Training Log Archive: briangardner

Back on the Magaliesberg! Decided against the 50k route, and was keen to push the 36k hard. Had a good start and was in 4th place at Hospitaal Pad switchback behind Admire Muzopambwa, Quintin Honey and David Ashworth, with Rob Stewart about 50m behind me. Unbeknownst to David and I, now running together, Quintin and Admire had taken a wrong path down a gully and lost probably 5 minutes. Credit to them, they pushed hard and caught and passed us at about the 15k mark again. The 4 of us were running together for the next few km's, before they pulled away again. I was much slower than the others on the downhills. Got a serious stitch going down the Greek Church pass, and then Rob caught me on the run towards the gully climb behind Greek Church. Joined up with the 22k route soon after, and then there was lots of traffic... Filled up water and had a jungle bar at the Greek Church water point. I was feeling good and put my head down after that. Passed many 22k runners, and finally caught Admire, who seemed to be taking a bit of strain after a very fast start. Kept it steady and consistent to the finish, not able to push too hard as my feet were pretty painful! Really enjoyed the new "Vietnam" section of about 200m upstream knee-deep in the Skeerpoort river. Nice leg cool-down. So, ended up 3rd place behind Quintin and Rob, very happy with a podium! Great day out on the mountain, but that is certainly a pretty tough course.

C • 3rd place 3

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