by Stephen Granger

A special edition is published when something extraordinary demands breaking from routine to get the news ‘onto the street’ as soon as possible. Saturday’s Special Edition Trail Race over 25km on Table Mountain in Cape Town is cut from the same cloth – something extraordinary, breaking from the norm.

Typically marathon or ultra-marathon distance trail races capture the limelight. Ultra-trail Cape Town (UTCT), the Otter Trail and Ultra-trail Drakensberg are examples in South Africa. The UTCT team typically focus primarily on 100km (and this year 100 miles) but have recognised the importance of encouraging trail athletes to up their intensity and speed over shorter distances.

Breaking from their ultra-marathon focus at the year-end, Stuart McConnachie and his UTCT team put on a top quality Special Edition 25km in winter last year. With Europe out of bounds due to COVID restrictions, all the big guns raced the 2021 Special Edition,  with Kane Reilly edging out Robbie Rorich in an exciting men’s competition and Bianca Tarboton showing her class with a convincing victory over Van Niekerk in the women’s.

The relaxation of COVID-related travel restrictions this year has enabled South Africa’s leading trail athletes to compete in Europe, where several are currently based. This has opened opportunities for a crop of talented younger athletes, who will be chasing podium positions in this year’s race, with David Krone, winner of the Ultra-trail Drakensberg 32km, and 2021 Old Fisherman’s Trail champion, Lijan van Niekerk, favoured to lift the titles, although more experienced athletes, such as American Cody Reed, Josh Chigome, Christiaan Greyling and Kyle Bucklow, could push the youngsters in the men’s competition with Landie Greyling and Jade Bucklow likely to keep Van Niekerk honest in the women’s.

The Special Edition is a unique 50km trail event comprising two separate loops of 25km in the northern section of Table Mountain National Park, starting and finishing at Homestead Park in Oranjezicht. The trail includes some of the most iconic sections of Table Mountain, including the upper slopes of Kirstenbosch Nature Reserve, Newlands Ravine and the Saddle, Oppelskop and Devil’s Peak, the Pipe Track above Camps Bay, Corridor Ravine and the Twelve Apostles Trail.

The two loops are equally challenging, with both providing runners a mix of technical terrain, single and jeep tracks with steep ascents and descents. Weather can vary drastically during the race from near-freezing temperatures in the early morning on top of Table Mountain to much warmer conditions approaching thirty degrees during the latter part of the day.

Unusually, the event allows runners to choose their lap sequence if they are running the 50km. In the case of those entered for the 25km, runners can choose to run either lap, except in the case of the invited elite 25km athletes, who have to race the designated loop on a given year.

Last year the elite competition took place on the eastern loop comprising an out and back ascent to the Saddle below Devil’s Peak and a circuit through Newlands Forest towards Kirstenbosch.  This year the elites will race the western loop, following the Pipe Track from Kloof Nek and climbing Corridor Ravine to the Twelve Apostles trail.  They then follow Smuts Track to Maclears Beacon, the highest point on Table Mountain, before the knee-breaking descent down Platteklip Gorge  and the final fast kilometres back to Homestead Park.

The 50km race starts from Homestead Park at 06h00 with the 25km race getting underway an hour later from the same venue.

Registration takes place on Thursday and Friday (26 – 27 May) from 12h00 – 19h00 at Jack Black Breweries at 10 Brigid Road, Diep River. No registration will be available at Homestead Park. Runners will have to present themselves with a Photo ID and all mandatory equipment (listed on https://www.thespecialedition.co.za/runner-info).