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Media release: Only Days Left to Enter Addo 50Mile Trail Run
Although the closing date is 1 February, the organisers, Extreme Marathons, have indicated they will allow for a few days of late registration until Friday 3 February.
All registration must be done before the event, which is now in its eight year.=
The trail runs present a unique opportunity to experience the more remote areas of the Addo Elephant National Park on foot. Designed to test trail runners both mentally and physically, the trail tracks the mountains and valleys of the rugged Kabouga and Zuurberg areas of park. Runners are challenged to run primarily on tracks within the park itself as well as some stretches of gravel roads.
To date there are 37 entries on the 50miler and 142 runners registered to compete on the 25-mile trail run.
Entries have come from as far afield as Germany and include many runners who have enjoyed the trail before. Local runner Michael Hendriks and Gauteng resident Hylton Dunn will be hoping to take top places in the 50miler, as they have done in previous years.
The trail runs kick off at six am at The Lookout in Kirkwood, with the 25mile run ending at the Zuurberg Mountain Inn and the 50mile run ending at the Park”s main restcamp.
Runners will not have to dodge any of the Park”s famed elephants or lions but will be running through areas where wildlife such as ostrich, kudu, red hartebeest, mountain zebra and bushbuck occur.
Over the years, the trail runs have only seen only one incident of a contestant physically encountering a wild animal when Leo Rust was “run over” by an ostrich in the 2008 trail run. The encounter left both parties a little stunned but free of injury and Rust went on to finish the memorable trail run in men”s third place.
The trail runs expose the contestants to a varied, rugged terrain and three of the Park”s five biomes: thicket, fynbos and forest. Runners must negotiate steep inclines, stream crossings, rocky surfaces, grassy plateaus and descents into valleys.
The trail runs are expected to cause little disturbance to regular Park visitors.
For more information, visit www.extrememarathons.com or contact Nadia on 083 309 7755.
NB: photos of previous trail runs can be provided on request
Issued by:
South African National Parks
Enquiries:
Megan Taplin Regional Marketing & Communications Manager
Addo Elephant * Camdeboo * Karoo* Mountain Zebra National Parks
Tel: (042) 233-8609 or 083 6508649