An exciting new beach run attracted around 200 athletes to Dolphin Coast beaches for one of the most scenic races on the KZN trail running calendar on Sunday, October 25.
The Bummer beach race took runners and walkers along the beautiful beaches between Ballito and Umhlanga.
Athletes had a choice of three distances along the same route but starting from different points.
Blessed with perfect weather, the super fit departed from Gianni’s in Ballito at 5.30am, running 23km on the soft beach sand all the way to the finish line at Hawaan View Park located between The Sands and Breakers Resort in Umhlanga, while the mere mortals ran either a 15km from Beach Bums at Tongaat Beach, or a more manageable 6km route from Java Café in Umdloti.
In what is promised to become a very popular race, runners were distracted from the intense effort of running on beach sand by the warm Indian Ocean’s power and beauty with monster waves that surfers dream of, crashing on shallow reefs.
Pristine dune forest flanked runners on the right from Umdloti to Umhlanga, before reaching the finish line and ice cold refreshments.
Organisers Vaughn Smit from Riverside Trial and Malcolm Millar from Durban Athletic Club were happy with the turnout and hope to attract some sponsors to add more value to next year’s race.
Gary Babich ran away from the competition, winning the 23km race in 02:11:45 with Craig Oellermann coming second in 02:20:10.
The ladies 23km race was won by Nontu Magbhi and Angela Hullett, both in 02:38:36.
In the 15km race it was Jared Mackrory who crossed the finish line the fastest in 01:11:45, in front of Ryan Gatanby in 01:20:38.
The dominating ladies were Jade Rademan (01:59:30) and Thandeka Ngetu in two hours and five seconds.
The ladies dominated the 6km race with the first tow ladies beating the first two men.
Janene Carey crossed the line in 0:24:27, a massive nine minutes ahead of Adine Marcon in 0:33:16. Coenraad Strydom was the fastest man in 0:37:26, a close 19 seconds ahead of Ben Wilson (0:37:45).
Stay in the loop with The North Coast Courier on Facebook, X, Instagram & YouTube for the latest news.
Mobile users can join our WhatsApp Broadcast Service here, or if you’re on desktop, scan the QR code below.
