FEEDBACK: Saturday 3 June 2017: Muizenberg Peak

A pleasantly warm Saturday morning saw 29 Trailers gathered outside the Toad on the Road, bent on tackling a brand new route for TMT…: Muizenberg Peak from Lakeside.

As the Fast  Group disappeared up the mountain, led by Gregg (who was ably assisted by local legend Tim and trail pirate Geoff), the Medium and Slower Groups kept up the pace behind, determined to reach the summit despite pounding hearts and aching legs.

Upon reaching the neck between Muizenberg and Lower Steenberg peaks, the Slower Group (leader, Nora) voted on a change of pace and headed immediately out onto the plateau, meanwhile the Medium Group managed to reach the summit, albeit with lots of panting, grumbling, photo taking, posing and soaking in the view.






From their vantage point atop the Muizenberg, the Mediums caught a glimpse of the Fast Group out on the plateau. At this point run organiser Theo watched with concern, hoping that the Fasties would be able to follow his somewhat intricately detailed route description without resorting to any…more creative…interpretations.

“Left! Left!”

With much delight the Mediums looked on as, with hardly a spot of hesitation, they turned left as one and sped on towards St James Peak. Applause followed.

After the customary Group photo the Mediums proceeded down to the top of Peck’s Valley where they rejoined the Slower Group.

After some debate, the Slower Group decided to head back down to the Toad, with one unnamed gentleman echoing the general sentiment of the group in declaring his sudden strong aversion to uphills…

The Mediums in turn took some more photos at the old Silver Mine, St James Peak and Muizenberg Cave, interspersed by some lovely flowing running.

Due to a decision by the organisers to change the traditional route of the Fishermans’ Trail race (one which may or may not have been inspired by MATES’ Pilchard run the previous Saturday…), the Medium Group encountered groups of trailers heading in the other direction as they proceeded back from Muizenberg cave and along the plateau. The majority were able to pass by without incident, and were cheered on by the friendly Mediums.

Meanwhile the Fasties managed to avoid the congestion, proceeding swiftly to St James Peak and  Higher Steenberg Peak, before heading back along their unmapped and unmarked path hugging the outer edge of the Steenberg.

The Fast Group completed the  13.4km route in a blistering 2h07, not getting lost and achieving all three summits.

The Medium Group completed 10.6km in 2h30 after enjoying a lovely morning out on the hill, and achieving 2 of their 3 objectives.

The Slower Group completed the  7.3km  in 2h15  and enjoyed a lovely new route with some good cardio.

Theo Smith

Many more photos on our facebook page here, here, and here. 

(Sorry. There are a LOT of photos and the Blogger software is just too awful!)

FEEDBACK: Saturday 27th May 2017 - Slangkop Lighthouse beach run

Feedback from Felicity:

We had a number of regular runners this morning joined by a few newbies. The unpredicted but welcome rain didn't deter us from enjoying this beach run. No river crossing this time and distances by the three groups were between 9 and 15 kms.

Brooding skies and a visit from a Parkrunner!

The sand was hard and wonderful for running on.

The Margarets, Marg and Marge.

On the return, the mountains emerged from the clouds.

Welcome newbies!

Slangkop lighthouse.

Looking back over Kommetjie from the lighthouse.

TABLE MOUNTAIN TRAILERS IMPORTANT REQUEST

Hi All,

Our runs are pack runs for safety reasons as well as social ones. None of us likes too many rules, but safety is paramount and you're presumably running with a pack for this reason. We, the TMT organisers & group leaders, would like to take a moment to remind you of a couple of Table Mountain Trailers' heretofore unwritten guidelines for safety:

1.        Each group must have a designated leader and sweep. If you split a large group en-route, you should allocate a second leader and sweep.

2.       Please stay with your group. Front runners, please do not run too far ahead of the designated leader.

3.       The leader must wait for the sweep at each regroup point and only move on when the sweep has given their assurance that all members are accounted for.

Thanks for your cooperation.

FEEDBACK: Saturday 20th May 2017: DEER PARK

We only seem to programme a Deer Park run once a year, but when we do, we thoroughly enjoy the views over the city. This year was no different. It was pitch black as we gathered at the start of the run, but by the time we'd signed in and had the route briefing, the sun was beginning to rise. For once, there was no wind and, of course, no rain.

The route this year was intended to be a little more adventurous than our previous TMT sorties as we were to follow the VWS lead of running along the lower contour path across the front face of the mountain, adding some single track and elevation to the run.

We split into our three groups, and set off to follow the maps distributed. The Fast group led by Geoff immediately went upwards instead of turning left as they had run the real VWS race the week before and decided to follow that route rather than the map. Hmm. To the naughty corner!

The medium and slow groups ran along the correct path and turned up towards the mountain as planned, only to meet the Fast group coming towards them. A short confirmation of the remainder of the route followed, and the Medium group split into two at this point: the Medium Fasts led by Natalie and Theo, and the Medium Slows led by Neil and Lorraine.

The Medium Fasts then also diverged from the mapped route to add an extra few kilometres to their run by turning left when they reached the tar road and heading up to the contour path from further south, whereas the Medium Slows ran right and took the Platteklip steps up to the contour path.

The path down under the cable car was busy and the gorgeous morning had enticed Capetonians out of bed bright and early and the queue for the cable car was huge. The Fast group ran all the way to Kloof Corner and turned down there, missing the cable car but enjoying the steps.

We crossed the road and headed downwards to the jeep track that runs all the way across Deer Park from Tafelberg Road to Vredehoek. The undulating gravel is long but allows for some decent speed.

Altogether an enjoyable jaunt.