The seventh edition of Ultra-trail Cape Town (UTCT), is set for Saturday 28 November and Sunday 29 November 2020. UTCT combines beautiful Mother City sights with the challenging technical terrain of Table Mountain, with four events to choose from: 100km, 65km, 35km on the Saturday, and 21km on the Sunday.

And entries are now open!

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The UTCT 100km race will form part of the Ultra-trail World Tour (UTWT) for the fourth consecutive year in 2020. UTCT is now firmly on the international trail running calendar and continues to attract top international athletes, as well as local stars. Nic Bornman, Race Director of UTCT, says: “Being included in UTWT has been significant for us, with word spreading fast about the challenging course we have here on Table Mountain and surrounds. We hosted 500 international athletes across our events in 2019 and expect even more to join us in 2020, in no small part because of our involvement in the World Tour.”

Some of the world’s best trail runners came to Cape Town for the 2019 UTCT: Cody Reed (USA) won the 100km event, with Francois D’Haene (FRA) coming in second. The women’s record was smashed by Beth Bascall from Great Britain, who was 9th overall in the race, with Emily Hawgood (ZIM) taking second place.

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Other big names included Courtney Dewaulter and Lucy Bartholomew, who both unfortunately were unable to compete due to injury but cheered on the runners from the sidelines. Says Dewaulter: “Getting to be part of the race last year as a spectator was incredible. The course is absolutely beautiful, the aid stations were full of great support and lots of snacks, and the finish line is one you want to keep pushing towards. The entire community is there at the finish cheering runners in, no matter which race or what pace people ran. It was really special to feel that positive energy at the race village.”

Dewaulter is considering being on the start line in 2020 and says to others contemplating a 100km entry: “Go for it! Moving with your own feet over beautiful terrain for an entire day is a really cool adventure. From what I saw, the course is tough. But with good training and a solid mindset, you can get to that finish line.”

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Bornman says the logistics of managing the event over 100kms of rugged mountainous terrain is a huge challenge, but that the over 400 volunteers they had on board last year, helped to make it happen seamlessly: “We have a very strong trail running community in the Cape, and we have so many people wanting to be  part of the event, which we are very grateful for. We could not do this without their support.”

“We look forward to hosting more athletes from other parts of South Africa this year – we had 450 runners come to Cape Town from outside of the Western Cape in 2019. Cape Town as a whole benefits from these and our international visitors; it was estimated that the tourism spend of the combined 950 visitors, was in the region of R 40 million,” he says.

Watch social media for news of the kiddies races which will take place on Sunday 29 November at 08h30.

For more information on the races and routes, and to enter, visit www.ultratrailcapetown.com

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