Hillcrest Villagers Archives - The Running Mann

30th December 202330th December 2023

Westville Illovo Christmas Challenge (Fifteen festive kilometres)

It’s always nice to get invited to a well-planned Christmas party. My invite came all the way back in July in the following format, “My name is Catherine Dixon and I do the communications, PR and social media for Westville Athletic Club. We host our annual race in December each year that is a bit of an icon on the KZNA calendar. I see that you are open to trying different races and I was wondering if A) you would be interested in running our event in December (Sunday December 10th) and B) What would be required from your end to run/blog about our event.”

I was still an injured runner in July but figured I could commit to a 15km in December. I therefore replied that if Westville were happy to cover my travel costs, I’d love to run their race. The helpers’ run is on Saturday so Catherine suggested that to get the full Westville Christmas experience, I arrive on Friday and participate in both the helpers and official run. I am all for maximising the experience so that is exactly what I did.

13th May 202213th May 2022

The Running Mann’s Guide to June 2022 Marathons & Ultras

This article provides detailed information on all South Africa’s June marathons and ultras including race descriptions, recommendations and travel information.

There’s a paltry ten options for the road running enthusiast this June which is surprising since this should be a peak Comrades training month.

A summary of all your choices is below:

Continue reading “The Running Mann’s Guide to June 2022 Marathons & Ultras”

13th March 202016th March 2020

Hillcrest Marathon (Code Brown on the Comrades route)

[MARATHON #237 / Unique Marathon #137 / 9 February 2020]

I was viewing the Hillcrest Marathon as something of a grudge purpose. Big field, big city, double-lap routes are my least favourite marathon type. Once a year is more than enough to ingratiate my legs on the Comrades route – and my muscle memory still hadn’t forgotten their last visit in June. Needless to say, my legs were happy to wait another few months before setting foot in Hillcrest again. What is more, during the Red Hill Marathon in Cape Town, barefoot runner Peter Taylor told me that Hillcrest has the roughest roads on the Comrades route. Continue reading “Hillcrest Marathon (Code Brown on the Comrades route)”