Hout Bay Trail Challenge gets the ‘key to the door’ as leading athletes face tough trail marathon

Trail-running eyes are focused on one of the oldest and most iconic trail races in South Africa this weekend as the Hout Bay Trail Challenge (HBTC) comes of age.

This will be the 21^st running of forty kilometres of challenging single-track trail around the amphitheatre of mountain peaks overlooking Cape Town’s well-known Atlantic Seaboard suburb.

The Karbokelberg and Suther Peak provide the backdrop across Hout Bay as an athlete descends towards East Fort in the final leg of the Hout Bay Trail Challenge. Photo – Stephen Granger

Saturday’s race is the third and final leg of the trail-running ‘Triple Crown’, following the Muizenberg Trail and the Old Fisherman’s Trail Challenge, with several athletes challenging for the honour of being named the 2023 Triple Crown Champion.

The ridge-line of mountains surrounding Hout Bay valley has long been an inviting target for trail runners and many of South Africa’s leading trail athletes – and a few internationals – have tested their mettle on the Hout Bay Trail Challenge, which hosted the South African Ultra-distance Championships in 2016 and the South African Marathon-distance Championship in 2019. 

The idea of running the mountain circuit around Hout Bay was born at the turn of the millenium with the first race staged in 2002. An initial idea for the runners to summit each peak along the way gave way to the concept of circumnavigating the mountains.

Kane Reilly races to his fourth Hout Bay Trail Challenge win in 2019. Photo – Pete Kirk

Initially the course was not marked, and the race was as much of a test of navigational skill as athletic ability. That favoured locals with strong knowledge of the mountains, and few could match local mountain runner, Mark Preen, in his heyday.

After significant delays in challenging weather conditions, Preen took line honours in the inaugural race in 2002 in 6 hrs 21 min 44 sec – almost two hours slower than his winning time of 4:32:26 four years later. Fellow-Hout Bay runner Sylvie Scherzinger won the first of many titles in 2002 in 7:45:14.

Jarryd Dunn leads up Llandudno Ravine in last year’s Hout Bay Trail Challenge. Photo – Pete Kirk

The essentials of the route have remained the same over the years – summiting Karbonkelberg and Suther Peak from the Hout Bay Harbour start, before traversing Klein Leeukoppie to end the first leg at Suikerbossie.  Then follows a climb up Llandudno Ravine to the Suikerbossie Track before a steep descent to Constantia Nek, the transition to the third leg.

A sharp climb up Vlakkenberg starts the final leg before a traverse around the slopes of Constantiaberg and descent to East Fort leads to a final beach crossing to the finish at the harbour.

Changes in 2016 included a descent to Sandy Bay prior to returning to the first leg finish at Suikerbossie and an additional section of single track before the descent to Constantia Nek, resulting in the current distance of 40km.

The signs are promising that some of the legends of the race will be on board for HBTC’s 21^st birthday. Master runner Costa Dimopoulos will be running his 13^th HBTC (10 solo runs), Dale Symons is aiming for his 10^th (8 solo), James Frazer and Julie Huckle will by running their 8^th and Kevin Spratley his 6^th.

But at the sharp end of the race, the possibility of late entries from two of the race’s giants to take on the leading Triple Crown contender promises the most competitive race since COVID.

Kyle Bucklow and his dog Aggie during last year’s Hout Bay Trail Challenge. Photo – Stephen Granger

Kyle Bucklow took line honours at Muizenberg and Old Fishermans this year and will be looking to make it three in a row. But the possibility that three-times winner AJ Calitz (2013,2015 and SA Ultra-title in 2016) and four-times winner, Kane Reilly (2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019) could be on the start line on Saturday adds spice to the mix.

Reilly is the only athlete to have run the 40km circuit with 2500m of vertical ascent in under four hours, his 3 hrs 54 min 35 min win in 2018 standing as the record. American Stevie Kremer raced to a 4:34:55 victory over the 36km course in 2013, a time which remains unsurpassed in the women’s competition.

Kristen Heath leads the field through the dune fields below Suther Peak in last year’s Hout Bay Trail Challenge. Photo – Stephen Granger

Kristen Heath will line up chasing a third victory in as many years and will be favoured to be first back to Hout Bay Harbour, ahead of Sam Reilly, who has been returning to form following her 4^th place in 2019.

The race, which supports Volunteer Wildfire Services as their beneficiary, gets underway from Hout Bay Harbour at 07h00 or shortly after, dependent on the light, and the winner is expected back at the harbour sometime after 10h30.