she had run further than 30km!