Local trail runner on his way to take on the world’s best
A local Pretoria-athlete was recently crowned South Africa's Trail Running champion and he will soon take part in the world championships in Spain.
Stewart Chaperon, an engineer from Pretoria, is on his way to the Penyagolosa mountains in Spain for the Trail Running World Championships.
Chaperon was crowned South African Ultra Trail Running champion when he won the recent 2018 Addo Elephant Trail Run over a distance of 76 kilometres in the Eastern Cape. The route at the World Championships in Spain extends over 85 kilometres across very difficult mountainous terrain
Trail Running is a sport in which athletes run on rough terrain in nature. Although Chaperon is an average full-time working man, he managed to beat top runners, including a few semi-professional athletes, to make his dream come true.
“Being crowned South African Ultra Trail Champion for 2018 is a dream I had but did not think it would materialize so soon. I had always dreamt of representing my country when I was younger. I played good competitive hockey and cricket and obviously had dreams of a breakthrough in one of these two sports. Although I could never dream that I would eventually represent my country as athlete, I am extremely proud and satisfied with my achievement after all my hard work,” Chaperon told Rekord.
According to Chaperon the past four years have been full of reasonable success in his career as an athlete, but he also experienced numerous failures that he had to pick himself up from.
“Going into Addo Elephant Trail Run 2018, I was quietly confident within myself that this could be the race I pull everything I had learnt together. I couldn’t have asked for a better performance on the day. I missed my goal time, but weather conditions considered I was happy and couldn’t find too much fault in my performance. Races like this, when your body and mind work as one, are very rare in the sport of ultra-distance running,” he explained.
Chaperon said his love for trail running began in 2013 when he decided to enter the Spur Gauteng Summer Trail Series, looking for a change from road running.
“To my surprise I ended third in the series. Up until then, I had run numerous road races, including the Comrades Marathon, but focusing on trail running excited me,” he said.
Since his good debut year, he went from strength to strength in the sport and since 2016 he won several high-profile races while also performing well in races in which he had to compete with international rivals.
The 27-year-old athlete trains six days a week and runs approximately 100-140km per week in training. He believes that this is only the start of a successful running career for himself and he look forward to what lies ahead.
His 2018 season started with success in all three races in which he participated. He won The Wolf Pack Challenge, the Addo 76km and the Smuts Trail Marathon.
According to Chaperon his strengths include technical routes with hills and distance. His favourite race is the SkyRun100 in the Eastern Free State on the Lesotho border, in which he recently finished fourth.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
