A group of us trail runners/hikers decided to head off to Wilderness for 3 days of trail running. Mountains, forest and beach is what the organisers promised us and that is exactly what we got.
The MTD runners/hikers included the Kropman siblings (Brent & Annemarie), international athlete Ant Shaw (who flew in from Dubai the day before and kept telling everyone he was an international athlete), his long suffering wife (that’s me! ) and Sir Cramps-a-Lot Darrel Sander.
Day One was wet, windy, muddy and very cold. Lucky for some there was a marshalling mishap and everyone ended up running the shorter 24km route. Some people were very happy
Day Two was all about spotting elephants in the Knysna Forest. Amazing trails where dodging elephant dung became the biggest challenge. Despite the copious amounts of fresh dung, newly broken branches/trees and footprints (which were questioned by some) the Knysna elephant sadly eluded us. Bad luck struck Brent as he twisted his ankle during the run. Could have been the fear of being chicked by the chasing MTD girls, but let’s rather put it down to treacherous trails.
Day Three was a chilled beach run, racing through the forest and crossing a floating bridge to the finish. There was even time to pose with the legend Chris Hitchcock
Unfortunately none of the MTD athletes finished on the podium, but Darrel and Ant were able to bravely defend their beer drinking title which I’m sure will make Claire and Kent very proud…
This is a great event with a very chilled vibe, reasonably easy trails and amazing scenery throughout the 3 days. With 3 different races it really caters for all levels of fitness and trail expertise. Put it on your bucket list.
