Six Peaks sees two great achievements

GEORGE NEWS - Rebecca Kohne has done it again. The 20-year from George smashed the Women's Six Peaks record on Monday 18 December with a time of 06:03:25, improving the previous record by an impressive 44 minutes. This is also the fifth fastest time by any person on the leaderboard.

The Six Peaks consists of running on the Outeniqua Mountains outside George, starting with Vensterberg, followed by Losberg, George Peak, Cradock Peak, Tierkop and Groenkop. The distance is about 38km and the climb 3 000m. Kohne told George Herald on Tuesday that it remains a tough race.

"It is not easy. At the beginning it was humid."

She and her cousin, Brandon Hulley, decided to join a another group that was running the race as part of an event. For her and her cousin it was an end-of-year celebration. "We felt it was a good idea to join them."

Afterwards she felt very happy. She held the record in the past, but it was improved by an athlete from Cape Town. On Monday she wrote the record after her name again.

Kohne used to do track running while still at York High School, before starting trail running almost two years ago.

Stewart Stiles (70) after finishing the Six Peaks.

Jacques Mouton, an experienced trail runner and the owner of Mountco, said the race is a big challenge and very popular. What Rebbeca did is a great achievement.

Rebecca was not the only one to make headlines on Monday. Steward Stiles (70) became the oldest person to complete the race. It took him about 14 hours, starting at 04:30 and finishing late afternoon.

It was the first time that he ran the race. "It was hard and tough," he said afterwards. "For most of the day it was overcast, which made it a bit easier." He thanked André Joubert who ran with him.

Stiles did hiking for most of his life and started running about five years ago.

Rebecca Kohne finishing the race.