Masters make their mark, but Jarryd and Kristen rule in Hout Bay

by Stephen Granger

Jarryd Dunn celebrated his 25^th birthday with an impressive win at the twentieth Hout Bay Trail Challenge, run on the traditional 40 km route around the amphitheatre of mountains surrounding Hout Bay today (Saturday 23 July), while Hout Bay local, Kristen Heath, defended her title with another display of strong mountain running.

Overnight rain left the course – over Karbonkelberg to Suikerbossie, up Lllandudno Ravine past Grootkop and down to Constantia Nek, up over Vlakkenberg and down via East Fort to Hout Bay Beach and back to the start at Hout Bay Yacht Club – wet in places but the cool, misty conditions were generally favourable for trail running.

Dunn, who reached his quarter century in years on the eve of the race, bagged the major trail title which his prodigious talent has long promised, and his time of 4 hrs 25 min 30 sec is just 8 minutes off South Africa’s top marathon-distance trail-athlete Johardt van Heerden’s winning time last year. Only Kane Reilly, Ben Brimble and Van Heerden have run faster since the course was extended to 40km in 2016.

Dunn personified the ‘loneliness of the long-distance runner’, running solo for virtually the entire distance. Only Kyle Bucklow, winner of the Old Fishermans Trail Challenge last month, and his Run Dog Beer teammates, Oli Morris and Simon Muller, were ahead but they were competing in the team competition, each running just one of the three legs which Dunn completed running solo.

‘I’m really pleased to have achieved the win over 40 km,” Dunn said. “In the past I’ve struggled a bit with the longer distance, so I’m pleased to have had a solid run today. After the first kilometre or two I was on my own for the entire distance. But there were quite a few social walkers and runners on the mountain and they gave me a lot of welcome support.

“I started fairly conservatively after Kyle and I both made an early error and found ourselves near the back of the field running up through the dunes towards Hout Bay Heights and Karbonkelberg. But then Kyle pushed on and I let him go – he was running 14km and I was doing 40km. From then on, I slotted into a rhythm and I was pleased to be able to finish strongly on the third leg.”

Michael Molyneux moved up strongly through the field both historically and on the day to claim second place in 5:10:27. Twenty-third in his debut in 2018 in 6:18:57, Molyneux moved up to 16^th the following year, improving his time by 38 minutes. After a COVID-enforced absence in 2020, Molyneux continued his progression, moving into the top ten with a solid seventh position in 5:11:55 – 28 minutes inside his 2019 effort.

After running into the first checkpoint at Suikerbossie in 8^th position, 13 minutes behind Dunn and 9 minutes adrift of the second-placed runner, Piet Lourens, Molyneux moved up four positions into fourth on the second leg, but had not closed the gap on Lourens or Alan Lamont in third at Constantia Nek, 30km into the race.

A storming third leg, however, saw Molyneux make up 13 and 17 minutes on Lourens and Lamont respectively in just 10km to race across the finish line at the Hout Bay Yacht Club in second place in 5:10:27 – 1 min 28 sec faster than his time last year.  Lourens held on to take the final podium position in 5:13:45.

An impressive performance by 2011 winner, Allan Benn, saw him win the Masters (50-59 years) category, finishing 6^th overall in 5:25:00, just 35 minutes off his winning time 11 years ago.

By her own admission, Heath did not enjoy her best day out, but her determination and knowledge of the route saw her retain her 100% winning record in her second attempt at the full distance, holding off Lisa Pringle by just over five minutes to win in 5:32:31, a full 22 minutes off her winning effort last year.

“I didn’t feel great today, I’m not sure why,” admitted Heath, who works for the Learning Initiative as an Occupational Therapist in Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg in Hout Bay. “I found the second leg tough, and I struggled with my nutrition. But I’m pleased to have won again at Hout Bay, where I do much of my training.”

Lisa Pringle, winner of the 50km Special Edition in May and third at the recent Muizenberg Trail, closed the gap on Heath from 7 minutes at Suikerbossie to 6 minutes at Constantia Nek. She pulled back another minute on the final leg, but was unable to catch Heath, crossing the line in 5:38:05.

If Master athlete Benn excelled in the men’s competition, another Master flourished in the women’s with 54-year-old Julie Huckle racing home just 6 minutes behind Pringle to claim third place in her best-ever time of 5:44:23. Remarkably, Huckle has finished third on no fewer than four occasions in the past six years.

First across the finish line was Simon Muller for the Run Dog Beer team, who won the team contest by a yawning margin, but narrowly failed in their quest to beat the four-hour mark, winning in 4:03:44.

Results

Men: 1 Jarryd Dunn 4:25:30; 2 Michael Molyneux 5:10:27; 3 Piet Lourens 5:13:45; 4 Alan Lamont 5:20:34; 5 Guido Tagge 5:23:27; 6 Allan Benn 5:25:00; 7 Rikus Saayman 5:25:29; 8 Nicholaas De Plessis 5:29:05; 9 Kevin Spratley 5:31:19; 10 Simon Mazewsky 5:42:50

Veterans: 1 Molyneux; 2 Tagge; 3 Sebastian Dordel 6:35:01

Masters: 1 Benn; 2 Spratley; 3 Dale Symons 6:01:01

Grandmasters: 1 Brad Stratton 8:25:34

Women

1 Kristen Heath 5:32:31; 2 Lisa Pringle 5:38:05; 3 Julie Huckle 5:44:23; 4 Dalene van Staden 6:18:10; 5 Bronwen Moodie 6:37:42; 6 Marna van Deventer 6:38:05; 7 Leigh de Necker 6:44:00; 8 Julian Veermeer 6:57:26; 9 Melissa Laing 7:05:33; 10 Clare Travis 7:37:16

Veterans: 1 Van Deventer; 2 Travis; 3 Vanessa McBride 8:00:23

Masters: 1 Huckle

Men’s Teams: 1 Run Dog Beer 4:03:44; 2 Chaffing the Dream 5:09:50; 3 Zlaant 5:10:08

Mixed Teams: 1 Running up That Hill 6:02:55; 2 Mark Preen’s Slow Nephew 6:04:30; 3 Snap Crackle and Pop 7:30:11