It’s a Whale of a Trail win for Kane Reilly

KANE REILLY raced to a record-breaking victory at the Whale of Trail, run through spectacular landscapes in the De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Southern Cape yesterday.

Just three weeks after he blitzed to a stunning 3hr 54min record on the Hout Bay Trail Challenge, Reilly startled the Cape Vultures and shocked the plentiful Southern Right Whales with his speed over the 53km route, covering the popular five-day hiking trail in less than five hours and improving Rory Scheffer’s 2017 mark of 4hr 49min 46sec by almost 10 minutes in clocking 4:39:52.

Reilly came out on top after a tough contest with Delft athlete, Bernard Rukadza, who closed fast in the final stages, and with the R10 000 record incentive added to his first prize, earned a total of R35 000 – the biggest prize in trail running in South Africa.

“I ran out of energy in the final stages,” Reilly admitted. “Foolishly I left two glucose sachets behind and really felt the effects. I was quite hungry – and just could not get enough energy. And the stretch along the coast was tough, particularly the soft sandy stretch into the wind.

“I knew my strengths were in the mountains so I tried to get a good lead on him, as I knew he would come strongly in the final section along the coast,” he said.

Rukadza closed to just two minutes three kilometres from the finish, before slowing after the he could see victory was not achievable, eventually crossing the line at Koppie Alleen in 4:44:15 – five minutes inside Scheffer’s mark last year and just over four minutes behind Reilly.

As anticipated, SA’s top woman trail athlete, Meg Mackenzie, proved too strong for her rivals, winning in 5:50:55 – 13 minutes outside Nicolette Griffioen’s record set last year. In a field depleted by the absence of Toni McCann and lack of competitiveness of Katya Soggot through illness, Mackenzie was in a class of her own, finishing 26 minutes ahead of Karine Bezuidenhout, with Annelise Scholtz a further minute behind in third.

“I really enjoyed myself,” Mackenzie said. “The route is superb and the whales were magnificent. I didn’t want to deplete myself ahead of upcoming races in Europe, so when I saw that I had little chance of the record, I chilled and just enjoyed the final kilometres up to the finish.”

Bezuidenhout found herself in a desperate battle to hold off a fast-finishing Scholtz in the final few kilometres, collapsing exhausted, but triumphant, at the finish to claim the R10 000 prize for second position.