Training Log Archive: briangardner

Day 2 of the Wolkberg Trail run started and finished at Stanford Lake College. A 25km loop that was much “flatter” and faster than day 1. Once again, very familiar terrain and I knew what to expect. Some beautiful natural forest single track sections through Wegraakbosch farm and near Clearwater Coves. Mostly open jeep track and forest roads, with a few short sharp climbs in between. Got into a nice group of 5 with Ben, Stewart, Ruan and James at Cheerio Gardens. We all spilt up just before the 3rd waterpoint at the R71 road culvert, and I ran alone for a long stretch before the Clearwaters Cove road crossing. I managed to real Stewart in again, but got passed by 3 others, including Tiaan who was looking strong. My legs were really feeling the pace today, and a bit sore from yesterday, but happy to have hung onto 11th place (although a top 10 would have been nice!).

Overall, exceptionally happy to have finished in 5th place overall for the 2 days! What an awesome race and amazing area to be racing (although I am very biased towards Magoebaskloof!) I’ll be back…

C • Sounds great.. 4

Wolkberg 2 Day trail run. My first ever stage trail run race. Day 1 was the 35km Sky Marathon starting at Magoebaskloof Adventure base in Georges Valley, up to the top of Iron Crown (2126m), through Paardevlei, then down via Paeroa farm and Forest Glen, before descending to the finish in the village of Haenertsburg. It was an epic route and I was so looking forward to it! I haven’t raced this trail run before, but I knew pretty much every part of the route having either cycled or hiked sections of it many times in my younger years! I started quite well and was up in the front group for the first 3kms, until it spilt up and I found myself in 10th place at the start of the steeper climb. I just kept my head down and picked off runners one by one, with a mix of running and power hiking, eventually catching and passing last year’s winner Bennie Roux on the grasslands, which really spurred me on! I was in 4th place, and had Herman and Stewart in my sights on the final steeper push to the summit of Iron Crown, with Edwin some way out front. I was in the hurt-locker big time, but just kept pushing! The next few kilometres were a bit of blur as I tried to recover from the efforts up Iron Crown, but I held onto 4th down through Paeroa and all the way to the 2nd waterpoint just above Forest Glen, with Ben Pellegrini right behind me. We ran quite hard together towards the Haenertsburg cemetery, gaining on Herman and Stewart ahead of us. That is when Ben really put the hammer down and flew away, looking really strong and eventually taking 2nd place! The 1st placed lady, Holly Page was bearing down on me in the final 4kms, but I was happy to just hold her off and in the process catch Herman Mulder in final 2kms. Stewart was only 100m ahead of me with 2kms to go, but he dug deep and hung on for 3rd place and I took 4th place, only 30 seconds behind. Unbelievably happy with the result! I just love that hard steep mountain climbing, which played into my hands on this route. I had targeted a top 10 for today, but a top 5 was a massive bonus! Seemed to get my nutrition spot on today: (need to remember this!) Pronutro 1 hour before start, banana 15 mins before start, 1 Jungle Bar at 15k and then a gel and 1 orange slice at 25k. Legs were pretty stuffed at the end!