Organisers warned that deeply furrowed roads and muddy descents would make this year’s Oak Cottage Kwikspar Mountain Drive half-marathon more challenging than most.
Organisers warned that deeply furrowed roads and muddy descents would make this year’s Oak Cottage Kwikspar Mountain Drive half-marathon more challenging than most.
A chilly drizzle and biting winds on the morning also ensured that they were right. But true to form, the hearty participants brought high spirits along with them to look back on another successful instalment to this much-loved race.
Just eight brave walkers took off for their competition a little after 7am, followed by some 150 runners an hour later. The course took runners and walkers through Grahamstown’s quiet streets and onto Mountain Drive at Grey Dam.
Following the tough climb, runners faced freezing gusts on the exposed mountain traverse, before a treacherous descent through patches of gravel and mud that led them to relative warmth as they crossed back over the N2.
A chug through the industrial area left one more leg through the slowly waking suburbs to the finish at Albany Sports Club and a hard-fought beverage in the festive clubhouse. Eric Sigxashe, 33, from Mr Price Port Elizabeth took top honours for his club in a time of 1:11:19.
Used to playing second fiddle to the more celebrated EP athlete and reigning Two Oceans champ, George Ntshiliza, the smiling Sigxashe seemed at home in the difficult conditions.
“It was very cold at the top of the mountain,” he explained, “but I’m used to holes in the ground. It’s normal where I train in Motherwell. And I’ve run this race the last two years, so I know the route well.”
Grahamstown's Jene Banfield of Run/Walk For Life Athletics Club was the overall women's winner, finishing in 1:37:22 and thus winning the women's 40-49 category.
She was followed by Davera Magson (Nedbank) and Priscilla Dyantyi. Nedbank Running Club members, Mariano Eesou and Anele Maliza, won the remaining two podium positions. Richard Alexander (Albany) was the winner of the walking section, finishing in 2:23:39 with 71 year old Eric Wells finishing fourth.
