Parys resident Ryan Walmsley completed the 100 km trail run as part of the Ultra Trail Drakenberg series. The extraordinary UTD100 took athletes on a 104 km scenic route with a 3,400 m elevation.
It started near Bushman’s Nek at 06:00 on Saturday, 27 April. Athletes had only 26 hours to finish, running the Giant’s Cup hiking trail up to the top of Sani Pass, across the Twelve Apostles and back down to Glencairn.
Ryan ran with a friend, Wesley Harrison, from Howick. They finished in 17 hours and 48 minutes after predicting their finish time between 20 and 22 hours.
For Ryan, it was the first time he had ever run so far, and his first UTD100.
Training for the event involved many long runs on the dirt roads around Parys and up and around Koedoeslaagte. For strength, he went to the gym three times weekly.
Ryan, Tara and Wesley previously ran the shorter Giant’s Cup Ultra (GCU62), one of the most iconic trails in the Southern Berg.
