Babbas Eco Trail Run Report

Well my first Trail run race is something of the past and it was so much fun. Can't believe I haven't tried this before and only discovering it now.

From what I gathered from the fellow athletes is that it wasn't that technical but that is just fine for me, it was my first race. One thing I can say is there was a lot of mud and water which we had to run through.

The route was maid up of Jeep track, some single track, some very muddy sections and some river crossings. There was also a small section of tar road to get to the nature reserve and back to the venue.

I'm happy to have finished 3rd in the 40+ age group and 6th overall. The 40+ group had some pretty fast runners and I think also the biggest group of entrants. For my effort I got a 100 buck meal voucher at a restaurant, not bad.

One thing I've noticed from off road running is you can't really get into a rhythm from all the ducking and diving and your hamstrings work much harder from kicking up loose ground. I'm also glad I took my new shoes for a test run and tightened the laces otherwise I would have lost them while running through all the mud.

My finish time was 1h11:44 for the 17.23km doing 4:09min/km, not bad for my first race since my knee opp and still building on those fitness levels.


I've convinced DJ last night to join me and she did great. She did the 5km trail run and finished in 35 minutes. Not bad for someone who's not doing any more running and Triathlon training and just concentrate on dance practise. When I asked her if she'll be back for the next race she said maybe but she's not a big fan of running through water and mud and said she will prefer a road race.DJ enjoying some hot chocolate after the race. The pictures above are from close to the start line, that was only the start and the further we ran the muddier it became.

Saw this plane next to the road not far from the venue and couldn't see a landing strip close by, wonder if someone took the wrong turn or what???
Went to a local clothing store yesterday to find me some sneakers and saw this. Maybe I should have used this today for my run, haha
On our way back home I had to stop in Pretoria to drop off my suit for alterations for the wedding and what I thought was going to me a quick one ended up taking so long. It is Freedom day today in South Africa and a public holiday.

Driving right into thousands of people getting together to celebrate meant only one thing, traffic jams and detours on what was suppose to be a day without traffic.

One last pic from our visit to the wedding venue this past weekend, DJ giving new meaning to the words, "Just keeping your head above the water" as she is standing between the swimming pool and the pond