This is the second 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.
The Otter Trail is South Africa’s most famous hiking trail and the Garden Route National Park, where it is located, is the third biggest public tourist attraction in South Africa in terms of number of visitors (after the Kruger National Park and Table Mountain). The Otter Trail is within an exclusive area of the national park and entrance into the park is throttled at just 12 people per day who are allowed to start the hike which is completed over 5 days and 4 nights.
Once a year they get rid of the hikers and allow 300 people to run the trail in a day on the Thursday for the more recreational Challenge and another 300 on the Saturday for the much more competitive Race. I was one of the fortunate few who got an entry for the Thursday Challenge trail run (courtesy of title sponsors EasyEquities) which must be completed in under 11 hours over incredibly technical terrain to earn a finish.
Continue reading “Otter Trail Challenge (Bringing a knife to a gunfight)”