Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 123, October 2019 | Page 48

The Dodo Trail
Inspired by the growing enthusiasm for trail running among Mauritians, Yan de
Maroussem, one of the island’s star trail runners, Louis de Spéville, the owner
of a travel agency, and Yannick de Spéville, his son, came up with the idea of
organising an ultra-trail in 2011. And what better name for a run through the heart
of Mauritius than the Dodo Trail? That first race, which offered 80km, 33km and
10km distances, attracted 350 entries.
In 2015 the event affiliated with the international Skyrunning Federation, and was
selected to host the African Skyrunning Continental Championships. Ricky and
Landie retained their race titles, with SA’s Thabang Madiba joining Landie in being
crowned African Champions. The field also grew to 1500. After a one-year break,
the Dodo was back in 2017, with the addition of the 2x25km relay, and today it
enjoys a reputation as the ‘Most Beautiful and Technical Trail of Mauritius.’
The Dodo Trail supports Fondation Ressources et Nature (FORENA), a non-
governmental environmental organisation that promotes sustainable development
while preserving biodiversity and mitigating the effects of climate change. The
was very different to the climb. Gone were the winding
switchback roads gradually taking us up, now we
went virtually straight down, on slippery paths that
had me hanging from the trees to stay upright. I soon
had sore toes, because I am simply not used to this
type of descent, so there’s a training note for the next
time I happen to get an invite to run the Dodo. (Hint,
hint, Roy.)
Taking a Wrong Turn
All this time I was waiting for Naomi to come past
me, as she was one of the hot favourites in the
women’s race, and when Reunion’s Gilberte Libel
passed me with a cheery wave and wish of “Bon
Chance,” I expected to see Naomi hot on the heels
of the women’s leader, but she never appeared. As
the day wound on, I spoke to other runners to ask if
they had seen Naomi, thinking that somehow I had
missed her, and I was told she must have gone past
me, since she was running with Gilberte in the first
half of the race.
I only found out later, at the finish, that Naomi had
taken a wrong turn at the water table just inside the
Dodo Trail
is working
with FORENA
and the National
Park and Conservation
Services (NPCS) to protect
and rehabilitate the indigenous
forest in the popular Black River Gorges
National Park, and this sees the Dodo
organisers make a contribution to FORENA of Rs50 of each entry.
The main sponsor of the race since 2017 has been IBL Ltd, the largest business
group in Mauritius with more than 21,800 team members, which operates in
various industries, including agricultural, commercial, building and engineering,
manufacturing and processing, hospitality, logistics and financial. IBL also organises
the event, in conjunction with South African-based event company ROAG.
Black River Gorges Park, and had followed some
other race markers all the way up the wrong climb,
which was too slippery to come back down again.
Fortunately, she found some hikers at that summit
who knew the race, having done it before, and they
kindly offered to take her to the finish, since they
were unable to get her back to the race route. Poor
Naomi was distraught when we met up again that
evening at the hotel, but everybody, including the
organisers, went out of their way to tell her that all trail
runners suffer a navigation error sooner or later in their
careers. I am sure she will want to go back to set the
record straight, though.
While Naomi was going up the wrong hill, I was
plugging along towards the water point at Matala,
around the 16km mark, still enjoying chats with
various local runners. Most spoke English, so there
were no problems communicating, and it was proving
to be a most enjoyable day out, in spite of the
climbing temperature and the humidity. I heard talk of
expected maximums of 35 degrees with 80 percent
humidity, but by then my ears and brain were manfully
The view from Macchabee, with Tourelle
looking deceptively small in the distance
trying to block out that kind of useless info, so don’t
quote me on that.
Not Feeling So Hot...
At Matala I stopped for about 20 minutes and
snacked on the wonderful spread of eats and drinks
laid on for us, and when Ewa caught up to me, we set
off together. However, something was not quite right,
and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I just didn’t
feel 100% any more, and as the initial climbing on
Tourelle began, I told Ewa to push on, as I needed to
stop for a rest. This became the pattern for the next
four kays of slogging up that hill. I would drag myself
a short distance, then stop to rest and let my heart
rate come back down. I didn’t even need to look at
my heart rate monitor to know I was spiking – I could
feel it – and a simple finger on my throat and I could
feel my pulse going crazy.
So, having resigned myself to a slower time than
hoped for, I went deep inside my own head. Those
DNF’s I referred to earlier... well, they became my
focus. I was determined not to add another one, even
if it took me the whole day to get up that hill – and I
had that view waiting for me at the top! But the climb
seemed never-ending. I was literally stopping every
100m or so, finding some shade to sit in, and dousing
my head with water to cool down and recover. What
had initially looked like a nice little hike up a big hill
similar to Lion’s Head in Cape Town, now seemed like
Kilimanjaro! Runner after runner was going past me
every time I stopped, but I just chewed another Wine
Gum, drank my water, and waited for the courage to
kick in to get up again.
I still managed to have some wonderful chats with
fellow runners, in spite of my deteriorating condition...
nothing gets in the way of a good chat! Ditto at the
last water station, about a kay from the summit.
48
ISSUE 124 OCTOBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
In 2012 the organisers revamped the event to a 52km going up the highest peak
in Mauritius, Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire (828m), plus 27km and 14km shorter
races, and the field grew to 550, including 150 foreign visitors. By 2013 they settled
on the current format of 50km, 25km and 10km races, and the race continued to
grow as 750 entries came in. The following year the event topped 1300 entries,
including eventual winners Ricky Lightfoot (UK) and Landie Greyling of SA, both of
whom set course records.