Outeniqua Quest
Samuel Beats All Expectations In A Phenomenal Outeniqua Quest!
Press Release / 17.06.2014
The inaugural Outeniqua Quest took place on the 7th and 8th of June, emotions and sheer determination were tops for this gruelling race. The Outeniqua hiking trail, a 108km route that normally is a 7 day hike, starts at Beervlei hut above Wilderness and finishes at Hakerville hut, near Plettenberg Bay. The route follows the Outeniqua mountain range running over the mountaintops and through the famous indigenous Knysna forest. The total ascent over the 108km is 4773m.
The athletes had 3 options to choose from; either doing the Non-stop option over the full 108km; or the 2 day option with a sleep over at Millwood hut, 48kms into the race, with the next day a 60km to Harkerville hut; and then lastly the Lite option a tough 48km run from Beervlei to Millwood. The non-stop option seemed to be the favourite option of all. The 1st half of the Outeniqua Quest had the most ascent, which was fortunately during the daylight. The non-stop athletes had to strategize their race accordingly.
During race briefing Friday night Hano had a few wise words for the athletes, “If you can sort out your mind, your body will take you there”. These wise words became the theme of the race. The pure determination of the athletes were inspiring over the weekend.
From the start on Saturday morning at 6am the race was on. Samuel Holtzkampf and Brett Nattrass took the lead from the get go for the non-stop in the male category and Linda Doke was leading the female category from the start to the finish. Due to the distance the field quickly spread more and more.
Only an hour after sunset, Samuel Holtzkampf beat all expectations with his astonishing win in 13:00:34. When he crossed the finish line at Hakerville hut it looked like he could tackle the event again. Brett was with him all the way until Rondebossie (about 60km from the finish). Brett said that Samuel was like a machine on the hills. Brett entertained himself in the woods singing children songs and trying to scare away some bush pig by making baboon noises. He crossed the line in 13:32:27 with his entire family waiting to welcome him home.
Linda Doke was the ultimate winner of the non-stop race in the women’s category and finishing her race in elegance in a time of 16:34:20. Prieur Du Plessis who had been running with her during the first half of the race said that he eventually told her to go ahead as she was happily chatting away whilst he could barely breathe properly.
The 2 day race option was dominated by Rich Cheary, Richard Schroder and Renee Cheary who took tops for their efforts and crossing the line in 15:50:58. They said their secret ingredient was red wine the night before an ultra, they even enjoyed a bottle at the overnight stop at Millwood. Nell Harris won the Lite for the ladies in a time of 6:55:19 and continue cheering on her husband Kevin who was running the non-stop.
All the athletes agreed that this is an event that must be on every trail runner’s bucket list and that the event will become a big event on the trail running calendar. Caroline Lee will be back as she had the opportunity to see three elephants on route on her non-stop adventure.
Trisport organisers, Hano and Sonja Otto are very excited about the future of the event and plan to host it annually.
The Outeniqua Quests updates, photos, videos and feedback can be seen on www.facebook.com/trisportsa. For more information go to www.trisport.co.za.
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