Carla, the flower girl, set to become Carla, the race contender, at the upcoming Otter TERREX Trail Run

The Otter TERREX Trail Run, one of South Africa’s premier trail marathons, has grown into a world-class event. This year, 21-year-old Carla Collins, daughter of renowned adventure racers Mark Collins and Belen Sanchez, makes her race debut after years of involvement behind the scenes. Her participation symbolizes both her personal coming-of-age and the race’s continued evolution.

Stephen Granger

The Otter TERREX Trail Run, which takes place on Saturday within the Garden Route National Park, has come of age as a top-flight trail marathon contending with the best on the planet, paralleling the story of a young woman, who will line up with the country’s leading athletes in her Otter debut.

Carla Collins, 21, also came of age this year and, having been closely involved with the evolution of the Otter from the outset, has chosen this moment to signal an important right of her passage – to compete with her former race heroes in the Otter TERREX Trail Run (Retto edition).

Daughter of leading adventure racers, Mark Collins and Belen Sanchez, there was never any doubt that Carla and her younger sister, Andrea, would follow their parents’ quest for adventure and both became integral elements of their parents’ vision to create a great race along the continent’s most popular and iconic hiking trail.

A young Carla Collins proudly held the striking bouquet of fynbos flowers for the winners in the race’s infant years, before jumping through many more ce organisational hoops in subsequent years, including holding the finishing tape, working on registration, checking kit, helping at the start and finish and sweeping the trail.

The Otter African Trail Run, as it was previously known, grew with Carla, through teenage years into maturity as key players came on board in the form of Faces, EasyEquities and finally TERREX as the title sponsor.

On Saturday, Carla will embrace and celebrate the Otter TERREX Trail Run as she goes to the start line at Nature’s Valley, lining up as a serious competitor alongside many of the country’s top trail athletes.

Clearly blessed with the sporting genes from her adventure-racing parents, Carla has won several local races over shorter distances, but the full marathon, even one she knows so well, is a significant step up for her as an athlete.

“She’s like a wild horse!” her mother Belen Sanchez said. “It’s been tough trying to hold her back from overdoing it too early.”

Carla’s introduction to adventure racing was in fact pre-natal. “I competed in a 1000km adventure race in Vietnam with Mark more than twenty years ago,” explained Belen. “I only found out afterwards that I’d been pregnant during that race, carrying Carla.”

Carla herself is excited about what lies ahead. “It will be amazing lining up with athletes like Kane Reilly, Meg Mackenzie and Bianca Tarboton, athletes who were my heroes when I was helping with the race organisation years ago.

“I’ve never run anything like that distance on trails, although I did run the Knysna Marathon earlier this year, just to get a feel for the distance at the start of my training block. And although I’ve run and walked all of the Otter Trail over the years, I’ve never run the entire trail in one go, so I’m looking forward to joining up the dots!”

Carla has enjoyed the privilege of working with and around many of the country’s leading trail athletes over the years and jumped at the opportunity to join Ryan Sandes in the Run – Swim Kloofing Torpedo Challenge team race in the Southern Cape a few years back when his intended partner, Mark Collins, cried off.

“Carla was great,” recalled Sandes. “I had plnned to compete with her dad, Mark, but he said he was unfit and suggested Carla should take his place.

“She clearly has inherited her parents’ spirit of adventure and ability, especially over technical terrain, and I’m sure she will become a serious trail athlete in the future.

“One of my best memories was when we were racing over rocks down the Kaaiman’s River. I think we were lying around third and Carla just took off over the rocks while I just followed her line. We swept past the two Robs – Shaff and Tweddle – and they could hardly believe it!”

While the Otter has moved up a rung or two each year to achieve world-class levels of organisation and presentation, it remains strongly connected to its roots and the Magnetic South team, which gave birth to the great trail race in 2009.

“We recognise the special touch which the Collins family brought to the Otter in creating a unique running experience with a personal family touch,” said Clark Gardner, CEO of Faces and man at the helm of the Otter ship.

“We have tried to hold onto those elements which have made the Otter the special race it has become while introducing others to raise the level of the race to a world-class event to attract the best in the world.”

/SPNA