April and Ncube win Dryland Traverse
Experience counts a lot when it come to tackling a four-day trail running event and few runners bring more experience to the Rhodes Dryland Traverse in the Klein Karoo than John April and Anderson Ncube.
Coming into this year’s 11th edition of the event, April had won the men’s team category four times, in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019, with various running partners, including the 2019 win with Ncube.
April also finished second in the men’s team category in 2017, as well as last year in the men’s solo category, but this past weekend, he and Ncube combined all their experience and running talent to add another team win to their names.
Running as Team Raasbekkie in memory of the late Carel ‘Raasbekkie’ Bezuidenhout, the race commentator who passed away last year, April and Ncube dominated the event from start to finish. They won the 9,5km prologue on Thursday evening and then took line honours in the two longer stages of 25,7 and 25km on Friday and Saturday, as well as the 10km final stage on Sunday.
They finished the 70,2km of racing in a combined time of 5:54:54, well ahead of the second-placed Team PT (Gareth Cunningham and Jonathan van Wyk), who finished in 7:20:51. Third was Team Lebombo (Willem Human and Martin Els) in 7:29:08.
Dryland Traverse returns to Cango Caves
The event returned to its traditional roots this year, with the prologue once again starting at the entrance of the Cango Caves. This gave the more than 200 participating runners a unique experience of racing through a section of the worldfamous cave network, before hitting the stunningly scenic trails that criss-cross the Swartberg Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Other notable landmarks that runners experienced included starting halfway up the Swartberg Pass on the Friday stage and summiting the 1 190m pass and running along the banks of the picturesque Raubenheimer Dam on a wind-still Saturday morning. The race was based at the remote De Hoek Mountain Resort, where most runners camped for the weekend.
Podium positions
In the solo men’s category, Franz Erich Streicher also posted four stage wins as he finished with a combined time of 6:24:08.
Bert Verlinde second overall in 7:03:31 and Sakkie Hanekom third in 7:18:57. (This was Verlinde’s second consecutive year of finishing second, having taken the runnerup position in the mixed team category alongside wife Melanie last year.)
The women’s solo title was convincingly won by Estee Cockroft in 7:01:55, with Leigh Callaghan second in 7:21:01 and Rebecca Goble rounding off the podium positions in 7:37:40.
In the mixed team category, Nadia Jooste and Dale Moulten (Team Axxess) were in a class of their own. They took four consecutive stage wins, finishing the event with an overall time of 7:02:05, more than two hours clear of second-placed Anja Conradie and Cornel van Zyl (Team Adoonsies, 9:04:29).
The women’s team competition, Lijan van Niekerk and Sume van Heerden (Team Van Girls) claim line honours in a combined time of 6:46:31.
Then followed Chloe Bishop and Caro Jordaan (Team Blister Sisters) in 8:00:44. (Bishop came into the race as a defending champion, having won this category in 2021 alongside Chantel Nienaber.)
Following yet another successful edition of the Dryland Traverse, Dryland Event Management’s Bernard le Roux says it was fantastic to once again present runners with the opportunity to race through the Cango Caves and explore the wonderful trails of the Swartberg Mountains.
The 2023 Rhodes Dryland Traverse will take place from 2 to 5 November. Entries will open on Black Friday (25 November 2022) with a limited number of early-bird spots available at a 50% discounted rate. For more info, visit www.drylandtraverse.co.za or contact Suné Van Wyk of Dryland Event Management on 044 279 1013 or sune@dryland.co.za.