GEORGE NEWS - This weekend, from 26 to 28 May, the majestic Outeniqua Mountains will be the scene of determined trail runners making their way up and down its many rocky trails, through forests and our famed fynbos landscapes, and even parts of the arid Klein Karoo, depending on the race category.
Our own homegrown George Mountain Ultra Trail (Mut), now proudly known as the Mut by UTMB®, is now part of the UTMB® World Series Adventure.
Top-field international trail runners, mostly from France and America, but also as far afield as China, Peru and Japan will take part alongside most of our national trail-running heroes.
Rebecca Köhne (20) from George, the women's winner of the Istria 100 by UTMB in April (an international trail run in Croatia), will compete on home ground.
Categories
Traditionally, the Mut sports five race categories, namely the Mut 100 (100km), Mut 60 (59km), Mut Marathon (41,8km), the Mut Challenge (24,5km), and the Mut Lite (9,5km).
This year, however, a new category has been included which is the Mut Miler, a whopper of 165km taking participants to the George and Cradock peaks.
Runners will be tackling steep climbs with elevations of up to 2 000m, crossing rivers such as the Kaaimans, running on the Wilderness Beach, and manoeuvring technical downhills.
Cheer them on
Entries for all categories are closed, but spectatorship is encouraged for all running enthusiasts. There will be two main spectator points.
One is at the well-known cross on the Outeniqua Mountain for more "active" spectators, as it involves a bit of hiking to get there. The other one is at Herold Wines, where people can get acquainted with the superb products of this little gem of a winery.
This spot is one of the water points and 830 athletes will pass there making it a good place to see the runners in action. Spectators can also cheer the runners on from the Wilderness Commonage and Oakhurst Farm Cottages.
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