Records shatter at Otter race
The 11th edition of the Otter African Trail Run between Storm's River and Nature's Valley concluded on Saturday 12 October with two South Africans breaking the previous SA Otter records.
Warm, sunny skies welcomed the runners at the start at Storm’s River Mouth and temperatures continued to increase over the course of the morning making well-executed hydration and nutrition strategies especially critical. The top 24 men and 16 women made up the Abangeni runners, who took off from the start at 07:00.
The Classic Otter, run from east to west, starts with incredibly technical, rocky and uneven terrain as runners make their way along the coastline towards the first overnight hut. In the men's race after the first technical section, Kane Reilly and Johardt van Heerden held the lead, breaking away from the rest of the field and extending the gap to 13 minutes by the Gu Munchie Table. "I think we were both running within ourselves, not thinking too much about the record, just enjoying it out there," the Mpumalanga-born and Pretoria-based Van Heerden said.
He would eventually just miss breaking the sub-4-hour mark and finished in a time of 04:02:59, still managing to set the new fastest time a South African has run in the Otter. Swiss runner Marc Lauenstein, still holds the overall fastest time for the Classic at 03:59:29.
The women’s race was dominated by the four favourites: young guns Toni McCann and Bianca Tarboton, and trail legends Landie Greyling and Nicolette Griffioen. McCann took the lead from the start, securing her position in the top 10 from the start line.
She came into Bloukrans 5 minutes ahead of Tarboton and in 6th position overall. This Cape Town athlete navigated the crossing with ease and continued to push ahead into the final third of the course.
With just two minutes to spare to break the record, McCann hit the final obstacle of the day, the floating bridge and balance beam, on the finish line, to a cheering crowd. Navigating the balance beam perfectly, she crossed the finish line in a new record time, becoming the fastest woman to win the Classic Otter African Trail Run in a time of 04:52:48.
“It was tougher than last year, but it was beautiful," she said. "It was fun to race knowing there were people pushing behind me. I’m definitely happy to have broken the record,” said McCann.