It was a case of up hill, down dale, across the stream and pace yourself through dirt, mud and cane fields as about 150 entrants had a blast at the first Umhlanga Carnival trail run on Sunday (Dec 19).
Mr Price’s Eric Ngubane from Verulam won the inaugural Umhlanga Summer Carnival 16km Trail Run in convincing style in a time of 1:09:39 – a gruelling 16km trail race run in overcast and cool conditions on Sunday, December 19.
Ngubane dominated the entire race, steaming to the finish in an impressive time winning by a comfortable nine minute margin.
Picture: Runners work their way along the final section of the Umhlanga Summer Carnival 16km Trail Run – a gruelling 2km stretch of beach sand. Picture by Kelvin Trautman
Ngubane, a well-established road runner, who has completed five Comrades with a best result of 19th in 2009, commented, “I am feeling strong! The route was tough but very nice and extremely beautiful. I am training for Comrades and this type of running makes your legs and ankles strong.”
See picture gallery below.
One hundred and fifty adventurous runners and walkers trekked through sugar cane, across rivers, along river beds, gravel, soft sand and thick bush before the punishing final stretch of 2km on Umhlanga beach. There were no distance markers along the route, the runners just put their heads down and kept the tempo nice and steady . . . while taking in as much of the landscape as possible.
Marketing Manager of race sponsors, Salomon, Jackie Moore raved, “Chatting to a lot of the runners afterwards, they all had one thing to say, how much they loved it. Being able to get off the roads and on to the trails is awesome and certainly is stunning running through these parts of the north coast! The guys appreciated that the race wasn’t too technical and had a nice variety of terrain.”
Event organiser, Buzz Bolton from Riverside Sports said, “We had a fantastic turn out, all eager to try this type of racing out. It certainly is unique to Umhlanga and we are already planning the next trail run around these parts for Easter next year.”
Men’ results:
1. Eric Ngubane 1:09:39 2. Mzwamandla Zondi 1.18.53 3. Mark Matthews 1.19.43 4. Grant Harper 1.24.43 5. Paul Worsnip 1.25.08
Women’s results:
1. Mandy Matthews 1.34.47 2. Natasha Papini 1.35.11 3. Debbie Eaton 1.35.29 4. Jane Brewer 1.38.59 5. Tarryn Holding 1.39.27
For more info: www.riversidesports.co.za
For more information about the Umhlanga Summer Carnival, log on to www.umhlangatourism.co.za
Pictures courtesy Kelvin Trautman and Publicity Matters.
1 Comment
Stunning pix and a great, well organised event – highly recommend it to anyone 🙂