[Marathon #314 / Unique Marathon #190 / Ultra #87 / 11 July 2026]
With Comrades behind me and the very expensive mandatory gear I’d bought to run the Otter Trail in 2025 gathering dust in my cupboard, I gratefully accepted an invite to come and run the Steyn City Ultra Trail in July, opting for the longest possible distance of 53km (there are also 21km, 15km and 7.5km options).
It would be inappropriate for me to use the cliched saying that “it was time to dust off my trail shoes” because I don’t own any. More appropriate for me when running trail in the cold, dry highveld winter was that “it was time to dust up my road shoes”.
I am always a little nervous when accepting an invite to explore the trails. However, my cursory questions to race director Corne van Zyl put me at ease:
“How technical is the route?” Answer: “Not technical at all.” In fact, with a vert (that’s elevation in road running language) of around only 800m it produced some comments of derision from the trail snobs on social media.
“What is the cutoff?” Answer: “8 hours” (which is very generous and manageable even for an awkward trail runner like me).
“I didn’t see any compulsory gear listed on the site?” Answer: “There is none.”
In fact, the only “compulsory gear” was to load the GPX file onto your watch. However, I think that this is more in case there is a prize money dispute because it would be almost impossible to get properly lost within the confines of the Steyn City estate.
The GPX requirement did induce some last-minute panic on Friday afternoon as I tried to figure out how to get GPX files loaded onto my Apple Watch (yes, I am that much of a recreational runner that I don’t even own a Garmin). However, I had prudently bought my much more competitive wife a Garmin for her birthday earlier this year and fortunately she was happy to lend it to me.
It was just a short drive from home to the Steyn City enclave. I knew there would be far less traffic than at the average Gauteng road race where you have to arrive very early or start late but I overcompensated and had enough time to thoroughly check out all the facilities and ruminate on the difference between trail and road running (and deal with my own personal insecurities)…
Trail Runners like to think they’re so tough but compare the lavish toilet facilities at the Steyn City Ultra Trail 53k to the average road race. Here you have no queues, full lighting, double-ply toilet paper, enough room to swing a cat (as well as your backpack) and a dressing table with a massive mirror to do your hair and make-up.
Road runners face a “poop or start late” dilemma, sit in pitch darkness on who-knows-what where hundreds of other butts have sat before and, if you’re lucky, there are a few sheets of tracing paper-thin sheets of toilet paper left in the tiny cubicle.
I must admit to getting imposter syndrome at trail races so, after doing my hair and make-up, kept my distance from the ‘real trail runners’ and observed pre-race proceedings closely. My views were further cemented as we waited for the 6:30am start…
Trail Runners like to think they’re so tough but compare the luxurious start of the Steyn City Ultra Trail to the average road race. Here runners huddle and cuddle around the campfire (I think they were burning teak – this is Steyn City we’re talking about) whilst sipping their discounted Seattle lattes with the non-dairy milk supplement of their choice. Road runners get Ricoffy with Checkers long life milk in Styrofoam cups if they’re lucky.
Trail runners keep cozy and warm by wearing seven layers of space-age microweight clothing that fold into tiny parcels to fit in their pouch pockets when they start to heat up. They are also free to wear civvies and don’t have to worry about “showing the ASA logo” or having some idiotic referee DQing them on some obscure fashion police technicality. Road runners stand around freezing in their perforated club vest. Sometimes there is a non-LED floodlight bulb to lean against for some warmth.
Trail runners stand so far apart at the start that you wouldn’t even know if the person next to you hasn’t showered for a week. Road runners squash together like sardines and can count just how many people should have showered the previous evening and, with just a slight movement of the neck, can sniff at least half a dozen armpits to validate.
The race begins with a short loop on cement track which turns into an easily runnable mountain biking track – and that’s the predominant terrain for most of the race. The route is surprisingly diverse, winding one through the vast parkland sections of the estate, over and along the Jukskei River several times, past golf course surroundings, manicured singletrack, rolling hills and enough artificial waterways to make you question whether you’re in Gauteng or Venice.
On that note, Paris has the Seine, Vienna the Danube and Rome the Tiber. Johannesburg has the Jukskei (pronounced ‘Yuck-skay’ with a heavy emphasis on the ‘Yuck’). I must admit to quite enjoying running over and along the Jukskei at various points of the run. However, I was careful not to get too close – a drop of Jukskei water is more lethal than cobra venom and an accidental dip in her waters is a true test of your immune system’s strength.
This is a race of contrasts. There are moments when you’re out on flowing trails, where it feels more like running in a game reserve and then you turn a corner and are reminded exactly where you actually are, running alongside powerlines with the hazy view of suburban Sandton in the distance.
You can also easily forget you are running in some of the most exclusive real estate in South Africa (entry level plots start at R3m before you’ve even bought a brick and trophy stands go for well over R20m) before being quickly reminded again when you see a Louis Vuitton clad resident walking their Tibetan Mastiff called Bentley or hear a parent yell at Madison to get into their idling Bentley so that she won’t be late for her horse-riding lesson.
With absolutely everything you could ever want in terms of retail, sports facilities, luxury, opulence and recreation crammed into its 2,000 acres, Steyn City could well be a play on words for “Stay-in City” but is in fact named after the late billionaire Douw Steyn who purchased and developed the land.
The entry fee for the ultra is R1,850. As I spend all my disposable income travelling the country to run road marathons and ultras (and generally only run trail when offered a complimentary entry), I don’t really have a good handle on trail entry fees other than “it’s much more expensive than road” but I understand that this is on the high end even for trail runners.
With property prices that high in Steyn City, I wondered whether this was to cover the cost of the dirt one takes home after finishing*. One grain of sand is valued at between R100 and R1,000 depending on which part of the estate you picked it up in.
* Future recommendation: Include an Omo hand out in the goodie bag so that you can remove your stains after the Steyn City Ultra Trail.
Therefore I did what every self-respecting journalist would do and sent Corne a message saying, “I’m sure you’ve seen there have been a few comments about the entry fee on social media, can you send me a few points justifying the entry fee as I need to cover this in my article?”
I was expecting a 2 mark answer but Corne sent me a 50 mark essay explanation so I once again did what every self-respecting journalist would do in the 21st century and asked AI to summarise it. It was still too long so I asked AI to make it more concise (and have added a few embellishments): “The race director says the Steyn City Ultra Trail is priced as a premium event because it offers a full race experience, not just a marked route. The fee covers limited entries, prize money [really good prize money for the elites], professional media [free top notch photos and videos for all competitors], a free pre-run [this is a proper “fully marked shakeout” of 6, 10 and 15km that no one told me about – now have massive fomo! 😊], medical and recovery support, secure venue access, route logistics, stocked water points, VIP facilities, a race village [with live entertainment], goodie bag, branded kit and finish-line perks [free beer is the winner here but they also had a low calorie alcohol drink for the gravitationally challenged]. He says the event has sold out both years, but they take pricing feedback seriously and will keep looking for ways to improve value.”
AI left out that both the shakeout run and event itself offers free biokineticists and physiotherapists and you can also get a massage and recovery support at no additional cost from a Saxon Hotel masseuse. One olive at the Saxon costs over a hundred bucks so with just a few squeezes on your glute and you’ve made your money back. In fact, if I pick up an injury at next year’s Comrades I’m just going to enter for a free bio session.
Everything on this route is perfectly runnable, even for the most ungainly and clumsiest of runners on the trails – and I found very few route-related excuses to walk over the first half of the race. The photos below are as technical as it gets on the route.
I did make sure that I stopped and tucked in properly at the fully stocked refreshment tables (there are 7 different tables but with the route design you get 12 water stops). This means that you don’t have to run with a backpack stuffed full with the contents of Dischem’s supplement aisle. During one of these lengthy stops I realised another difference between road and trail…
Trail Runners like to think they’re so tough but compare the five course culinary feasting options on the trails to your average road race. Here you get isotonic, stimulant-free, vitamin enriched, carbohydrate enhanced, glycogen refuelling, forward propelling energy drinks and bars at all the tables. I think it’s probably vegan friendly and carbon neutral as well. At the average road race all you get is flat Coke and warm water. During The Steyn City Ultra Trail, the water and energy drink was so cold that brain freeze was a real problem.
Have to say that I enjoyed the support tables so much that my watch asked, “Have you finished working out?” at every one. They were very inclusive and also had potatoes and jelly sweets for the road runners masquerading as trail runners.
The tables and nutrition were all sponsored by NPL. I pronounce this ‘Nipple’ (and won’t have anyone tell me otherwise) and enjoyed sucking, biting and slobbering on my NPL at various points along the route. With the same train of thought, I also noticed that it was so cold in the morning that even the termite mounds had nipple stands.
Joburg has arguably the best weather in the world. Although the start was cold enough that my frozen hands struggled to operate my phone to take photos, as the sun rose we were soon treated to a glorious winter’s day that rose to a high of 18C with no wind. The lack of wind enabled us to stalk up nice and close to a herd of springbok in a remote corner of the property. There is plenty of other wildlife on the estate with impala, nyala, blesbok, duiker, dassies, mongooses, scrub hares and porcupines regularly sighted.
The birdlife is also exceptional with waterfowls enjoying the lakes and lagoons that frequently popped up as we run up, down, in, out and all about every crack and crevice of the estate.
The residential and recreational areas function like outdoor art exhibitions with giant sculptures decorating the landscape. I found this one below of a giant athlete’s foot particularly interesting (you can tell it’s a runner’s foot because it is missing some toenails).
Whilst runners lose their toenails, golfers are prone to losing their balls (I know which one I’d prefer to keep). I found this matching pair in the rough (and was ready to hit the ground at the count of “Fore”). The trail run is the second largest sporting event held within the Steyn City fortress after the LIV golf tournament. The main difference between the two events is that all the laundering happens before the LIV golf.
When I asked race director, Corné van Zyl, about the route design he told me, “I spent a great deal of time designing the routes to showcase Steyn City’s waterfalls, artwork, forests, open spaces and sections along the Jukskei River.” You do get to see everything that Steyn City has to offer as you explore every nook and cranny of the estate. Below are some examples of the art one can see around Steyn City’s outdoor gallery.
However my favourites were the inviting and inventive benches spaced out along the purpose-made pathways that required thorough user acceptance testing to determine if they were as comfortable as they looked (they were).
Although I was not fast enough to make it in time for the full festivities of the race village (which included live music and other entertainment), we were promised a free beer at the start and I am pleased to report that there was still a free beer waiting for me at the finish. This seems to be standard procedure at trail events and is something that should definitely be normalised at road races as well. However, I do think that the organisers missed a trick in not calling their bar area “Stein City”.
Corne mentioned that this was just the second year that the race had been going and that it sold out both years (there were a total of 571 runners across all distances this year). His plan is to expand the entry numbers for the 2027 event whilst keeping to the vision, “To create a premier trail-running experience for runners and their families.”
He added that, “A major objective was to make trail running more accessible to road runners and first-time trail athletes.” And that the overall ambition of the event is, “To establish the Steyn City Ultra Trail as one of South Africa’s premier trail-running events while protecting the personal experience and quality that make it special.”
Whilst some of the trail running elitists might decry a trail route with less than 1,000m of vert and a course that you can actually run, this event provides an excellent and easy option right on the doorstep for Gauteng runners. It also provides a great and easily accessible opportunity for the trail-curious Comrades runner to do something interesting and different to pass the time over the post-June road running slump.
Afterword: Trail vs Road – Who is tougher?
Road runners like to think they’re so tough bragging about running back-to-back marathons every weekend and arriving at trail runs wearing their Comrades shirts. But compare that to the recent race itinerary of Nicky Booyens…
Nicky ran the Mac Mac 200 miler for the 6th time from 1-4 July. She won the race in a new record time of 80h39m beating her own record by 2h50m, admittedly working a bit harder this year because “It was the first time I had proper ladies’ competition.”
While road runners flood social media with their 5km shakeout runs, Nicky quietly ran the Ice Queen 50km three days before Mac Mac. This is an overnight ultra over “very technical” terrain. She ran with a friend and they tied 2nd overall.
And for a recovery run, Nicky lined up at The Steyn City Ultra Trail for a quiet 53km leg loosener the weekend after Mac Mac. She followed the same itinerary last year saying, “I had no aches when I stood on the start line for Steyn City but I could feel the legs were tired. I knew what was coming and how I would feel, so I just told myself you can do it like you did it last year. And I did suffer, the last 15km were tough but I still managed to run about 6mins faster than last year and my fastest 50km ever!”
I expect that Nicky ran those last 15km much faster than I did. It seems ridiculous to even mention my sore quads from the downhills at the previous weekend’s Knysna Forest Marathon when Nicky was battling for three-and-a-bit days over 15,000m of vert across the Drakensberg Escarpment.
I asked Nicky how she recovered between her three back-to-back trail ultras, “After Ice Queen I focussed mostly on catching up my lost sleep. And just easy active recovery before Mac Mac.” And then “After Mac Mac it was major recovery focussing on lots of sleep and lots of active recovery.” Nicky also says that, “I like to eat, so eating was also a big part of my recovery and prep for the next races.” and that she is particularly fond of “PVM Protein XTR to help with the muscle recovery between races”.
So after 3 ultras in 3 weekends with 2 wins and a 2nd placed finish, I think that’s mind blown and case closed.
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