McCann and Van Heerden become fastest South Africans to win Classic Otter run
The 11th running of the Otter African Trail Run took place on October 12, with sunny skies welcoming runners at the start at Storm’s River Mouth, and temperatures continued to increase.
The top 24 men and 16 women made up the Abangeni runners, who took off from the start at 7 am.
The Classic Otter, run from east to west, starts with incredibly technical, rocky and uneven terrain as runners make their way along the coastline towards the first overnight hut.
In the men’s race, 2017 Otter winner Christiaan Greyling, who struggled with injuries earlier this year, set the pace from the start with the front of the Abangeni pack doing their best to stick with him.
After the first technical section, however, Kane Reilly and Johardt van Heerden took over the lead, breaking away from the rest of the field and extending the gap to 13min by the half-way point. Behind the two leaders, Greyling and Mvuyisi Gcogco dropped into a similar pace.
At Bloukrans, Van Heerden was on Marc Lauenstein’s sub-four-hour record pace and had created a gap between himself and Reilly. The low tide gave the elites an advantage, making the crossing relatively smooth.
Van Heerden just missed breaking the four-hour mark and finished in a time of 04:02:59, setting the new fastest time for a South African in the Classic Otter African Trail Run. (Swiss runner Lauenstein still holds the fastest time for the Classic at 03:59:29.)
Reilly finished in second place (04:19:02), and an elated Greyling took the last position on the podium with a time of 04:27:58.
The women’s race was dominated by four favourites: young guns Toni McCann and Bianca Tarboton, and trail legends Landie Greyling and Nicolette Griffioen.
McCann took the lead from the word go, securing her position in the top 10 from the start line.
At the halfway point, McCann and Tarboton were just 4min apart, with Greyling 8min behind her and Griflioen 2min back. Despite the humidity, the four women all looked comfortable in the race.
McCann came into Bloukrans 5min ahead of Tarboton and in the sixth position overall. She navigated the crossing with ease and continued to push ahead into the final third of the course.
With just minutes to spare, McCann hit the final obstacle of the day: the floating bridge and balance beam, on the finish line, to a cheering crowd.
Navigating the balance beam perfectly, she crossed the finish line to become the fastest woman to win the Classic Otter African Trail Run in a time of 04:52:48, and in the process, she broke Kiwi trailie Ruby Muirs 2013 record.
It was an emotional Greyling who came in over the finish line in second place in a time of 05:08:52. Griflioen finished third in a time of 05:23:03.