We couldn’t have asked for a better day at Leeuwenkloof this past Sunday, 27 November as Gauteng saw the grand finale of the 2016 Spur Gauteng Summer Trail Series®. The weather spoilt us, the venue took our breath away and all the runners just made our day.

 

On Saturday evening the Wildrunner team watched as the predicted clouds came rolling in towards the venue. A couple of close calls with the lighting, but clearly something caught the attention of the rain clouds as they stayed distracted, hovering over the Magaliesberg Mountains while we sat warmly around our camp fire just buzzing with excitement for race day.

And on that note, let’s shift on over to race day. Sunday morning greeted us with blue skies, dirty trails, green forests, wide smiles and delicious coffee. Runners started arriving from 5am to pick up their numbers and get their little warm up run’s in.

Racing kicked off a 7am for the long course championship runners. The course see’s runners start out on a steep little kicker up and over the hill, after which they make their way down some fast single track towards the forest. Once in the green forest, runners navigate their way through the trees on some deliciously muddy, windy single track. After a fun little play session in the forest, runners were met with another small set of hills as they headed towards the old mine shaft, a fun little feature where runners head down the tunnel through the arches and then a short little climb back into the light on the other side. From here it’s one last little climb and a whole lotta fun all the way down and back home.

In the men’s race, Herman Mulder, the first male over the line as well as the first master over the line, showed the lighties how to do this whole trail running thing by flying over in a time of 01:09:40. In second place was top summer series runner, Frans Bonokwane and claiming 3rd place for the final race was Trail Series® local, Mark Phipson.

In the ladies race it was no surprise when Margretha Wang came sprinting over the finish line in first place, claiming her 4th win for the series and unofficially claiming her place as the Queen of the summer series. In second place was Lerentia Strydom, and wrapping up the ladies podium was Evangeline Scheepers.

The short course runners joined the long course for most of the course, but at about the 6,5km mark, they took a little right hand turn and left the long course runners to do their thing while they take took their final sprint home.

The men’s race put on a real show over the finish line, with Ryno van Vollenhoven absolutely dominating this course, sprinting over the finish line in a ridiculous time of 38:41. In second place was Luke Schlebush in a time of 39:43. Jason Friedman and Marco Botha had an intense game of leapfrog going on out on the course, with both giving it their all on the home stretch, Marco put up a massive fight but Sunday saw Jason come out on top and claim the last spot on the podium for the top 3 men over the line.

Anita O’Brien, who’s taken a break from the long course while she’s recovering from an injury, was the first in for the ladies in an impressive time of 49:16. Not far behind her was second place lady Phylis de Fouw who finished in a time of 51:30. And finally, taking 3rd place over the line in the ladies race was Wilmarie Nolte.

 

What a great day of racing it was for all. And what a fantastic Summer Series of racing it was. We had the best time hosting you all, and Gauteng just showed off this Summer with all its venues. A big shout to all who ran this weekend and another big congratulations to all those runners who took part in 3 or more races to qualify for an overall series finish place.

Hope you all have a fantastic festive season and enjoy some well-earned down time. Hopefully you won’t spend too much time on the “down” during your down time and instead go exploring some of the beautiful trails that this great country of ours has to offer.

Stay tuned for all the exciting Spur Trail Series adventures to come in 2017.

Lastly, a big thank you to all our sponsors and media partners Spur Steak Ranches, BOS Sport, Protea Hotels by Marriot, Runnersworld.co.za and WWF.

Click here for race photos and here for race & series results.