Robbie and Bianca sizzle in heat-wave conditions at the Otter TERREX Trail

Robbie Simpson made it two in a row with a drama-filled victory at the Otter TERREX Trail, presented by EasyEquities, at Storms River today (Saturday 5 October) while Bianca Tarboton delivered the performance of the day in winning the women’s contest.

Super-Scot Simpson became only the fourth athlete to win back-to-back Otters, joining Swiss athlete Marc Lauenstein, Johardt van Heerden and Toni McCann, none of whom raced today, but not before unexpected drama, which raised excitement levels but ultimately left ‘local hero’ Kane Reilly falling agonisingly short of what might have been.

A heat wave turned the cool weather which prevailed for the Otter TERREX Trail Challenge on Thursday into a cauldron for the elite race today – certainly the hottest day in the history of the event. With the thermometer hitting a 38 degree athletes struggled with heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Times for the marathon, run on South Africa’s most iconic five day hiking trail in the Tsitsikamma National Park, were significantly slower than in previous years, with Simpson’s winning time of 4 hrs 21 min 36 sec the slowest since 2012 when Iain Don Wauchope won in 4:23:24.

One athlete, however, rose above the elemental challenges to record a remarkable run. Twenty-seven-year-old Tarboton’s 4:48:41 win (8^th overall) was four minutes faster than her winning time last year in the Otter Edition and just three minutes off her best for the Retto edition set in perfect conditions in 2021.

Part of the global adidas TERREX team, Cape Town based Tarboton has achieved a number of top trail performances, at home and abroad, but today’s was arguably the race of her life, taking into account the degree of difficulty due to the heat and high humidity.

Coming from a European summer, Simpson was possibly better heat-conditioned that his South African rivals, and it was no surprise when he took the lead early on ahead of a trailing pack including Reilly, Jaqcues Buys, Jacques du Plessis, Mvuyisi Gcogco and Zimbabwe-born Admire Muzopwamba.

Out of sight of his pursuers, Simpson took a wrong turn shortly before the Andre Hut check point at 8km, and by the time he’d got back on track he’d lost around four minutes.

From enjoying a healthy lead approaching Andre Hut, he went through the checkpoint in 4^th position, 1 min 53 sec behind joint leaders Reilly and Muzopambwa, with Jacques du Plessis in third.

Reilly and Muzopambwa reached the Bloukrans River crossing together, just over an hour into the race and with the latter struggling across the roped river traverse, Reilly soon opened a lead which grew to 2 min 43 sec as he led the field through halfway at the Oakhurst Huts.

Fighting negativity following his navigational error, Simpson had lost further ground to Reilly, and trailed Muzopambwa by a minute.

Gauteng athlete, Jacques Buys, started conservatively, with an eye on the temperature and had moved up into fourth place, just ten seconds back of Simpson.

Running strongly, Buys overtook Simpson after the climb out of the Lottering River and was 1 min 10 sec ahead of the British athlete in second place.  But Reilly had increased the gap on the field and was 3 min 54 sec up on Buys through Scott Hut and over five minutes clear of Simpson.

Whether it was the name of the checkpoint which inspired Simpson is uncertain, but the Scot gained in strength as Reilly began to struggle and it was game on with just 12 kilometres to go.

“Up till that point it had not been my race,” admitted Simpson. “I felt frustrated about missing the marker with the early morning sun straight in my eyes. I felt I could not get into any rhythm for much of the race.

“But suddenly from Scott Hut I started to feel stronger and with the help of ice from the hut helpers, which cooled me, I came back to form in the final quarter.  I thought I’d left it too late and didn’t think I could catch Kane, but he seemed to be struggling a bit and my confidence was up.”

Simpson was never going to lightly surrender his crown. He overhauled Buys between Scott and Ngubu Huts and when he closed the gap on his TERREX teammate, Reilly, to just over a minute at Ngubu Hut, 6km from the finish, the writing was on the wall.

Simpson soon overhauled a flagging Reilly and raced clear past the iconic Waterfall and over the rocky stretch to cross the line at Storm’s River to win by three minutes ahead of Buys, who overtook Reilly in the final kilometre.

“I’m delighted to have won after so tough a race. I so enjoy the trail community here and that brought me back to South Africa again,” said Simpson to loud applause.

Buys enjoyed the best result of his career, being rewarded for his conservative tactics but was unable to stay with the flying Scotsman when Simpson came past. “I ran with him for a bit, but even though he ducked into a few rivers to cool himself, he soon pulled away from me,” Buys said.

Eastern Cape athlete, Mvuyisi Gcogco, made up ground in the second half, moving up from 6^th at halfway to finish fourth and match his previous best finish at the Otter, atoning for a disappointing outing last year, while Muzopambwa held on for a well-deserved and popular fifth place.

Tarboton was not much further back in 8^th place overall and was never threatened for her crown. “The Otter is such an amazing race, nothing will keep me from coming back year after year,” said Tarboton.

Having fought through some tough challenges in the European season, Tarboton’s win today proved a significant tonic and encouragement for the future.

“I think I’d struggled in races in Europe to push through when the going got tough,” said Tarboton who rejoined her TERREX teammate, Simpson, on top of the podium, following their wins last year.

“There’s something about the Otter that lifts my spirit, so mentally I was in a much better space today to cope with any physical dips along the way. And that made all the difference!”

Knysna athlete, Rebecca Watney, and Cape Town’s Sam Reilly engaged in a tough battle for second place, running close together for much of the race before Watney’s finishing strength proved decisive.

Coached by Simpson, Watney came home in an impressive 5:06:19 with Reilly finishing third seven minutes later in her debut Otter.

2017 winner, Meg Mackenzie, made a welcome return to the Otter after six years, overhauling North Face athlete, Emily Djock, in the closing stages to take fourth place in 5:32:20.

Carla Collins, daughter of the Otter race founders Mark Collins and Belen Sanchez, was greeted by rapturous applause and proud parents when she crossed the finish in 6:16:04 in tenth place in her first ever trail marathon.