The annual Mountain Drive half-marathon, organised by Albany Road Runners, takes place in Grahamstown on Saturday 15 August and is once again, an Eastern Province League event.
Beer Property Management is the new race sponsor, while Kwikspar has sponsored T-shirts which will be awarded to the first 200 finishers.
The annual Mountain Drive half-marathon, organised by Albany Road Runners, takes place in Grahamstown on Saturday 15 August and is once again, an Eastern Province League event.
Beer Property Management is the new race sponsor, while Kwikspar has sponsored T-shirts which will be awarded to the first 200 finishers.
The Mountain Drive race has been run since 1999, from when it was run in a counter-clockwise direction up until 2003, when organisers the route to run clockwise.
The event will again be run in the clockwise direction, and starts at the Albany Sports Club. From the club, participants head to Park Road, Fitzroy Street and past St Andrew’s College before hitting Somerset Street, where they will head to the Caravan Park entrance of Mountain Drive.
It’s then over the 8km gravel road section of Mountain Drive, before runners head into the Industrial Area after crossing over the N2 at the water works.
It’s then past the golf club and along the army base as participants head back to the field. Cut-off time for the race is 11am, and all finishers within the cut off time will receive a medal. Walkers start at 7am while runners get underway at 8am.
Runners will be hoping for some good weather over the weekend, as the course can be very cold along the Mountain.
The race record is held by Lawrence Ntantiso with a time of one hour nine minutes 25 seconds, set in 2004. The women’s record of 1:28:46 was set in 2007 by Landre Pretorius.
The fastest time by a local is the 1:13:55 set by Sibusiso Mnto in 2004, while the fastest time by a local woman was the 1:33:30 set by Caroline Stewart, also in 2004. Mnto also holds the record for the fastest time by a junior, with the same time.
Entry forms are available from the local sports shops and late entries will be open on the morning of the race. For more information contact Christine on 083 391 0460.
