Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 66, January 2015 | Seite 14

Ma feature

Young Lionheart
Meet Megan Leslie, a young emerging star in trail running with a very bright
future ahead of her. – BY SEAN FALCONER

I

t was pretty much according to script when leading
trail runners AJ Calitz and Landie Greyling retained
their titles in the Red Bull Lionheart trail run in Cape
Town in mid-November, but what did cause a few
raised eyebrows was that 16-year-old Megan Leslie
of Stellenbosch finished second in the women’s race.
Coached by her cousin Kane Reilly, himself a top SA
trail runner, Megan came home just 30 seconds adrift
of Landie in the final, in her first big race against
senior competition just a year after deciding to take
her running more seriously.
The Lionheart is an interesting event. Runners prequalify by running a circular route on the slopes of
Lion’s Head Mountain and tracking their run with
Strava GPS, then uploading to the race website.
The fastest 64 men and 32 women then make it to
the finals, where they run 4km to the top of Lion’s

Head and back down in elimination heats to get into
the final. “I talked to Kane before I ran my qualifier,
because I wasn’t sure if I should do it, and he said
go for it, as it would be great exposure for me,” says
Megan. “I knew I needed to run below 20 minutes for
a place in the elite finals, and I did 18:24, the secondfastest qualifier.”

The Heat is on…

That saw Megan line up needing a top three finish in
her heat to progress to the final. “Kane told me to give
everything on the uphill, as the downhill is so quick
and everybody is flying at full-speed, so I was so tired
when I got to the top. I led most of the way with Allie
Townsend, but then Kirsten Heath passed us and I
had to push to make sure I got second in 37:41 while
still conserving energy for the final. Then I had to do it
again one and a half hours later!”

Megan (left) with older sister
and training partner Katie

“Going into the final, I told Kane I was so nervous,
and that I just didn’t want to come last, but he calmed
me down and said I had already exceeded everybody’s
expectations, so I should just go for it. Landie took
the lead from the start, followed by Amy Burton, but
when I passed Amy, I never knew where she was, so
kept pushing all the way to the finish. I nearly rolled
an ankle a few times and had a few near-falls, but
my earlier run had given me extra confidence on the
downhill and I opened nearly two minutes on her.”
Megan’s time for that second heat was 34:27, just 29
seconds behind Landie.

Bright Future

“We did a few trail races just for fun in the past, but
when William got more serious about his running,
he suggested we do the Spur Winter series in 2013
and I won the Mini-Me category, did well in the next
Summer Series and won a race in the 2014 Winter
Series,” says Megan. “This year I am going to focus
on the track on top of trail running, so I am looking
forward to an even better year of running.”

Megan powers her way up Lion’s Head
in the Red Bull Lionheart Challenge

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ISSUE 66 JANUARY 2015 / www.modernathlete.co.za

Images: Dylan Haskin, courtesy Megan Leslie

Megan hails from a very active family. While her
father is a keen cyclist and her mom walks regularly,
her three older siblings are all sporty. Michael (23)
was a provincial swimmer and played water polo,
William (22) is a keen trail runner and won the recent
Matroosberg 24km, and Katie (18) won her age
category at the 2014 Spur Cape Summer Trail Series.
The two sisters also played first team hockey and
waterpolo together at Rhenish Girls High, and are
regular training partners for running.