TRAIL RUNNING |
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Monday the second , but the rain continued to fall , wiping out Johardt ’ s attempt for the second-last day altogether . This left him with one last chance to take on the longer route , in spite of the foul conditions and whatever the weather could throw at him , but it was going to be all or nothing , because if Johardt was going to start his FKT attempt on that Monday morning , he had to take the longer route , break the record , immediately pack up camp , then embark on the five-hour drive back to the airport to be in time for his late afternoon flight . There was no room for error . |
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Mission Possible
But Johardt being Johardt , he did indeed start his FKT attempt on Monday morning , 20 December 2021 . He ran the first kilometre at around four minutes per kilometre pace and had to take the longer , alternative route . The trail was overgrown and wet , making foot placement extremely challenging , and he was forced to rely on instinct rather than sight . A slip and a fall later , though , and Johardt was on the ground , thinking that he had broken his arm , but he walked a bit , tested mobility , and slowly started to jog again . Now he dug deep into his roots , cleared his head , and brushed off the pain . Knowing Johardt , he lives for moments like this , when the cameras are off and he can just focus on running . He is an athlete , after all , and nothing tops that feeling of beating the clock .
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A number of other dangerous and slippery sections along the route slowed Johardt ’ s progress , meaning he had to switch on the afterburners on the sections he deemed runnable . A wet Corner Pass was a nightmare , and running at an altitude of over 3000 metres even brought the fastest trail runner in South Africa to a sluggish pace a couple of times . ( Speaking to Johardt afterwards , he admitted that he had forgotten how long that section on the escarpment really was . On paper , it looks easy , quick and runnable , but when you get there , it is proper fell running , difficult to breathe , and not nearly as runnable as one would expect .) |
Johardt reached the highest point of South Africa well below record pace and tagged the peak , before plummeting down the same route , cautiously but still fast . One final spanner in the works was lurking , though . As Johardt reached the final few kilometres of the route , he had to decide on what to do with that river crossing . Should he risk going through it , or risk losing more time by going around to the alternative route again ? Then he heard a blurry voice in the distance : “ Take the shorter route and cross that river .” It was Arlo . In true brotherly spirit , Arlo had been plotting different ways to cross that river for the past five |
hours , because he wasn ’ t going to let his brother fail in his attempt !
There was no room for error and no room for going back to the alternative route , so Johardt simply had to risk it . In true Lowveld style , he just bombed into and through the fast-flowing Njesuthi , trusting his brother ’ s advice . He successfully made it to the other side and blasted the final few kilometres to a new FKT to the magnificent Mafadi summit . He took half an hour off the previous time and set the new benchmark at 5 hours and 18 minutes , and then said something so typical of him : “ A sub-5 is possible .”
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Images : Louis Le Grange & Sven Musica |