South Africa’s premier trail running event, Ultra-trail Cape Town (UTCT) is one month away, and because the occasion attracts close to, a lengthy list of worldwide elite path runners have confirmed their entries and made their journey plans to South Africa.
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The race now options prominently on the worldwide race calendar, with 5 totally different race codecs over the weekend of 25-27 November, a 100km, 55km, 35km and 23km, and this yr sees the introduction of a 100 miler race.
Covering 167km over Table Mountain and throughout the Peninsula, the 100 miler takes runners to Simon’s Town and again onto Table Mountain to the end in Oranjezicht.
Various components have contributed to the occasion’s success and progress since 2014, not least of which is the dwell broadcast of the 2021 occasion that has been seen near 50 000 occasions on YouTube.
Not solely does this broadcast allow ultra-trail followers worldwide to comply with elite runners step-by-step through the race, it offers a detailed view of what Cape Town has to supply on the paths of Table Mountain and surrounds, encouraging guests to the town year-round.
Ultra-trail Cape Town streamed around the globe
Trent Key, Managing Director of at Moonsport, oversaw the over 11 hours of dwell protection that was streamed around the globe, and says the printed was a step up in path working broadcasts.
“Events like Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc are at the forefront of live coverage in trail running, and UTCT has now joined prestigious events like that by providing real-time visuals from the 100km race route.”
The ground-breaking use of Signal over IP know-how headed up by Wayne van Schalkwyk, Chief Technical Officer of Helium (Moonsport Remote Broadcast enterprise unit), concerned a few of Cape Town’s prime native runners ‘chasing’ the lead runners on technical trails whereas carrying a digicam pack with bonded sim card encoders, offering a sturdy sign the place the common cellular phone would get no reception.
The end result was an thrilling dwell account of the race seen wherever on the planet, following straight behind elite runners and experiencing the route first-hand.
Chloe from Colorado stated: “Best feed, video and graphics I’ve seen for an ultra-trail. Really technical and general coverage. I felt like I was there from my home in Colorado, USA.”
Another aspect in elevating the profile of the race internationally, was the presence of final yr’s winners of the boys’s and girls’s 100km race, icons of ultra-trail from the United States Jim Walmsley and Courtney Dauwalter.
Walmsley broke the file set in 2017 by Prodigal Khumalo, and Dauwalter, who usually locations prime 10 general on the worldwide ultra-trail circuit, was the eighth runner general throughout the 2021 end line.
Big names
Some of the massive names of path that Cape Town will host subsequent month embrace, amongst the ladies, Mimmi Kotka from Sweden and Kelly Wolf from the Unites States.
The males’s 100km race welcomes Jared Hazen and Anton Krupicka from the United States, and Hannes Namberger from Germany.
Frenchman Sebastien Spehler who positioned second at UTCT 100km final yr, might be again, and says he appears to be like ahead to returning to the race with final yr’s expertise.
“I really enjoyed UTCT, the atmosphere, the landscapes, the diversified route. This race in 2021 is an awesome memory, that’s why I’m looking forward to running here again. I didn’t expect such tough sections on the route. The elevation on the profile is not really high but the race is harsh for the legs with lots of technical sections. This is an important race in the world of trail running, but I felt a friendly atmosphere, like a family…”
In the inaugural 100 miler, Hillary Allen from the United States and Dutch athlete Ragna Debats might be sturdy contenders within the ladies’s race, and might be joined by Russian Dmitry Mityaev, Gregoire Curmer from France and Elov Ohlsson from Sweden within the males’s race.
Stuart McConnachie is the Race Director of Ultra-trail Cape Town: “Our vision for UTCT is becoming a reality and we could not be more thrilled. The event’s profile has been raised hugely by the interest shown by top international runners, but we are also proud to be presenting a world class event to our local runners and the Cape Town trail community. Bringing RMB on board as a title sponsor this year will enable further growth and development of the race, and the sport of trail running in South Africa.”