Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 119, June 2019 | Page 53

TRAIL RUNNING
Slow,
Finish
Strong
Start
Whether it’s working hard to organise the Ultra-Trail Cape Town, or hitting the trails himself and winning the Ultra-trail
Drakensberg, Stuart McConnachie is determined to make the most of every moment. – BY PJ Moses
A
sk trail runner and event organiser Stuart
McConnachie what his favourite quote is,
and he quickly turns to this passage from My
Uncle Oswald, by Roald Dahl: “I began to realise how
important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me
that if you are interested in something, no matter what
it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both
arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate
about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either.
White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”
“I grew up playing and loving all sports. I had some
cricketing talent and really wanted to play for SA, so
I gave my all for a few years, but never really broke
through. Instead, running became my main aim later
in life, after doing a few Cape Epics and getting into
triathlons. I enjoyed those sports, but the clutter
As an avid sportsman, and one of the organisers
behind the now iconic Ultra-Trail Cape Town (UTCT),
Stuart loves the mountains with a passion that few
can match. “As a South African kid I was exposed to
so much that involved just being outdoors. My place
was always out there, climbing in trees, swimming in
a river or hiking on a mountain. I was lucky in many
ways that I grew up racing cross country around Table
Mountain’s lower slopes. School cross country races
featured heavily in my early years,” says Stuart.
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