By Stephen Granger
Two young South African trail athletes are set to take on the world and will shortly be bound for Europe, where they will be looking to measure their ability against the best on the planet.
In Toni McCann and Bianca Tarboton, South Africa have two athletes capable of holding their own at the highest level and the duo are planning to line up at some of world’s most iconic mountain races, where they were prevented by the COVID pandemic from running last year.
Although the likes of Kane Reilly, Meg Mackenzie and Landie Greyling have enjoyed success in international marathon-distance trail-running, notably Mackenzie who achieved top ten positions in successive years in the Golden Trail World Series, South Africa has yet to produce an athlete capable of taking on and beating the world’s best in marathon-distance trail, as has Ryan Sandes in ultra-distance races.
Whether McCann or Tarboton can achieve that, only time will tell but their record- breaking performances in South Africa suggest that they have the ability to do so. They both plan to race the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS), while McCann also has the world’s biggest trail race – the Ultra-trail Mont Blanc in her sights.
Kane Reilly, one of South Africa’s best-ever marathon-distance trail athletes and himself looking to race some of Europe’s top trail races later this year, has little doubt that McCann and Tarboton have the ability to compete with the best.
“Toni and Bianca are exceptionally talented athletes,” Reilly reflected. “After having spending time with some of the top trail runners in the world, over the past few years, I believe they have the potential to be up there with anyone. Toni has already shown it (in the 2018 Otter Run)!
“I look forward to seeing them compete against the world’s best, hopefully this year and in the years to come.”
The Durban-born McCann, now resident in Cape Town, is no stranger to “Golden” competition, having burst onto the trail-running scene at the 2018 Otter African Trail Run over 42km, which incorporated the GTWS Grand Final in that year. Running her first race beyond 30km, McCann found herself leading after overtaking top Italian, Silvia Rampazzo, 13km into the race. Luminaries such as New Zealand’s Ruth Croft, Ida Nilsson of Sweden, British athlete Holly Page, Fanny Borgstrom of Sweden and Mackenzie trailed behind her.
Inevitably McCann tired in the final quarter, but a close third behind Page and Croft announced her presence in world-class trail running in no uncertain terms. A severe ankle injury disrupted her plans to race in Europe the following summer and she was far from fit when she lined up at the GTWS opener at Zegama in Spain in May 2019. Despite this impediment, she placed a creditable 16th in one of the most competitive trail marathons in the world.
McCann returned to South Africa in mid-2019 to recover and build her fitness ahead of two of the biggest races in South Africa – the 53km Whale of Trail and the 42km Otter African Trail Run, both of which she won in record time. And while COVID restricted her racing last year, she dominated the 27km Table Mountain Golden Segment and returned to defend her title at the Otter, improving her 2018 time.
McCann’s primary target for the year is the famed Ultra-trail Mont Blanc (UTMB) 56km ‘OCC’ in late August. The race links the Swiss and French alpine towns of Orsières, Champex and Chamonix. Few would dispute UTMB’s status as the world’s biggest trail event and the OCC title will not be easily won, especially with New Zealand’s Croft expected to return to defend the title she won last year.
The South African, who holds an honours degree in nutrition and dietetics, began a new career in March, taking on a position as Community Manager for her sponsor Asics, responsible for social media and content, and she looks forward to continuing her work from a European base for the South African winter, while forging friendships, partnerships and healthy sporting rivalries from her temporary home in France. McCann has chosen Chamonix as the base for most of her sojourn, something which will give her ‘home-town advantage’ for the OCC.
Apart from McCann, a number of other leading South African trail athletes will be aiming to make their mark in the UTMB this year, including Kane Reilly in the 101km CCC and Ryan Sandes and Ultra-trail Drakensberg winner, Amri Williamson, both running the UTMB 170km.
As McCann and other top South African trail athletes prepare to depart for battle off-shore, French Ambassador to South Africa, Aurélien Lechevallier, used the opportunity to recognise the importance of the sport, and the UTMB in particular, in cementing ties between the countries.
“What a great opportunity for our two countries to meet and compete at such an incredible event (the UTMB) in celebration of sport,” the Ambassador said. “As France, we are honoured to welcome South African athletes to Chamonix – an extraordinary place for an event that we are very proud of.
“I am happy that our countries can build relations in such a wide variety of fields, including in the beautiful sport of trail running. We wish all athletes the best!”
In addition to racing the UTMB OCC in late August, COVID-willing, McCann will compete in the Golden Series’ ‘Fast and Furious’ Sierra Zinal 31km in Switzerland (7 Aug), the “Scottish Vertigo” Ring of Steall 29km in Scotland (18 Sept) and potentially the Snowdownia Trail Running Challenge in Wales (25 Sept) before returning home.
Keeping McCann on her toes in Cape Town is chemical engineering graduate, Tarboton, who has also achieved a high level of success in her relatively short trail career. One of the fastest in the game over shorter distances, Tarboton is gradually adding strength and stamina to her armoury, following an unhappy experience in the 2019 Otter, when she collapsed a kilometre from the finish in her debut marathon. She recovered to complete the race and has not looked back since.
Her recent emphatic victories over good opposition in the Ultra-trail Drakensberg SDR 30km and the Special Edition 25km on Table Mountain underlined her potential and followed her impressive ‘redemption run’ at the Otter last year, where she placed a strong second to a record-breaking McCann.
Tarboton’s final year academic pressure limited her training and racing opportunities last year but she has given herself a “gap year” from her engineering career to focus on her athletics career and she has reaped the benefits . She is eager to test herself in Europe and is looking forward to joining the GTWS at the popular Italian mountain race, the Dolomyths on 18 July, having earned an elite invitation on the strength of her Otter Trail result last year.
Depending on her performance at Dolomyths, Tarboton could get a late call-up to join McCann at Sierra Zinal, and also expects to run the final league race in the GTWS, the Ring of Steall in Scotland.
In addition to racing in Europe, new opportunities are opening up to run for South Africa in trail running competition. And both McCann and Tarboton could feature prominently in the inaugural World Mountain Running and Trail Championship in Thailand in November.
Story by Stephen Granger
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