#grailoftrail

#40 #52Weeks52Peaks Hangklip This slab of rock near Pringle Bay was a landmark with some significance for me as a kid growing up! It not only is a landmark signaling the eastern tip of False Bay, but it was our destination of choice outside Struisbaai & yellowtail fishing, where my dad taught his 3 sons the finer arts of geelbek (cape salmon) & kabeljou (cob) fishing at night with his best mate oom Bokka & cray fishing between the bamboes/kelp. So today I decided to grab a few friends and take in the view from “the Rock” from another angle, and what a pleasant surprise running the little trail network inside the Rooiels Conservancy. Last short & easy run before Otter with Tienie (who runs the Otter Challenge on Thursday), his wife Lirina, Maya the not so 🐝, and Will_i_am, my usual training partner on sabbatical 🙈 Next week this time, I’ll be on the #GrailOfTrail #AltraRunning #TailwindNutrition #UltimateDirection #SquirrelsNutButter #SquirrelsWhoTrail 🐿🥜 #Suunto9 #30southsunglasses https://www.instagram.com/p/B3PLSLUpoFt/?igshid=z2m3bdqpqnxd

Still not quite getting to grips with what went down yesterday at the #GrailOfTrail. Running a Sub-6 Otter & getting that blue medal has been a dream the past 2 years, and as many can testify, if things go pear shaped on the trail, the Otter devours you! I went into yesterday’s run probably the most underprepared of any other attempt! After the crash end of May, I have not run more than 21km or 3 hours at a time without feeling any back pain! Yesterday I left a piece of my soul behind on the rocks between Ngubu & Stormsriver, but found a mental headspace I lost 2 years ago after the 1st back injury! Things went pretty according to plan, sneaking in the prescribed time checks at each CP, but then the wheels came off between Scott & Ngubu, and the 5 minutes I had in the bank turned into a 10 minute loss! 45min to cover 4.8km of the most technical terrain on the trail! I was about to give up, and just death march it in, but as soon as I hit those rocks a 2nd/3rd & even 4th wind kicked in! I snuck home in 5:57:01, looked up to see my wife Karien in tears, and great friends & family in the stands looking even more relieved than I was (they probably remember my foul mood after 2017’s Otter)! A huge thank you has to go out to the organizers for delivering once again a great event! Mark, John, Christine, Belen & Matty, you guys deserve all the accolades coming your way! To the sponsors that backed me and continue to support this passion of mine, I could not have done it without you! The guys from #AltraRunning & #UltimateDirection for the brilliant gear. Grant & Mel Markey from #TailwindNutrition SA, your support & friendship means the world to me! Kate Frost from #Racefood (damn that last little #FARbar went down without even being chewed)! There are so many friends who send messages of support, or who was out there supporting on the day, I can’t mention you all, but you all played a roll, and I’ll thank you personally over a cold 1 sooner rather than later! What’s next! Well, we’re going back to the #OtterAfricanTrailRun 1 final (5th) time in 2019 for one last dance on the greatest stage of them all! 📸 3/6 Jeff Ayliffe, 4 Alfred Thorpe & 5 Peter Kirk https://www.instagram.com/p/BpNbxQcng7F/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xiwndm7ir7au

The @salomon_sa @otterafricantrailrun. It's unforgiving. It's in your face. It's the undisputed #grailoftrail, and this year, it kicks up another level as the final event in the #goldentrailseries. This is as close to a world-championship #trailrun as one can get, with our local #SA trail heroes being joined on this gruelling but beautiful marathon-distance route by the world's top off-road endurance runners. Names like @kilianjornet, Marc Lauenstein, @ruthcrofty, @sagecanaday, @lauraorgue, @idanilssi & @stianangermundvik will make for a mouth-watering contest, especially when pitched against our own @christiaangrey, @megmackenzie1, @robynkime and @kanereilly1. There's only one guarantee, and that is that there's no guarantee who will walk away victorious at #retto2018. Let's just say it's #TimeToPlay 🙌 #salomonsa #salomonrunning #salomon #guenergy #ottertrailrun #otter2018 #magneticsouth #gardenrouteNP #sony #sonyalpha #SonyZA #sonyalphaSA #sonyxperiaza #sonyxperia (at Nature's Valley, South Africa) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpIZWywFDlN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1nwdea3tbwkfd

The @salomon_sa @otterafricantrailrun. It's unforgiving. It's in your face. It's the undisputed #grailoftrail, and this year, it kicks up another level as the final event in the #goldentrailseries. This is as close to a world-championship #trailrun as one can get, with our local #SA trail heroes being joined on this gruelling but beautiful marathon-distance route by the world's top off-road endurance runners. Names like @kilianjornet, Marc Lauenstein, @ruthcrofty, @sagecanaday, @lauraorgue, @idanilssi & @stianangermundvik will make for a mouth-watering contest, especially when pitched against our own @christiaangrey, @megmackenzie1, @robynkime and @kanereilly1. There's only one guarantee, and that is that there's no guarantee who will walk away victorious at #retto2018. Let's just say it's #TimeToPlay 🙌 #salomonsa #salomonrunning #salomon #guenergy #ottertrailrun #otter2018 #magneticsouth #gardenrouteNP #sony #sonyalpha #SonyZA #sonyalphaSA #sonyxperiaza #sonyxperia (at Garden Route National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpCIkYbFR0J/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18dkofyo9m3b1

Busy packing & getting my choice of weaponry ready 2 tackle the #GrailOfTrail on Saturday during the #OtterTrailRun & #Salomon’s #GoldenTrailSeries Final. #AltraRunning #KingMT 1.5’s #ZeroLimits #UDhydrates #SelfPropelled #TailwindNutrion #GoTailwind #AllYouNeedAllDayReally #Rebuild #Racefood #FARbar #ApplePearCinnamon #Injinji #ToeSocksOrNoSocks #Suunto #Suunto9 #Road2Retto #Otter2018 https://www.instagram.com/p/BpAWbgTncub/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xhxfdkl81rcy

Basically sums up my #Otter tale! If you want to tackle the #GrailOfTrail and not get eaten alive, #HTFU! Things didn’t go my way yesterday, but still managed a PB! Disappointed, but happy to be able to #RUN this amazing trail injury free again! Will be back stronger, leaner & meaner come the #OtterClassic 2019! 📸 @andrewkingphoto

Mountains and Oceans. We have a lot of those here on the #capepeninsula, and I ended up spending most of my weekend in one or on the other. Three #surf sessions and a 2hr mountain #trailrun, to be specific (the latter because in a few days, it's @otterafricantrailrun, and I need to get my ass in gear) 😬 Best thing about this #outdoor life is that I get to do it with my kids (and wife and mates, of course), and see the pleasure the young guns get from their first #barrel, or the confidence with which they attack the back line break. Next week it will be the #grailoftrail in the #gardenroute NP - going to be great to get to test the #pentaxk1, #tomtombandit and #xzpremium on one of the most scenic sections of #trail in the world 🙌 (at Otter African Trail Run)

Into the final mind and body #taper for the @otterafricantrailrun, happening in the @gardenroute NP this coming week. So chuffed to be shooting #grailoftrail once again with @magneticsouth_events, and all those legendary #trailrunning heroes who'll be burning up this epic #trail. Can't wait to see you on the rock ledges, in the fantastic forests, and at the infamous #bloukrans crossing 🙌 #OtterTrailRun #salomonsa #guenergy #tomtomsports #trailrun #getgoing (at Garden Route National Park)