UT100 by Ultra Trail Cape Town - My first 100km Mountain Ultra
I’m writing these words after laying in bed almost all day on Sunday, a day after the race, reminiscing those 18h on Capetonian Trails. To say I feel proud is an understatement and so would be to say that I liked this race. This race is spectacular beyond words. The beauty of the scenery, the mountains, the jungle like forests, the rocky and sandy beaches, the ever so relentless climbs and descents. I read on Thibaut Baronion‘s summary post (he came 4th man) an excellent sentence that captures the difficulty of it all: „This race is a real technical slaughter, billions of pebbles and rocks, and not a second to just ‘run’ quietly“
I had put a plan together to run - in my best case - 17h. I planned for anything between 17h and 20h in reality, but I wanted to try to race it. And so I did.
On signal hill, about 5k into the race
I went pretty speedy on the first 22k around Signal Hill & Lion’s Head and the first time it really hit me that I may have started a bit too hard was after I rushed up Kloof Corner with dozens of supporters screaming and shouting my name (crazy how strangers can make you feel so special) and I looked down and saw a pulse of 172bpm. This happened shortly after I had seen Jamie - 1 of 3 of my support crew today - with a big “Run Martin Run” sign, which already had me fired up. So I decided to take it easy and began the climb up Platteklip. For anyone who ever had visited Cape Town with a sense for the outdoors will now it: a 500m ascent in about 1.6km.
Shortly after seeing my heart rate skyrocket, traversing from Kloof Corner to Platteklip Gorge.
Up Table Mountain I really did feel good, but I could also sense that maybe I didn’t have enough water with me as I was starting to heat up quite a bit. In fact, though I knew this long descent towards the back of Table Mountain quite well, it seemed quite long to finally get to an aid station close to the People’s Hut. It was about 32k in and the first time I really needed to drink 1l+ of electrolytes to just cool myself down and freshen up.
On Table Mountain looking towards Llandudno & Chapman’s Peak
The following section was pure bliss and is one of my favourite parts - descending along the 12 apostles and down on Llandudno Revine. I overtook tons of people and felt super strong on the downhill - probably the best I’ve ever felt being already more than 5h in a race already. Getting into Llandudno Beach, I knew I was going to meet part of my crew and it hyped me up as I was still 20 minutes ahead of my 17h game plan.
View to Llandudno Beach. A photo I took to tell James & Wentzel I was coming for them!
I was super happy to meet the other 2/3 of my crew today - James & Wentzel and got hugs & high fives and was super happy with the race so far. Unfortunately I rushed the station quite a bit and did not drink anything at all in the station, nor did I sit down. After a few km running along the stunning beach through weird rock formations & a nudist beach - a short but steep ascent hit me quite hard, in desperate need of water. Runners overtook me - those who I had overtaken at the aid station while I was rushing through.
When finally hitting the aid station Rocket Road I sat down for the first time and took a few minutes to cool down and drink a lot. This is something I have learned especially from my backyard ultra in ‘22 - you sometimes feel incredibly exhausted, but after proper fuelling with carbs and mostly electrolytes, relief can come within 10-15minutes. It’s just important to get going again, and so I did - literally. I walked to the next climb and somewhere along the way I felt a bit fresher.
Looking from Suther Peak back over Little Lion’s Head towards Table Mountain.
The technical and sandy descent towards Hout Bay was tough on me though and I felt pretty broken in my legs and a pain in my upper stomach made every step feel like a sting. So I took it slow with a mix of limping and walking. The beach in Hout Bay I mostly walked and only after running through the cold water section we had to cross and the sight of my support crew gave some energy back.
Sock change & cooling down at Hout Bay Aid Station.
In Hout Bay aid station - 56k in - I took my time: got some ice in my neck, changed my socks, drank quite a bit of electrolytes and coke and filled up my backpack with my second drinking bladder. It was already 9h 30mins in and I was now running quite behind schedule, but still well in my goal window.
Coming out of Hout Bay I took it really slowly. I felt the heat and I was afraid my stomach would be upset and the thought of running low on nutrition or water on those next 15k, which I had planned more than 3h for, was intimidating. Luckily the views were beautiful, overlooking Chapman‘s Peak Drive, slowly climbing up to make it towards Constantia. I walked many parts and runners overtook me again. In Hout Bay I had made the plan to take a few breaks and properly fuel myself to imitate the refreshing feeling of the aid stations. Though it was hard to find shade, after about 1,5h in I stopped to lean over and started to drink my Redbull and slowly continued. Shortly after the descent started and I was suddenly surrounded by strong running women. It was in that moment when I had a break-through moment. What if instead of feeling the pain of every step and feeling into the pain of my aching body, I get fired up again and start to run?
And so I started to breathe heavier, getting my heartbeat up and forced my legs to move faster. First I closed the gaps to the 2 women running in front of me. Then, I overtook them and closed the few hundred meters to the next runner. I suddenly felt strong again and to my delight a short almost flat section of grass and street followed. I believe it was the first sub 7mins kilometre and probably the last one as well. Parts of that course in Constantia I had seen on previous race footage and I loved running through the vineyards of Beau Constantia and Constantia Glen.
When I hit the next aid station I was briefly confused, as I shadow thought the next one would be Alphen Trail including my Support Crew. And so I stopped rather briefly, knowing that the next one was only 4,5km ahead. A woman at the aid station cooled my calves with a wet towel and it felt incredible.
Coming out of the aid station, my Support Crew surprised me and absolutely fired me up! It was a runnable section anyways, but it was so so good to know their support and it made me smile the next kilometres as I was running through Constantia, around some pretty fancy houses.
Alphen Trail did come then and it was an absolute party atmosphere. Dozens of people cheering, making noise with the cow bells and it felt incredible, knowing I was three quarters there. James, Jamie and Wentzel helped me refilling my bottles and I took the time to briefly sit and hydrate and cool down. I knew my legs were pretty broken, but I felt like on a mission to finally bring this home. At the aid station I was also told to take out my lights as the night was expected soon, and it was quite surreal thinking that I had been running for more than 12h already. I had changed my nutrition strategy before and it felt like I could do okay on less carbs as I couldn’t really stomach the taste of Tailwind anymore. And so I took gladly took a Powerade and some electrolyte mix and water and aimed to at least drink enough.
I took off towards Newland forest and it felt like a new jungle like forest. With the night settling in, it felt magical at times. Recently before I had started to focus only on the next segment on my Garmin, that automatically had broken down the course in 29 ascents and 28 descents. Especially on climbs, it became my goal to break down the expected elevation gain and celebrate every 25-50m.
A lot had been said about the „400 steps“, but I was rather happy for a steady climb and knew I could just push myself up. Actually it was nice getting my heart rate up again. The downhills though were a different story. The more technical the more I was struggling. I knew this feeling from Trail deal Marchesato, a 38k race I had done in March 22 with 2200m positive & negative elevation that had absolutely crushed me on the downhill. And so I let pretty much everybody pass I had overtaken on the uphill and simply took it 100m at a time.
This stretch felt really long and I calculated several times in my head if I could finish below 20h if I was only going at the speed I could then, which was mostly around 15mins per Kilometer.
Many thoughts and steps later though, I finally sensed the course would lead towards the next air station University of Cape Town - or UCT - soon which lighted my spirits. The aid station is known for putting a party like atmosphere and I couldn’t wait to see my crew again.
My goal at the aid station was to really fuel myself well and also eat solid foods for the first time properly as my stomach felt really empty and a lot of the Tailwind I had I simply couldn’t imagine taking. I tried to sit down as soon as possible and freshened up with Coke, electrolytes and to calm my stomach a handful of potatoes. And those potatoes felt amazing and my crew vividly packing everything, made it feel like we were on this mission together to finally get it done.
Coming out of the aid station we were a group of 5 runners heading into the night. At first it was very runnable jeep track and I hoped for somewhat runnable terrain. But oh boy, was I wrong. I had heard several people say „I only want to be done with the blockhouse“ and James had mentioned it was going to be steep. But I sort of had forgotten about it. When I liked at my watch it said about an average of 13% for the next section which didn’t look so bad. But then we ran on a completely flat section and while the horizontal distance of that section shrunk, the meters to be climbed stayed. And so, as a final test of the race at 91km in the race and 4500m of elevation, we had to climb a single track, with loose rocks for 1km at 27%. It was nuts. Two of the runners went ahead insanely fast and I found myself in third position. As it was 276m of elevation I divided the section in 11 parts of 25m elevation on my mind and celebrate every little section. And so I did and to be honest - it was then quicker over then I had feared. Breaking it up had really allowed me to focus on one task at a time without overwhelming myself. At the top of the climb only about 90m of elevation gain were left of the total course and I knew I had made it.
The next kilometres were still not fast, but I had committed to staying in my position and running the sections I could. Coming around Devil’s Peak into the city bowl, overlooking the city by night felt incredibly special and I felt very grateful. Grateful because over the last 6 weeks the city had become a home to me and I could take it all in. Some of the last sections were again part of the trails I had run during 3 Peaks Challenge 3 weeks before and I also had trained on since I had moved to an Airbnb in Vredehoek.
The last timing point at Dead Man’s Tree was surreal and it was great running on Table Mountain Street again and going into the Jeep track towards Deer Park.
Running those last kilometres felt special. A last volunteer shook my hand saying „Welcome home“ and when I entered the Garden rugby stadium, Jamie, James & Wentzel cheered me on, while I was running the final metres. I was overwhelmed with happiness and proudness and I was so thankful for those three sharing this day with me, all the volunteers that made it happen and the race organisers who commit to setting up a spectacular event every year.
When I saw videos of trail runners blazing down the trails in summer 2021, I immediately that this was what I wanted to do. Over the last two years I often have described that it feels like I connected to something that I had lost. And though I know the mountains makes me feel this way, it really is the connection to myself that I had rediscovered. Being playful while displaying strength, being humble while aiming ambitiously, taking this experience of life fully in, embracing it with all the ups and downs.
A final thanks to Wentzel for capturing so many great moments of my race and also for putting it live on the gram for friends & family to follow.
