The Otter Trail was a childhood memory that I
remember vividly. Even at the age of 11, I remember being overwhelmed by the
beauty and splendour of the route that runs from Storm’s River Mouth to Natures
Valley. The hike runs over 5 days (4 nights) and covers a distance of 42
kilometers. Not a massive distance over 5 days of hiking, but having recently
completed the “Otter Trail Run” – I now remember why it takes 5 days.
About 5 years ago I heard about the inaugural running
of the Otter Trail, as a 1-day trail run. Based on the found memories I had of
the hike as a child I tried entering the following year. The huge popularity of
the event and the fact that they only take 2 groups of 200 runners meant that I
only managed to get an entry to the 2013 event
There are too many highlights from the 23rd
and 24th of September to write about, except to say that it was one
of the truly great experiences of my life. The overall event is organised and
exceptionally well managed by an awesome team at Magnetic South. Their company
is passionate, firstly about wildness areas in our country and the preservation
thereof, and secondly about trail running.
The day before the event sees a 4km prologue take
place in which athletes are seeded into start batches for the main race the
following day. Having spoken to people that have done the event before, all the
“virgins” woke up at 4am and nervously ate breakfast – in anticipation of the
event.
The measurement of the degree of difficulty of a
running race is the amount of vertical ascending done over a certain distance.
The more you go up over a certain distance the harder it is. A 21km half
marathon with 300m of ascent is tougher than one with 200m ascent. The toughest
half marathon in Jo’burg is the Pirate’s 21km with around 500m of ascent.
Double this and over 42km of road running you’d get around 1000 meters. The
Otter Trail is 2400m, and is off road.
The route runs entirely along the coastline for 42km
and has very little “flat sections” – if you’re not going up (steeply) – you’re going down, (just as steeply). The terrain covered is
also very “technical”: rocks, boulders, beach sand, roots and river crossings
Route Profile:
I wont say too much more about the event, even the
video link below doesn’t do justice to this truly magnificent race, but I think
you’d be hard pressed to find a more beautiful trail run anywhere on earth.
“The Otter Trail Run – The Grail Trail”
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