Still looking good in the 2019 Otter … before hitting the wall
TRAIL RUNNING
the race . “ I had just finished a big design project for my studies three days before the race , so I was exhausted from all that stress , but that probably helped me to not put pressure on myself as a result . I just wanted to finish after the previous year , and in the end it went well ,” she says . ( For the record , Bianca finished in 4:53:01 , behind McCann ’ s 4:40:30 .)
Coming into the last kilometre of the 2021 Otter African Trail Run presented by Emperor Asset Management , between Storm ’ s River and Nature ’ s Valley on the Southern Cape coast , you would have forgiven 24-year-old Cape Town-based trail runner Bianca Tarboton if she had stopped for a minute or two and simply taken it all in . She was comfortably leading the women ’ s race by some 40 minutes and feeling great , but this was the exact point of the Otter course where things went very wrong for her in 2019 .
In that race , Bianca was lying second behind eventual winner Toni McCann , with a sizeable lead over the third-placed runner , and she was within reach of a coveted podium placing in the so-called ‘ Grail of Trail ’ in her Otter debut , and first race over the marathon distance . She just needed to get through the last kilometre … However , Bianca had not been feeling well for about five kays , and suddenly an invisible wall reared up in front of her .
Next thing she knew she was lying next to the trail , unable to move . “ It was my first marathon – my longest run before that was just 30 kilometres – and I completely underestimated my fuel and hydration requirements , so I ended up collapsing with hypoglycaemia . It took two drips before I could get moving again an hour later , and I had to be helped through that last kilometre by fellow runner Tim Chambers and my coach , James Montgomery , who basically pulled me across the beach to the finish ,” says Bianca .
“ I eventually finished , but looking terrible , with a drip in my arm and virtually being dragged across the finish line , and everybody looking concerned . I think the worst for me was that I knew my family had been worried about me . They were waiting for me at the finish , and knew I had been lying second thanks to updates from checkpoints along the course , but then I didn ’ t come in . They didn ’ t know what had happened to me , and told me afterwards that they were starting to get really worried .”
Trying a New Approach
A year later Bianca lined up for the 2020 Retto – the Otter is run in reverse every second year – and once again found herself running in second place , behind eventual repeat winner Toni McCann . This time , however , things went to plan , and she finished strongly , in spite of a less than ideal build-up to
“ That gave me a lot more confidence going into the 2021 race , but it also helped that I intentionally went out to be kind to myself . In the past , I gave in to all types of pressures . I was unkind to myself and mistook softness for weakness . I wasn ’ t willing to accept any scenario other than a fantastic result , and tried to push my body past what it was capable of in order to achieve that . I ’ ve learnt a whole lot since then and have way more experience , but one thing that I think is even more important to me is that my whole internal dialogue has changed . I no longer believe that softness is weakness . In fact , I think quite the opposite .”
As a result , Bianca went into the 2021 Otter with a different mantra , that “ treating myself like a precious object makes me strong ,” and she says she was determined to be kinder to herself . “ I still love to push my body and challenge myself to test my capabilities , and I ’ ll definitely always give a race my all , but I tried not to think about the podium or records , just tried to stay in the present . I therefore went up a week before the race , chilled out , and tried to block out the external noise . There is a lot of hype around Otter – cameras , interviews – whereas I am quite introverted , so I tried to avoid all that .”
Bianca is helped to the finish by coach James Montgomery ( front ) and fellow runner Tim Chambers
Images : Mari Van Der Sandt , Peter Kirk & courtesy Otter African Trail Run
Bianca doing much better in the 2020 Otter , briefly accompanied by boyfriend Rob Tweddle ( left ) and tracked by running videographer Jeff Ayliffe
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