In South African trail running circles , the Otter African Trail Run is known as the “ Grail of Trail ,” the ultimate bucket list race for runners to tick off their To Do list , and one of the great running challenges on offer in SA . The Otter Trail is a popular hiking trail in the incredibly scenic Tsitsikamma National Park , near Plettenberg Bay on the Southern Cape coastline , where no running is allowed at any other time than the annual Otter African Trail , which is why the race sells out so quickly each year . It ’ s a notoriously tough challenge , too . Whereas hikers normally take several days to complete the trail , with overnight stops along the way , the runners are given just one day to traverse the marathon-length course , which features rugged coastline trails , indigenous
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forests , river crossings , spectacular scenery , 2600 metres of climbing , and around 7000 steps hewn into rock or braced in the clay soil with poles !
While the main event Otter Race has a strict cut-off of nine hours , the slightly more relaxed Otter Challenge , run two days earlier , has an extended 11-hour cut-off – and both races feature a 5km prologue stage to determine the batched starting order on race day . The race is run in the opposite direction each year . The Otter traverses East to West , starting in Storms River and finishing in Natures Valley , with the historically faster Retto ( Otter in reverse ) runs West to East , from Natures Valley to Storms River . The 2023 edition was the original East to West Otter edition , so the runners had the sea on their left the whole way .
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First run in 2010 , the Otter has quickly developed into an international must-do event , with some of the world ’ s top athletes travelling to South Africa to tackle the challenge . One of these is German trail star Marcel Höche . Having visited South Africa twice before , Macy Pacy ( as he is affectionately known ) is clearly deeply fond of the country and the racing here , and this year he claimed fourth place in the men ’ s main event . “ It was so amazing !” he says . “ Everyone out there who hasn ’ t done Otter , do yourself a favour , run this race ! It ’ s so amazing . The ocean , the trails , it ’ s beautiful , but it ’ s tough and technical . If you like that kind of thing , come race it . If you don ’ t , just come for the view . It ’ s simply amazing !” That ’ s high praise indeed , coming from such a well-travelled international superstar . |
Images : Caleb Bjergfelt , Johan Minnaar , John Tanner |