by Stephen Granger
Cape Town trail athlete, Toni McCann, produced a sensational performance at Germany’s biggest trail race over the weekend racing to a superb victory in the 10th anniversary Salomon Zugspitz Base Trail XL 50km race at Garmisch=Partenkirchen in Bavaria in the south of the country.
And McCann’s compatriot and adidas TERREX teammate, Bianca Tarboton, also raced with determination and success, taking second place in a high-speed finish of the Salomon Zugspitz Base Trail 25km.
Over 3000 runners took part in five races which comprised the Zugspitz Ultra-trail event in sunny conditions which led to a number of the athletes struggling in the warm conditions.
German athlete, Thomas Ungethum, was a surprise winner in the ULTRATRAIL 108km, needing 13 hours 16 minutes and 45 seconds to complete the mountainous course after leader for much of the race, Salomon Germany’s Matthias Bauer faded to finish fourth. Czech athlete Lada Stalzerova won the women’s contest in 15:20:16, ahead of the more favoured Anni Johann from Germany and Katrin Vock from Switzerland.
adidas TERREX bagged gold in both the men’s and women’s contests in the SUPERTRAIL XL over 82km (and repeated the double in the BASELINE XL), with Peruvian Remigio Huaman Ouispe and former German Olympic marathoner, Anna Hahner, the respective 82km winners. Swede Peter Engdahl (adidas TERREX) and Lisa Mehl (Team Willpower) took the honours in the SUPERTRAIL race over 60km.
But the African interest was on the two shorter-distance races, where McCann and Tarboton hit their straps in no uncertain terms. Both have proved themselves on gnarly mountain-top trails when the going gets tough but on the weekend both McCann and Tarboton underlined their ability on the faster, more runnable trails on the lower slopes of the mountains.
McCann captured the admiration and headlines of the local organisers. “…sensational performance was shown by the South African Toni Mccann: In 4:21:37 hours she crossed the finish line beaming just a few seconds after the second-placed man…” shouted the official race media release in bold letters. And given that the second-placed male athlete was Marcel Hoeche – Germany’s Under 23 champion and runaway winner in last year’s Ultra-trail Cape Town 35km race – their reaction was understandable.
Hoeche crossed the line 34 minutes behind top British marathoner, Robbie Simpson, and just half a minute ahead of the fast-finishing McCann, who clocked 4 hrs 21 min 37 sec to set a mark which could stand for many years. Leading German trail athlete and McCann’s adidas TERREX teammate, Kimi Schreiber, trailed thirty minutes back in second with another German, Kim Strohman, third.
“It really was a beautiful race,” said McCann. “I’ve never run a race like this before – so fast and flat. It was unexpected. But I’m happy with how the race turned out and it will give me confidence going into next month’s UTMB 56km.
“As this was a training race for me, I didn’t taper for the race and felt the heavy training load in my legs at the start. But mentally I was ready, and I think that was what got me through. I ran a smart race and held myself back, where others got caught up in the fast pace up front, under-estimated the heat and ran themselves into the ground.
“I ran within myself the whole way and I’m super-stoked at the outcome. A real confidence-booster ahead of big races to come. It’s definitely right up there with my best performances.”
The BASETRAIL race over 24km saw some of the fastest and most competitive racing in the history of Zugspitz. Just seconds separated the podium positions in both the men’s and women’s contests. Thomas Roach made it a good day for Britain, with a sharp 1:24:10 victory, with Austrian Innerhofer brothers Manuel and Hans-Peter snapping at his heels just 20 seconds back.
The women’s race was equally competitive, with Tarboton caught up in the high-speed contest, finishing just 30 seconds adrift of Salomon Switzerland’s Charlotte Moerman and seeing off Salomon Germany’s Lena Laukner by just two seconds in the final sprint to the line.
“Sheesh it was fast!” Tarboton remarked. “I nearly fainted at the end but I’m really happy with how I ran in general. I took chances and I’m glad that I did. I think I should’ve had one more (nutrition) gel towards the end and I think my blood glucose dropped because of that. But lessons learnt! And I made it this time unlike Otter, so I’m happy!”
In other racing over the weekend, South Africa’s Johardt van Heerden atoned for his disappointing run at Mont Blanc last month with a fine second-place at the challenging Dodo Trail over 50km with 3500m in vertical ascent in Mauritius. It proved a two-horse race with Van Heerden clocking 6:14:21 to finish 7 minutes behind local trail runner, Simon Desvaux. Andrianirina Hobilalaina from Madagascar, was third 40 minutes back.
Iain Peterkin moved to the Cape from Pretoria last year and is enjoying running and racing Western Cape trails for the first time, but he was surprised at the challenging terrain of the Bastille Day 50km Trail Run at Franchhoek.
“It really was pretty tough – bush-wacking up to the peak and having to rely on the GPX file on my watch to find the way,” remarked Peterkin. “But I enjoyed the race experience. I took the lead from Pete Calitz and two other athletes after about 25km, near the start of the climb and then was on my own up and down the peak and around the (Berg River) dam to the finish.”
Peterkin clocked 5:27:16 – the fastest time on the current course and 14 minutes quicker than Matt Healy’s time in 2019. Megan Scribante was first woman home in 6:47:50.
And while Johardt Van Heerden was pushing his body over 50km of challenging kilometres in Mauritius, his wife Sumé was racing to a notable victory over half that distance at the ever-popular Bastille Day Trail Races, run in perfect weather this year.
Other winners at Franchhoek were Kyle Bucklow (2:55:08) and Kate Mapham (3:33:30) in the 35km; Jacques du Plessis and Sume van Heerden (2:22:35) in the 25km; Dylan Stevenson (1:16:04) and Nicola Wills (1:30:47) in the 15km and JP Du Plessis (47:19) and Melanie Lesch (1:04:19) in the 10km.
And on an altogether flatter and faster terrain, West Coast ultra-distance athlete Luca Boyana was in a class of his own in winning the Cape Town Festival of Running 100km on a lap course at Green Point – Sea Point over the weekend, clocking 8:55:17. Second overall and first woman was Sesethu Melamane of In Touch in 9:46:19.
ORAK athlete Doneville Vries was almost two hours behind Boyana in second place in the men’s race in 10:35:46.
Nedbank athlete, Siyabonge Sakwe, won the 50km on the same course in 3:20:39, 15 minutes clear of Bellville athlete Thulani Matshoba with Miguel Netto close behind in third. Atlantic’s Anene Claassen, fresh from her win in the Knysna Forest Marathon just a week earlier, scored a close victory in the women’s race in 4:02:01; just a over a minute ahead of M&R’s Maretha Smit.
UWC’s Faheem Struis and Velocity’s Lee-Shay Willemse raced to gold-medal victories in the Cape Festival of Running 21km race, which doubled as the WP Half Marathon Championships.
