Heroine's welcome for 2 MUT Miler runners at Wild Mongoo

GEORGE NEWS - While running partners Gaelyn Slabber-Postma and Gillian Lupton-Smith were recovering last week from a weekend of running the Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT) Miler by UTMB, four more women were brought off the streets of George into the circle of safety at Wild Mongoo, whose mission it is to empower vulnerable women facing poverty, abuse and violence.

It is moments like these that have helped Slabber-Postma and Lupton-Smith bite down when they Everested on George Peak last year, and now again this year when they tackled the gruelling 163km of the Miler in the Outeniqua Mountains.

They want their participation in ultradistance events to be about more than just a personal challenge or for the love of running, and so they cover all those kilometres hoping to impact the women of Wild Mongoo through raising funds and awareness.

They received a heroine's welcome to the sound of "Chariots of Fire" during a visit to the organisation on Thursday 29 May, when they chatted with the women about their race, which inspired at least one or two to join the local parkrun.

For Slabber-Postma it was a huge disappointment when she had to exit the race at 100km because of a perforated eardrum, a result of an earlier bout of sinus that had not cleared up completely. They had reached Wilderness.

"I was worried that if I stayed the course, it would be much more difficult to exit as the last leg would be in a very remote area. So we had a little cry and then Gillian had to continue. I knew she would do it," said Slabber-Postma. She went ahead to wait for her friend at the finish.

Lupton-Smith said it was difficult seeing Slabber-Postma increasingly struggle as the kilometres went by.

"I was proud of her to know her limits and make the call to stop. When you're sick, you should not run. Leaving her behind and knowing what was coming was daunting. It was through Oakhurst, Bergplaas and Tierkop, an area we call the 'bottomless pit of desolation', and I would be running in the dark."

At one point through Bergplaas, Lupton-Smith was so tired that she was unable to distinguish the trail and started to hallucinate, seeing octopuses climbing out of the trees. "I lay down to take a little nap. I don't know how long I had been sleeping when I woke up as another runner from Belgium tripped over my feet."

He stayed with her for a large part of the race from there on. She did get in a 20-minute nap at Tierkop, but says during the last kilometres of the route, she had to keep telling herself to stay awake.

"I just wanted to finish and never ever wanted to do it again. But after finishing, I had a shower and went to bed, and when I opened my eyes on Monday morning, I was already wondering if the entries for next year had opened yet," she laughed.

She completed the race at 08:30 on Sunday after starting out at 12:00 on Friday, running through two nights.

Both women are novices and are learning as they go. Having full-time careers and families - Slabber-Postma is a personal trainer and Lupton-Smith a doctor - their only preparation is short runs of between 5km and 10km during the week and about 25km on weekends.

For them, running is not about winning. Says Lupton-Smith: "It must be fun, because that is why we do it."

For the rest of the year, they are planning to run two shorter events and two more 100 milers - the Cedarburg Traverse Miler in October and the Longmore Forest Endurance Run (Lofer) on 21 December - all the while with the plight of the Wild Mongoo women in mind.

For more about Wild Mongoo, visit wildmongoo.co.za, which has a link to its online shop that sells beautiful jewellery, sweaters, baby clothing, pet accessories and more.

Flowers for the two runners while the women cheer them on.