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Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Addo Elephant Trail Run

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The Addo Elephant Trail Run is one of the older trail runs in South Africa. It was introduced in 2004 with a 50 mile and a 100 mile distance – making it the original and only 100 mile trail run in the country. A 25 mile race was introduced in 2009. This was also the last year that the 100 mile event was run. Subsequently the 25 and 50 mile events have become a 44km and a 76km trail run.

In 2015, Free Spirit Adventures took over the event from former organisers, Nadia and Estienne Arndt of Extreme Marathons. The new organisers have undertaken to re-introduce the 100 mile event in 2016. We feel that the time is ripe to bring back this iconic distance. There are now a number of trail runs in South Africa that exceed the 100km mark, and with the rise in popularity of runners like Ryan Sandes and AJ Calitz, as well as Linda Doke, runners are becoming more aware of the ultra-distance trend.

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The 100 mile event has already attracted the last reigning ladies winner, Kim Van Kets, as well as international athletes from 8 different countries who are flying to South Africa to take part.

The race takes place over the weekend of 26-28 February 2016. The 100 mile event sets off on Friday afternoon at 3pm, with the 44km and 76km races setting off on Saturday morning.

The 100 mile event starts at Addo Elephant National Park Main Camp, and the other races begin in Kirkwood. All races finish at the Zuurberg Mountain Inn. Runners can experience the thrill of running wild through a vast area of the Park which is free of (most!) dangerous wildlife. These sections of the Park are not generally open to the public, and we are very grateful to SANParks for allowing us this access.

PPC and SANParks are two crucial sponsors of this event. PPC has an ongoing relationship with Addo Elephant National Park, and they are involved in various projects in the area. They feel strongly about preserving the environment, which makes them an ideal partner for trail running.

Free Spirit Adventures has been working closely with SANParks to design new routes for the 100 mile event, as well as some new single track for the 76k route, ensuring that the Park gets maximum exposure. All the races finish at Zuurberg Mountain Inn, meaning that there will be a festive race village atmosphere. The race start times have been co-ordinated to ensure that the top runners in each distance will be finishing with a few hours of one another.

Exciting new innovations mean that every athlete taking part will be carrying a GPS tracking unit. There will be a live online feed which will allow supporters and followers of the race to track each runner in the event as it unfolds.

Supporters can also be a part of the race by running the PPC 5km Fun Run which will be held at Zuurberg Mountain Inn at 9am on Saturday morning. Light meals and drinks will be available for sale.

Author: Sheena O’Keeffe from Free Spirit Adventures.
More Info link: http://www.trailadventures.co.za/addo/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fsaevents
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AddoElephantTrailRun/

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