Trail runners experience adventure in awe-inspiring mountains in fourth Pass2Pass Ultra-Trail

More than 700 trail runners enjoyed a day out in perfect running conditions along some of the Western Cape’s lesser-known trails between Paarl and Wellington in the fourth Pass2Pass Ultra-trail over the weekend.

The race’s tag-line ‘where adventure awaits and limits are tested’ was an apt description of the challenging trails across soaring mountain peaks which offered stunning panoramic views.

Both the men’s and women’s winners in the ‘P2P Hundred’ raced to big-margin victories in the gruelling race over 100,1km, the shorter events provided close competition among several of the country’s leading trail athletes.

Little more than three minutes separated the top three finishers in the men’s P2P Challenge over 36km and the women’s P2P Lite over 25km.

While a handful of elites returned from last year’s Pass 2 Pass Ultra Trail, it was largely a cast of newcomers setting the trails alight.  Pretoria’s Maryke van Zyl was the only athlete able to defend her title, winning the 42,4km Marathon in an impressive 4:36:19 – 12 minutes clear of Great Britain’s Emi Dixon.

Experience trail athlete, Michael Molyneaux, raced home in the Hundred in 11:56:01 – 64 minutes clear of Matthew Cross, with Tarrin van Niekerk, who finished second in the 65km Ultra last year, winning the women’s race by an even bigger margin. Van Niekerk’s 16:24:44 was 1 hour 19 minutes clear of runner-up, Philippa Law.

One of the strongest performances of the day came from Cape Town-based American, Emily Djock, who bounced back to form to win the P2P Ultra 65km in a swift 7:58:43, all of 36 minutes clear of second-placed Kayla Wheeldon. Only the top two male finishers, Jacques Buys and Mark Winter, crossed the line ahead of her.

Djock won the second Pass2Pass Ultra Trail ‘65km’ in 2024, finishing ten minutes clear of Tarrin van Niekerk, after extensive fires in the Bains Kloof region had significantly shortened the course.

“This time the route was amazing,” Djock remarked. “It was almost as if I’d stumbled upon a secret path. I couldn’t believe how big and remote and beautiful these moutains are.

“I had not had the best training block leading up to the race. After the UTMB CCC (Djock was the second American to finish last September in the high-profile race in the French Alps) I struggled quite a bit and was not where I wanted to be.

“But I felt really good on the weekend, except for the last ten km, which I found hard.  There was a stretch between 40 and 50km in the Krom River Dome region which was especially amazing. The summit is so remote, almost alpine. It was very technical, with loose rocks to navigate, and mentally it took a toll. 

“I struggled to keep concentration after that loop and had a ‘few wobbles’ along the trail before the finish.”

Adding to the sense of remote wilderness was the fact that Djock ran solo from pillar to post. “With the exception of runners from races who we overlapped a few times, I was on my own the whole way. It felt remote and special – it was a good and happy race for me.”

Djock looks forward to another successful season both at home (she has entered the Two Oceans Trail Race in April) and abroad (she travels to Italy with fellow Cape Town athlete, Samantha Reilly) to race the highly competitive 80 km Lavaredo Ultra-trail in June). 

Gauteng-based athlete, Jacques Buys, has proved to be one of the country’s leading marathon and ultra-trail athletes in recent years and lived up to expectations with a convincing victory over Mark Winter in the 65km race, winning by 28 minutes in 7:11:29.

“I ran with Mark up to around the halfway point,” Buys reflected. “(It was a) pretty fast pace up to  that point.  

“Mark started struggling with stomach/nutrition issues so I pulled away from there and ran the second half on my own. I struggled with cramps around 40kms, so lost quite a bit of time but luckily managed to get it under control.”

Like Djock, Buys found the route challenging and awe-inspiring. “The route is insane – it’s a good variety of runnable and technical trail and very scenic pretty much throughout the whole route,” Buys continued.

“The three big climbs with the most technical one at the end make it super challenging. I’d rate it as one of the more difficult trails I’ve race – for me it’s harder and longer than Ultra-trail Cape Town’s 55km.”

One of the closest finishes of the day came in the P2P Challenge over 36km, when Jacques du Plessis came home in 3:01:08, just over a minute ahead of defending champion, Southern Cape athlete, Underson Ncube. Grobler Basson, joint-winner of last year’s 65km finished a further two minutes back in third.

“It was a good race for me, but wouldn’t really say it was a tight race,” Du Plessis reflected. “The guys seemed to be running more slowly in the beginning. I was running comfortably and before I knew it there was no-one behind me. I think they fell behind around 6km, but I had no idea how far behind me they were.

“I was running hard, but well within myself. Frustratingly, I lost around a minute as the first two aid stations were not ready for me and took around 30 seconds each to boot up before I could scan my bib. If I’d known Underson was just a minute behind, I would have run a bit faster.

“But it was really a nice day out in perfect running conditions and I had a very good experience of the race.”

Groote Schuur Hospital running doctor, Ebeth Marais, came out on top of a quality field in the P2P Lite over 25km in 2:22:13 – less than two minutes clear of Lijan Burger, with Mila Geldenhuys just over a minute further back in third.  

Siviwe Nkombi won the men’s race by just 20 seconds over Lukas van der Merwe, clocking 2:08:42 for the 25km distance.

Results (SA unless otherwise indicated)

P2P HUNDRED – 100,1km (31 finished out of 42 starters)

Men: 1 Michael Molyneaux 11:56:01; 2 Matthew Cross 13:02:00; 3 Demetrius Van Rooyen 13:12:49; 4 Anele Bans 13:12:49; 5 Cobus Smit 13:46:50

Women: 1 Tarrin van Niekerk 16:24:44; 2 Philippa Law 17:43:25; 3 Dani Coetzee 21:21:53

P2P ULTRA – 62,8km (69 finished out of 80 starters)

Men: 1 Jacques Buys 7:11:29; 2 Mark Winter 7:39:32; 3 Pieter Joubert 8:34:28; 4 Bernard van der Veen 8:46:30; 5 Guido Tagge (DE) 8:51:54

Women: 1 Emily Djock (USA) 7:58:43; 2 Kayla Wheeldon 8:34:32; 3 Jessie Waldman (GB) 8:36:58; 4 Verone de Bruyn 8:56:26; 5 Mari Marincowitz 9:01:40

P2P MARATHON 42,4km (112 finished out of 116 starters)

Men: 1 Iain Peterkin 3:53:12; 2 Jason Koopman 3:58:04; 3 Gabriel Kriel 3:59:26; 4 Skye Clark 4:18:28; 5 Brandon Hulley 4:20:00

Women:1 Maryke van Zyl 4:36:19; 2 Emi Dixon (GB) 4:48:34; 3 Brigitte Joubert 5:10:10; 4 Helen Bosman 5:24:23; 5 Hester le Riche (NL) 5:26:15

P2P CHALLENGE 36,0km (164 finished out of 164 starters)

Men: 1 Jacques du Plessis 3:01:08; 2 Underson Ncube 3:02:32; 3 Grobler Basson 3:04:36; 4 Travis Brigg 3:17:12; 5 Ryno Owen 3:18:57

Women: 1 Anna Firth (GB) 3:41:49; 2 Julia Hunter4:05:03; 3 Olga Antoniceva (Lativa) 4:10:01; 4 Caitlin Perry 4:27:41; 5 Frances Weiner 4:28:24

P2P LITE 25km (181 finished out of 182 starters)

Men: 1 Siviwe Nkombi 2:08:42; 2 Lukas vd Merwe 2:09:02; 3 Joshua Blackshaw 2:10:23; 4 Ben Derman 2:11:33; 5 Frans vd Merwe 2:17:14

Women: 1 Ebeth Marais 2:22:13; 2 Lijan Burger 2:23:58; 3 Mila Geldenhuys 2:25:14; 4 Louise Dippenaar 2:28:41; 5 Leane van Zyl 2:38:00

P2P Dash 14,1km (157 finished out of 158 starters)

Men: 1 Ruben Hanekom 1:04:53; 2 Owen Davis 1:08:00; 3 Robert Raubenheimer 1:08:20

Women: 1 Chris-marie Matthee 1:16:44; 2 Marelie Annalet Both 1:18:10; 3 Clara Kotze 1:20:08

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