Welcome to the new TSSL website! Sho it’s been a mad few weeks as we discovered after the TSSL opener that the old website was not allowing us in anymore…so we had to built a new one 💥
So a few weeks have flowed under the bridge since that spectacular evening at Kirstenbosch, and the grand opening race in the TSSL 2025, in partnership with WWF South Africa. Here are the full FinishTime results and the gallery of images.
One of the stand out highlights was to see 75 kids lining up on the start line to race, many in their first ever trail run. The future heartbeat of trail running beats strong 💪
VOLSCHENK rules the short
Junior athlete CG Volschenk absolutely destroyed the field in the 5.2km ‘Short’ course, winning in a time of 24:06, with over a minute lead on second place Ashraf Moosa. In third overall was another Junior athlete, and TSSL regular Zachery Day.
The fastest ‘Minimee’ (11-14yrs) were the Volkmann brothers, Griffin and Cameron, placing fourth and sixth overall respectively. These two went hammer and tongs at each other as usual, with just 25 seconds (and Daniel London) between them.
In the ladies race it was ‘Minimee’ runner Katelyn Meiring setting the pace with a 31:12 win; with senior runner Lara van Tonder breathing down her neck, just 28 sec off the winning pace. Anna de Klerk rounded off the top three over the line, with a narrow 3 sec win over Lisa Lange to steal the bronze position.
‘Peewee’ runner (6-10yrs) James Sydow ran a brilliant 30:01 to place 18th overall (out of 328). Oliver Cunliffe and Oliver Powter placed second and third respectively in the ‘Peewee’ boys category.
And in the ‘Peewee’ girls race, it was the delightful Georgia Powter leading the charge, finishing in a brilliant 36:54 and placing 60th out of 328 competitors! Rounding up the top three was Emma Landman in 2nd and Alexa Midlane 3rd.
STEVENS untouchable in the Long
Noah Stevens left nothing to chance with his 44:44 blitz of the 9.5km long course, but still someway from the 43:21 course record set by Brandon Keeling in 2022. Jason Neels and Brode Gleeson both had solid runs to secure 2nd and 3rd place overall respectively.
Veteran runner Tim Walwyn banked a top 10, with his 53:08 giving him more than a seven minute lead on the 2nd Vet over the line Lourens Leeuwner. Peter Thoeny and Liv Nergaard won their respective Master (50yrs+) categories.
Mari Venter secured the win in the ladies race, and a top 20 overall, with a 57:48 finish. Birgit van Niekerk took 2nd in 1:01:30 and Rebecca van der Linde in 1:02:20.
FLOUCAUD absolutely smashes the XL
There are times when ‘smashing’ is used out of context, but not so with Martin Floucaud total domination of the 15km XL route. But when referring to a two minute and thirteen second winning margin ‘smashing’, we think it might be fair.
The winning time? 1:12:42. The chasing duo of Elrich Davids and Ben Hoseus ran in second and third respectively, with a 1:14:55 and 1:15:14.
Although there is no ‘Junior’ category in the XL race, we feel a special mention needs to be made of Liam Matthews who secured a top 5 position with a time of 1:18:14. One to watch when we enters the Seniors!
Evergreen Master trail runner Julie Huckle took charge of the ladies race, winning overall in 1:32:01. Robyn Hechtor and Alecia Odendaal secured 2nd and third overall respectively.
Jonathan Edwards and Morgan Volkmann took the hot spot in their respective Veteran categories, as did Allan Benn in the Masters.
With thanks
Firstly to partner sponsors for Kirstenbosch, WWF South Africa. For all the work they do in Conservation, we are so proud to partner with them.
Then to Petzl South Africa for coming on board for the sunset runs. Petzl are the Rolls Royce of headlamps and those lucky enough to have won one during the lucky draw, or bought one on the amazing special - cherish them! They will be back for Nov.
And for the ice cold finisher drink we have Pura Beverages to thank. Keep an eye open for their ‘Hydration’ range at leading stores near you…
Then to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for hosting us, Our Pizza Place, Cuppa Joe, Blue Water Africa, Brad Williams Sports Science, FinishTIme and the crack Wildrunner team for completing the show.
Next up: Paarl Nature Reserve
Race 2 in the TSSL takes us to the unique Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve on the 16 March. Did you know...Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve has some of the largest exposed granite boulders in the world? Formed deep underground 500 million of years ago, these smooth, rounded surfaces of the rocks create a striking landscape, and when wet, they glisten like pearls—hence the name "Paarl," meaning "pearl" in Dutch.
So if it rains like in it did in 2023...well, then consider yourself running between the pearls!! For the race info click here