SA trail team tackles world's best at 70km Trail World Champs

Tuesday, 05 July 2011 13:51

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South African trail running team in Ireland for 70km IAU Trail World Championships

For the first time, a team of South African ultradistance trail runners will participate in the Trail World Championships presented by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU). This third annual edition of the Trail World Championships, takes place in the beautiful Connemara region of northern Galway in Ireland, an area ofbreathtaking scenery, a rugged coastline, dramatic mountains, numerous lakes and rivers and woodlands.

The South African team, selected by the ASA Track and Field Commission based on results from The Otter African Run, Table Mountain Challenge and the three-day African-X, includes Iain Don-Wauchope, William Robinson, Katya Soggot, Su Don-Wauchope and Hi-Tec Ambassadors Bruce Arnett and Jeannie Bomford. Pieter de Jager, ASA Technical Manager, is the team manager.

“In selecting the team we looked for athletes who regularly feature in the top five positions on the local trail running circuit, but also athletes who are known as ‘hard’ athletes in their fields,” says James Evans, Acting Athletics South Africa Chairperson.

IAU regulates and sanctions race events longer than the marathon distance of 42.2 kilometres. IAU events include World Championships for 50K and 100K road races, 24-hour runs and, in recent years, ultramarathon trail running.

This year’s IAU Trail World Championships, which takes place on Saturday 9 July 2011, covers a 70-kilometre route within the Connemara National Park.  The course terrain includes open ground, hard packed trails, loose rock trails, bog, streams and forests. The route also negotiates part of the Twelve Bens mountain range, including Galway's highest peak Benbaun Mountain, which runners will ascend and descend - twice.

The event is both an individual and team competition where teams are ranked according to the cumulative time of the top three finishers. The South Africans will be up against tough competition, running against 120 athletes from 20 countries.

Arnett, a Hi-Tec Ambassador, has been a leading competitor in local trail races for over a decade. Most notable has been his multiple wins of the 100km Salomon Skyrun, held annually in the Witteberg Mountains on the border of Lesotho. He has also won most others, like PUFfeR, Thule 4 Peaks, Table Mountain Challenge, Addo 50miler and the seven-day Kalahari Augrabies Extreme.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for South African trail running. We don’t know the runners from the other countries so we aren’t sure about our competition but it will be a good experience,” says Arnett.

“With only a month’s notice before the race, we’ve prepared as best as possible for race and we’re looking forward to good results individually and for the team.”

The team leaves for Ireland on Wednesday night.

For more information on the IAU Trail World Championships 2011, visit www.runconnemara.com. The IAU website, at www.iau-ultramarathon.org, will carry ticker-tape style live coverage during the race.

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