We had the honour of hosting trail running legends in George earlier in March. Ryan Sandes undoubtedly the most successful trail runner from South Africa having won an Ultra Marathon on every continent, joined by super-fast Kane Reilly from Salomon South Africa and backed up by Andre Gie, a former resident of Knysna a doctor and a seasoned Adventure Racer.
Ryan Sandes and Kane Reilly on the 5km GTR weekly Time Trial route
Arbour 1 Guesthouse hosted the runners in their beautiful guesthouse for the Thursday evening as they joined the local runners of the Garden Route at the now 10 year old weekly gathering, the GTR (Garden Route Trail Running) 5km Time Trial. The kids and equally excited Dad’s grabbed their autographs just before a record breaking 150 runners disappeared into the forest for some much needed nature connection on their run.
The start view just before the runners took to the Forest.
Selfies with the Legends
Discovery Consulting Services George ensured for some great prizes post the run while Ryan delivered an inspirational talk. A planning session followed at Rocomamas where all the necessary information was passed over to Ryan, Kane and Andre as things started to get a bit more serious.
Planning at Roco’s
They were planning on attempting the George 6 Peaks FKT Challenge. Friday morning they ascended into our Peaks of the Outeniqua Mountains for some proper mountain stoke! The local GTR runners came out and showed their support, paced them over tricky terrain and showed them the way.
Close to the summit of the First Peak, VENSTERBERG
The view from VENSTERBERG early morning…
Epic trails in the mountains
They were absolutely amazed by our mountains and trails and Kane did the 3rd fastest time of the FKT (Fastest Known Time) while Ryan did the 5th fastest time, although this was merely a scouting mission, it sure sounds like they have tasted a bit of our #MUTlife and will be back for some more soon hopefully on the start line of the Discovery George Mountain Ultra Trail and of course to better their FKT time on the 6 Peaks Challenge.
Ryan in his happy place
For more on this experience and the GTR community go check out the video on YouTube, EcoBoundTV, The Community https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0iQDB9eE8o