Cape storm backdrop for Golden Ticket opening
Gale force winds and giant waves battered the Mother City on Monday (July 13), providing a powerful setting for one of the most anticipated trail running events on the sub-continent - the official opening of the South African ‘Golden...
Sandes to take on UTD
Madeira’s loss is South Africa’s gain in ultra-distance trail running this month. Trail super-star Ryan Sandes, who had planned to run the Ultra-trail Madeira on the Portuguese island this month, has opted instead to race locally.
Sandes was to have...
Sportspeople can pivot too – the story of a rugby player turned ultra-distance runner
By Stephen Granger
Two years ago, a re-wired former South African provincial rugby player signalled his arrival on the ultra-trail scene with a convincing win in the 50km Bastille Day Trail Run. Last weekend, Matt Healy reminded the local trail...
Ultra-trail Drakensberg unearths new South African distance running star
By Stephen Granger
A new South African ultra-distance star was unearthed at the fifth Ultra-trail Drakensberg, which took place from the Premier Sani Pass Hotel yesterday (Saturday 23 April) with 35-year-old Doug Pickard upsetting pre-race favourite Simon Tshabalala in the...
How far can a person run in 24 hours? This ultra marathon star will...
Yiannis Kouros is a living legend. The Greek athlete’s extraordinary feats of ultra-distance running defy belief. Many of his records, set in the 80s and 90s, still stand. But one, of which Kouros boasted would stand for centuries, is...
Golden Trail Series 2021 Season preview
The recent launch of the 2021 Golden Trail World Series has cut through COVID uncertainty and created new year excitement amongst the world’s best trail athletes, who can look forward to another year of high quality competition in some...
Emma Sainsbury’s Two Oceans race of love and courage
Four days short of her 20th birthday, Cambridge University language student, Emma Sainsbury lined up at the start of the Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon. It was to be a journey of courage, pathos and discovery. And ultimately joy.
Former...
The running academy driving South Africa’s distance running revolution
As a young girl, Elana van Zyl delighted at running along the tracks and roads on her parents’ farm near Albertina. At first, running was just fun. Later, she discovered that it was something she could do better than...
South Africa’s leading distance athletes nominated for Modern Athlete of the Year Awards
Landie Greyling, Sipho Mbanjwa, Toni McCann, Siboniso Soldaka, Daniel Claassen and Bianca Tarboton are just some of the nominees for the trail running component in the Modern Athlete of the Year Award for 2023, announced today (Friday 9 February)...
Unexpected trail outcomes as under the radar runners triumph in big weekend of trail...
Two under-the-radar runners came up trumps in big ultra-trail races at home and abroad, both with heart-warming stories to tell to inspire many with aspirations in the sport.
Vincent Bouillard and John April are hardly household names in the sport,...