Follow the journey of Ryan Sandes & Ryno Griesel on their Drakensberg Grand Traverse record attempt.

 

The Drakensberg Grand Traverse (DGT) is an unmarked route of approximately 220km, running from the north to the south of the Drakensberg mountain range and spanning parts of the Free State and Kwa-Zulu Natal provinces of South Africa, as well as the mountain kingdom of Lesotho.

 

First “officially” hiked in February 1999 by Gavin and Laurie Raubenheimer, in a blistering time of 105 hours and 39 minutes (4 days 9 hours and 39minutes), the DGT has called to the hearts of many trail runners and hikers with more than 15 failed record attempts, and 3 official records set since.

 

The latest record was set in April 2010 by Ryno Griesel and Cobus van Zyl in a time of 60 hours 29min and 30 seconds (2 days 12 hours 29 min and 30 seconds).

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“I am really excited to be running the Drakensberg Grand Traverse with Ryno, it’s going to be one of the biggest adventures of my life,” says Ryan. “The route is extremely challenging and the slow nature of the terrain makes the Traverse that much harder. I always want to see how far I can push my own boundaries and for me this is going to be the ultimate test.”

 

Mentally I know this is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done!

 

 “Over the years the DGT record attempts have moved from the mind-set of traditional hiking, to fast and lighter hiking and later to adventure racing. Each of these shifts has led to new platforms of possibility,” explains Ryno. “To my knowledge, our project will be the first time that anyone will approach the DGT with a running mentality. There is less sleep planned so we are running on the proverbial knife’s edge. Combined with the responsibility of trying to keep up with my international running-role-model whilst navigating, makes this a challenge I will take on with a healthy level of respect and fear.”

 

It will be an all or nothing attempt.

 

The attempt will depend on favourable weather conditions & is schedule for the last week of March. Although there is no set route for the attempt, the rules for the official attempt state that you have to start at the Sentinel Car Park and end at the Bushman’s Neck Border Post whilst passing defined check points along the way.

 

The run must be entirely self-supported. This means it’s run entirely on foot with NO seconds, NO food caches and NO resupplies. The only assistance permitted is from a GPS and a map. 

 

Follow their journey on www.redbull.co.za/draktraverse, an interactive website which plots their live GPS location onto an online map. Please visit it for more information, as well as to sign-up for notifications on when their attempt is on!