Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 115, February 2019 | Page 31

TRAIL RUNNING
And the Winners
Are... part 2 C
Last month we brought you our
Athletes of the Year for 2018 for
road running and track & field, and
we told you to look out for the trail
running awards in this month’s edition.
So without further ado, here we go
with the nominees and awards.
– BY SEAN FALCONER
ompiling a list of nominees and then picking
the athlete of the year is already hard enough
under normal circumstances, and there will
often be wide disagreement about the final pick, but
when it comes to picking trail running awards, it’s even
harder. That’s because all trail races throw up a different
combination of terrain, conditions, strategies and times.
In other words, it is hard to compare them – definitely
a case of apples and pears – and thus difficult to pick
a clear winner for athlete of the year... but we’ve given
it a shot all the same. We feel that there are still a few
trailers who stand out from the crowd. You may have
other favourites that you would have liked to see here,
but these are the nominees and winners that the Modern
Athlete team picked. See if you agree with us.
MEN’S TRAIL RUNNING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
When it comes to nominees for the men’s award, we felt that two runners deserve special mention for their 2018 performances.
1 AJ CALITZ
The man who came back from a stroke in April 2017 and
basically had to learn to run again, continued his fine record in
several events in 2018 that he has dominated over the years,
including a fourth win (and third with teammate Bernard
Rukadza) at the three-day AfricanX Trailrun, and a fourth win
in the Fish River Canyon Ultra Marathon, where he still holds
the record for the FKT on the 90km hiking trail. However, his
standout performance of the year was in winning the K-WAY
SkyRun in November, finally breaking his hoodoo in the event by
winning it at the sixth attempt!
AND THE
WINNER IS...
He finished the self-navigated, self-supported 100km Eastern Cape monster in 15:18:30, but had to dig deep
for the win as SA Trail Running Champ Stewart Chaperon chased him all the way to finish just 73 seconds
adrift. “That was a very hard race, it’s probably the worst I have ever felt whilst running, but after Balloch I
started feeling stronger and really believed that if I could just keep pushing, I could do it! I am thrilled to finally
have won this iconic race!” said AJ. “Skyrun is very, very, very hard. The Beast!”
2 KANE REILLY
Another great comeback story in SA men’s trail running is that
of Kane Reilly. In 2014 he was diagnosed with Auto-immune
arthritis after having a persistent ankle problem checked out,
and spent some time out of action while recovering. He admits
now that at the time it felt like his world had collapsed: “When
I was first told my running future was in doubt, it was pretty
damn terrifying! Not being able to run made me question my
existence without it.” Fortunately, he was able to recover and
get back to running, and in 2017 he finished fifth in a world
class field at the prestigious Ultra Trail Mont Blanc in France,
and broke the course record in the 40km Hout Bay Challenge (3:59:34).
He took that form into 2018, with his results including a win in the Old Mutual Two Oceans 24km Trail Run
(1:55:41), and a win and new course record 4:39:52 in the 53km Whale of Trail event. And while he only placed
40 th in the Zegama Trail Marathon in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain, it was his power running up amongst
the leaders in the early stages that really caught the eye. Unfortunately, the incredibly muddy conditions
caused by heavy rains took their toll on many runners in the field, but Kane’s run was still a gutsy performance.
“I really enjoyed the race and the experience, but realise if I want to succeed at this level, it’s time to put on big
boy shorts and step up a level,” he said in an interview after the race.
Normally there can only be one overall
winner, but we are going to take the ‘easy
way’ out this time and give it to both
nominees, Kane Reilly and AJ Calitz.
That’s because both have overcome a
debilitating condition that left them unable
to run, with the long-term possibility of
never being able to run competitively
again even if they did get back to running.
Neither gave up. Instead, they trained
harder than ever and came back to
winning races, breaking records and
embracing the trails more than ever, and
enjoying a brilliant 2018. And for that we
think they both deserve this accolade!
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