Ingeli Race Report

The fourth event in the Mountain Marathon Series delivered mist, sun, wind, rain, and cold in that order. But even with these conditions the runners and organisers considered themselves lucky that race day was Saturday and not Sunday as the cold front had arrived in full force by then. Mountain Marathons are unlikely to disappoint as each of them is set on a spectacular South African mountain, and this one is out of the cosy ANEW Ingeli Forest Resort, set at the foot of the little-known range that separates KZN from the Eastern Cape.

The 40km set off before sunrise when the signs of a moody day were already there. The mist blew in and out, opening up spectacular views, before closing in and hiding just how steep the grassy slopes of the Ingeli are. The hard work all takes place in the first half of this Mountain Marathon, with the second half a much faster descent mainly on forestry road contrasting the mountain wilderness and tufty rugged trail that traverses the 12km of the real mountain this course has to offer. On the racing front Gijima runner, Perfect Dlamini made his intentions clear growing a lead over the mountain, as did Ruth Cozien in the women’s race, known for running terrain like this barefoot, took a commanding lead. And on the experiential front, the field spread out but kept a tidy pace to all be off the mountain before the first downpour of the day at 12noon. There were no surprises on the finish line when Dlamini won in a time of 3:53:19 ahead of Zothile Moto and Lloyd Sithole in 4:14:59 and 4:18:10 respectively. Cozien finished at the front of the lady’s field in a time of 4:36:12, with Anke Bring running 5:43:52 and Ncomeka Gumede 5:47:05