Final assault on “Golden Tickets” trail prize underway

With just three days to go until the end of South Africa’s Golden Segment contest, and with it the opportunity of winning a once-in-a-lifetime trip to compete with the world’s best trail athletes on the Azores Island Group, the country’s best are set to make a final attempt to steal the big prize.

Currently Johardt van Heerden and Toni McCann, arguably the country’s top marathon-distance athletes, top the tables, but several contenders are planning to give it their best shot in the next few days to ensure the impressive two-months’ competition ends on a high.

The ‘pot of gold’ for the male and female athletes topping the leader board as of midnight on Thursday 1 October is a “Golden Ticket”, which translates into an all-expenses paid trip to the Azores Islands to take part in the 2020 Golden Trail Championship – a four-day multi-stage competition on testing mountain trails.

“In the beginning (in 2018), we were just thinking of getting the world’s top athletes together in one place for a series of single-day races,” said Golden Trail Series founder Greg Vollet. “But COVID meant that could not happen this year. So I thought, why not a four-day race and create a different attraction?  No one knows how the athletes will react, pushing their bodies hard for four successive days, so it will be totally interesting and new.”

And the outcome of Vollet’s vision is the Golden Trail Championship, to take place on two islands of the Portugese Azores Island Group and the mini-contests around the planet over the past two months to decide the destination of the ‘golden tickets’ which have been provided trail competition in an otherwise lean year for racing.

After a slow start in many, if not most, of the global segments, the intensity of the action has increased in recent weeks. The South African segment on Table Mountain has been no exception, proving one of the most competitive of the global golden segments.

“I’ve been pleased at the way things have picked up in the past week or two,” said organiser of the South African segment, Kane Reilly.  “Now we’re almost at the end and I think we are still going to have some strong attempts before Friday.”

Apart from holding the segment reigns, Reilly also contributed to the mountain action with an excellent run last week, posting the fastest “king of the mountain” time to the top of Platteklip Gorge en route to completing the circuit in 2 hr 44 min 07 sec – the second fastest, just over five minutes off Van Heerden’s 2:38:28.

“I felt I did well on the climb up Platteklip and on top of the mountain, but lost time along the contour path back to the finish,” Reilly reflected. “I think having run that stretch so many times before made it harder for me to overcome second-half fatigue.  I still felt happy enough with my run, but it was not quite what I had hoped for.”

Chances are good Reilly will be back on the circuit this week in an attempt to challenge Van Heerden’s time. Robbie Rorich, who posted a leading time several weeks back, has the mountain running skills to get close to the 2 hr 40 min mark, and has intimated he will be back within the next days while Daniel Claassen, whose 2:46:05 eclipsed Rorich’s time by less than two minutes, is another capable of challenging the 2:40 mark.

“I had a great holiday in the Drakensberg and an opportunity for some altitude training,” said Claassen over the weekend. “I came back quite tired, and I’m resting up now to give the golden segment one more go. I’m keeping an eye on the weather and will try to choose the best time and day.

“Johardt’s time is almost out of reach and I’ll be happy if I can just take a few minutes off my previous time.  But I know some of the other guys will also be out there over the next few days – it should be fun out there!

“Even though it is likely that just one (male) athlete will get a chance to go (to the Azores), it has been a really cool campaign to be a part of in this strange year – a way to compete against others, but most of all to test yourself – to see what you are capable of.”

While the men’s competition has been intense, injuries to two top athletes has spoilt the competition in the women’s.  In Toni McCann, Bianca Tarboton and Hayley Preen South Africa can boast three young, world-class trail athletes, but injuries have come at the worst time for Tarboton and Preen, leaving McCann unchallenged atop the table.

Although solid runs in the past week by Kristen Heath, Marzelle van der Merwe and Cleo Albertus have seen them dip under the four-hour mark and challenging for top five positions, in the absence of Tarboton and Preen – as well as a pregnant Landie Greyling – McCann’s 3:17:58 appears safe. McCann, herself, might well return to the segment circuit.  She is capable of improving her time significantly, potentially becoming the fifth athlete to run faster than three hours. 

Current Leaderboard: South African Golden Segment

Men

1 Johardt van Heerden 2:38:28

2 Kane Reilly 2:44:07

3 Daniel Claassen 2:46:05

4 Robbie Rorich 2:47:45

5 Bruce Arnott 3:02:29

Women

1 Toni McCann 3:17:58

2 Kristen Heath 3:51:46

3 Marzelle van der Merwe 3:58:29

4 Cleo Albertus 3:59:44

5 Hayley Preen 4:12:15