Redemption on the Otter Africa

by Stephen Granger

In a day of redemption at Saturday’s (October 9) Otter African Trail Run, presented by Emperor Asset Management, the stars of Bianca Tarboton and Johardt van Heerden shone brightly as the pair recorded notable triumphs against many of the strongest trail runners in the country.

Regarded as ‘The Grail of Trail’ in South Africa, once a year the ‘Otter’ allows trail runners onto the country’s most popular and scenic hiking trail to complete the trail path between Storm’s River and Nature’s Valley in less than nine hours – a distance which would normally take hikers five days.  

Warm temperatures and a stiff headwind impacted runners, many of whom struggled with dehydration and cramps and times were generally slower than had been anticipated.

Van Heerden, 28, overcame a navigational error which cost him several minutes, to take line honours in 4 hrs 16 min 59 sec – just over seven minutes ahead of fast-finishing ultra-trail athlete, Ryan Sandes, who surprised many with his marathon speed. Christiaan Greyling, another ultra-distance specialist, placed third, narrowly dipping under the 4 hrs 30 min barrier

But the day belonged to 24-year old UCT chemical engineering graduate, Tarboton, who ran a world-class performance to place seventh overall in 4:45:34, shattering Toni McCann’s two-year-old ‘Classic’ course record by over seven minutes. Tarboton finished a full forty minutes clear of second-placed athlete, Namibian-born Julika Pahl, with Eastern Cape runner Nadia Jooste third, in an impressive debut.

“I felt really good today,” said Tarboton. “I was hoping for an enjoyable race after a hard year and I think I achieved that. I didn’t find the wind too bad – I thought it helped by cooling me! Although I was aware of the R50 000 incentive to run faster than 4 hrs 40 min, I didn’t want to spoil my run by racing harder to go for that time and possibly tiring later.”

Nonetheless, Tarboton’s superb run was a massive redemption from her first experience in racing a trail marathon at the Otter Classic Run two years ago.  Then, a likely combination of heat exhaustion and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) caused Tarboton to collapse just a kilometre from the finish and it took a full hour and a drip-feed before she was able to stumble to the finish.

“I was feeling strong today when I ran past the point where I collapsed and I knew I would make it this time,” Tarboton said. “I paid more attention to my intake of water and nutrition this time and it made all the difference.”

McCann did not race, but she was at the finish to congratulate Tarboton on taking her record. “Bianca had a fantastic run – she looked so easy out there today,” said McCann. “It’s great to have a couple of us challenging each other and raising the bar. This will spur me on for next time!”

University final exams put pressure on Tarboton in last year’s ‘Retto’ Run, in the reverse direction, but she nonetheless ran well to place second to McCann in 4:53:01.  Free of academic pressure this year, Tarboton has since enjoyed solid wins at the Ultra-trail Drakensberg 32km race and the Special Edition 25km on Table Mountain before she was forced to cancel her plans to race in Europe due to family illnesses.

But everything fell into place today, as she moved up to a level that suggests she will do well against top international competition in the near future. She leaves next week for a short visit to Europe where she will race the final Sky Run of the 2021 series in Italy in two weeks’ time.

Van Heerden’s fitness had been in some doubt, following an injury earlier in the year, but he dealt with those doubts in no uncertain terms. Robbie Rorich had taken an early lead over the technical, rocky stretch in the early part of the race but Van Heerden was in the lead by the time the athletes reached the second hut – Scott Hut – and never looked like relinquishing it.

He had already built a four-minute lead over one of the pre-race favourites, Kane Reilly, by the halfway mark at Oakhurst Hut, with Rorich a further four minutes back. Not even a temporary loss of his navigational faculties, when Van Heerden ran off course (he took several minutes and suffered cut limbs before he managed to scramble back) could halt his progress and by the Bloukrans River crossing, 28km into the race, he had built an eight-minute lead over a tiring Reilly, with Sandes three minutes back in third.

“The Sandman” grew stronger as Reilly faded. Sandes, whose easy passage through ankle-deep water across the Bloukrans River signalled his own redemption (a large wave at the crossing caused him to battle the waters for several minutes during his winning run in 2011) moved into second and was closing on the leader.

But the gap was too big and Van Heerden too strong, with the latter going on to complete his second win and third podium in three years, after finishing second to Spanish athlete, Pere Aurell, in last year’s Retto Run.

Greyling was well pleased with his third-place ahead of his primary target race – the Skyrun 100km next month, with Pretoria newcomer, Jacques Buys, coming in ahead of Reilly for fourth.

LIV2Run athlete from KZN, Sinovuyo Ngcobo, enjoyed his first outing at the country’s premier trail marathon and gained significant experience for future trail racing.  Starting outside the top 25, Ngcobo ran consistently to grab a top twenty position in 5:23:24 and finish just ahead of cramp-crippled Rorich, who had been forced to a walk during the latter stages.

“Phew, that was a tough run indeed,” said Ngcobo. “It was a great experience and I hope to be back some day.”

Results

Men: 1 Johardt van Heerden 4:16:59; 2 Ryan Sandes 4:24:38; 3 Christiaan Greyling 4:29:37; 4 Jacques Buys 4:43:25; 5 Kane Reilly 4:44:32; 6 David Krone 4:44:45; 7 Simon Purdon 4:47:08; 8 Bruce Arnott 4:47:41; 9 Arlo van Heerden 4:49:25; 10 Mvuyisi Gcogco 4:51:02

Women: 1 Bianca Tarboton 4:45:34 (record); 2 Julika Pahl 5:25:55; 3 Nadia Jooste 5:28:59; 4 Landie Greyling 5:50:16; 5 Marina Hand 5:59:58; 6 Robyn Owen 6:00:46; 7 Marna van Deventer 6:04:17; 8 Susan Sloane 6:12:45; 9 Leilani Scheffer 6:14:47; 10 Georgie Kelly 6:19:21