The Otter Trail Challenge (A Long Prologue)

This is the first of two articles on the Otter Trail Challenge. Part one deals with how a wobbly road runner so to the start line. Part two deals with the race itself.

Gary Player is well-known for saying, “The harder I practice, the luckier I get.” There is something to that, although in my case I’ve recently found that the more I write (and talk) the luckier I’ve got. After the November 2024 Comrades AGM, newly elected Board Member Carel Nolte asked to meet for a coffee. He would be heading up the Communications Portfolio and was keen to chat about working together. Having written so much about the problems at Comrades, I jokingly asked whether he was following a “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer approach.”

By day, Carel is the Chief Marketing Officer at EasyEquities. EasyEquities were looking to move to a more agile approach. By day, I am an agile coach. Carel had done his research / cyber stalking ahead of our meeting and both Comrades and agile solution delivery were covered when we met.

I have a number of professional conference presentations and colloquial running talks that I do to raise money for a children’s education charity (Alexandra Education Committee) and I left the meeting agreeing to do a running talk (“Stats, Stories and Bowel Movements: An Illustrated Guide to the Comrades Marathon” for the EasyEquities running clubs and a professional talk (“Agile Leadership: Got Your Back or Holding You Back?” for the EasyEquities executive leadership team).

Both talks were well received and ultimately resulted in around R20,000 in donations for the Alexandra Education Committee (which helps to fully fund a much better education for high aptitude learners from impoverished backgrounds). At the end of the talk to the EasyEquities leadership team, Carel asked if I’d be interested in an entry for the Otter Trail Run which EasyEquities sponsors. There was only one answer to this question. Much like the EasyEquities platform itself, I am always up for a long term investment paying maximum dividends so the Challenge was accepted.

The Grail of Trail: Why EasyEquities Backs the Otter TERREX Trail

Since I was a kid, I have wanted to hike the Otter Trail (every year we would do a family holiday to the Garden Route conveniently timed so that my father could run the Knysna Forest Marathon). Since the inception of the Otter Trail Run 17 years ago, I have had the event on my bucket list even though I am a very occasional and untalented trail runner.

EasyEquities Partner Lead (and Olympic rowing silver medallist) Shaun Keeling was on logistics duty and asked if I wanted to do the Challenge, held on a Thursday with an 11-hour cutoff, or the Race, held on the Saturday with a much stricter 9-hour cutoff. With the general consensus being that you double your normal marathon time for the Otter combined with the knowledge that I would want to maximise the experience with plenty of photographic stops, I went with the former.

The entry fee is in the region of R7,500 so I was a very grateful recipient. Despite the high cost, entries are hard to come by and you have to be quick to grab one when they open as only 300 entries are available for the Challenge and another 300 for the Race.

My trail running preparation for the Otter consisted of two accidental races and one intentional training run. I have only run two trail races in the last decade and both occurred earlier this year. I visited my dad in the UK for a week flying via Manchester and the Manchester Trail Marathon was conveniently scheduled for the weekend I flew back. In the case of the Seychelles, I received an ‘out of the blue’ invite to the Seychelles run via Paul Ingpen for Run Magazine.

READ MORE: Seychelles Nature Trail (Big Butts & Giant Nuts)

When I say that I am an occasional and incredibly untalented trail runner I am not being self-deprecating. Prior to running the Otter, my trail running gear consisted of one collapsible water bottle that I got as part of my birthday present earlier this year as it was required for the Manchester Trail Marathon. However, the bottle got pin-cushioned by the protective spines on the Stilt Palms at the Seychelles Trail Run and is no longer usable.

My intentional training run was a 21km from Van Gaalen’s farm in the Magaliesberg with the EasyEquities crew led by elite trail runner Pierre Jordaan (who is responsible for the Otter route and safety). However, I was assisted in my preparation by the chronic infrastructural decay in the Johannesburg Metro area which means that you can easily simulate technical trail running conditions by purposefully running in the potholes and along decrepit pavements.

Back to the kit. For safety reasons, the Otter has some very stringent kit requirements. Other than Munchie Point around halfway, the route is entirely self-supported. The weather can also change very quickly in that part of the world. The compulsory kit requirements depend on the weather forecast and the ‘level’ is called at the final race briefing on the evening before the race.

So basically, when packing, you need to cater for a worst case scenario meaning that you must arrive with a backpack, water bottles and / or a bladder, an emergency blanket, whistle, medical strapping, emergency response food, a thermal base layer, lightweight fleece top and a waterproof jacket with a hood.

I needed to go shopping. Being a complete noob, I asked the internet for recommendations on what to buy and I was warned that I would need to sell a kidney. About a week before the race I wandered around Sandton City and prepared myself for surgery. The Salomon hooded rain jacket I returned with is by some way the most expensive item of clothing I have ever owned.

Another major capital outlay was the backpack. Consensus on advice I received was that the Salomon Advance Skin 12 is the backpack of backpacks. It retails at R4000 and I tried it on for size at the Salomon store. I had done some price checking beforehand and noticed that it was on special online at Sportsmans Warehouse for R3500 and therefore placed my order on the Friday afternoon and hoped that it would arrive before I flew to George on Wednesday morning.

The backpack arrived in time for me to do one test drive run donning my new purchase. I decided to simulate race conditions as much as possible and filled both 500ml bottles to the brim and went for an afternoon run with my wife. After a short while, with the bottles galoshing up and down on my chest, I joked that I now know what it’s like to run with a giant pair of jugs.

As the level of discomfort increased I quickly realised that there was no way I would survive the resultant chaffing over a marathon distance with my double Ds bouncing all over the show. I tightened the elastic on my bra straps to corset level and that seemed to do the trick. Good thing I did a trial run.

The race alternates direction each year. This year was the traditional Otter route from Storms River Mouth to Nature’s Valley (it is called the Retto when run in reverse). Your flight choices from Joburg are George with a 2h drive or Gqeberha with a 2.5h drive*. I went with the George option to save on petrol.

* Special thanks to RaceSpace who covered my travel costs for this event.

I made a quick stop at my accommodation in Plettenberg Bay and then headed through to Nature’s Valley, about 40 minutes’ drive further along the N2. The race village is traffic free with EasyTransfer shuttles (part of the EasyEquities sponsorship) carting runners around. Arriving in the late afternoon, registration was quiet and I grabbed the impressive rucksack full of goodies, pinned on my race number and then set off for the Prologue run.

The Prologue is a 4.5km time trial which is used to seed the runners for the main event. It is optional (if you don’t run it, you just get seeded at the back) and I did weigh up the benefits of saving my legs for the following day versus getting the full Otter experience. It was not really a difficult choice to make – screw my legs, I wanted the full Otter experience!

I hopped into another shuttle and headed to Nature’s Valley Beach for the start. You can start your Prologue anytime between 10:30am and 4:30pm and my late afternoon excursion got underway with about 30 minutes to spare. Other than the timekeepers at the start, it was deathly quiet and I had the beach and trail to myself (I think I was the second last person to do the Wednesday Prologue).

Not wanting to take a tumble before tomorrow’s main course, I took an ultra cautious approach. This was aided by the first kilometre heading directly skywards. After a flat sprint across the soft beach sand, you elevate yourself from sea level to 212m. This necessitated plenty of photo breaks to capture the breathtaking views amidst the hiking.

For the flat-footed, even more dangerous is the downhill plummet after cresting the summit. This is followed by some forest running and a river crossing. After this it’s easy, fast and flat running with the final stretch along the tar before doing a circuit of the race village.

I strolled through in 43:13 which placed me 253^rd amongst the 278 Prologgers. I settled into one of the comfy chairs scattered around the village green which was surrounded by the TERREX merch tent, Vida coffee stand, Jack Black pub and the main race tent where the pre-race briefing would take place in 90 minutes time.

This provided the opportunity to check out the content of the impressive race pack. EasyEquities have given me a Premium entry ticket which includes some perks like additional Otter-branded TERREX gear.

I was nervously admiring my new items of clothing, knowing that I would have to go the distance the following day before wearing them, when I got ‘Running Manned’ by Eddie Mouton. We’d previously chatted on Facebook when he sent me a stats question asking, “Who has run the most Comrades Marathons before earning a silver medal?” With 23 starts before securing his first silver medal, I am pretty sure that Eddie holds this record but still need to 100% verify. Eddie now has 29 Comrades finishes with 3 silvers as well as a raft of Otters on his extensive running CV.

Eddie also had the distinction of running the fastest Prologue of the day (25:28)*. I therefore tapped into his knowledge and experience with a barrage of questions. “How does the Otter Trail compare to the Prologue in terms of technicality?” Without skipping a beat Eddie told me the bad news, “Tomorrow will be much more technical.”

* The fastest Prologue for Friday’s Race Prologue was Kane Reilly with 20:14.

“How much of the route is easily runnable for a very occasional trail runner?” At the time I heard him reply “About 60%” but I might have misheard because, having now completed the Otter, it was definitely “Less than 6%.” When I mentioned that I would be attempting my Otter in road shoes, Eddie raised his eyebrows and changed the subject.

There was plenty of razzmatazz at the impressive pre-race briefing but we were all waiting for the culmination of the formalities which concludes with the final verdict on the weather level and compulsory kit announcement. This was deemed to be “Level 2” with the added stipulation that a hooded rain jacket would be compulsory – the most expensive item of clothing I’ve ever owned would be coming out of its wrapping and getting its first active use.

I headed back to Plett and decided to grab a KFC burger as I drove into town. I am more of a Nando’s guy but facing 11 major climbs and 11 river crossings the following day, it just felt right to complete the trilogy with a meal consisting of 11 herbs and spices.

Whilst consuming my travel beers to settle the nerves, I got everything ready for the next day. Preparing for road marathons is a simple matter of “protection and lubrication” (sun block and Vaseline) but trail running involves much more foreplay. I packed, checked and rechecked my backpack contents with the diligence of a paratrooper and hoped that I had covered all my bases.

By the time I had finished it was raining heavily outside. This was an ominous sign. I brushed my teeth, got into bed and took one last look at my trusty GT-2000s waiting expectantly on the floor ahead of tomorrow’s adventure. I set the alarm for 3am and settled into a restless sleep, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a very long day.

READ MORE: Otter Trail Challenge Part Two (Bringing a knife to a gunfight)

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