The Diversity of the Karkloof100
5 - 100 Miles
Dear Trail Runners and Walkers,
As entries continue to come in for the 100 Miler, the Karkloof100 is set to challenge its participants to the max once again! Considering the 100miler landscape in South Africa, KK100 is considered to be the most “runnable”. The route follows smooth trails, district- and and forestry roads, and the format allows for pacers in the second half and lots of spectator points along the way.
It also offers runners the opportunity to participate in a huge variety of distances alongside the 100milers.
The 50 miler starts at the turn-around point of the 100 Miler
The 30 miler starts at Phuzumoya.
The 20 miler at Triandra.
The 10 milers at the Farmers Market.
The 5 miler runs a loop from the Karkloof Club.
The starts are staggered and it is very likely that you will run alongside the 100 milers at some point. Soak up a bit of their energy, their mindset. But do be warned…that kind of crazy is definitely contagious!!
“The 100 mile distance is all about the people. It’s a community that encourages you to be yourself, allows you to be your worst and pushes you to be your very best.” – Dylan Harris, The Participant.
We say this is true of the whole trail community and that Karkloof is where we feel it stronger than ever. Come and be part of that community. 5 miles or an ultra – you belong here!!
See you on the trail,
Andrew, Lauren, Sanele & the KZNTR team
The next "Letter from the Lowveld" now on Trailbooth.com
So we have launched a blog and our Booth stories now have a home at www.trailbooth.com. It’s actually three stories.
The first is “The KZNTR Story”, all about where and how it all started, and the first post is out. We’ll tell the full story of KZNTR here over a period of time.
The second is “Letters from the Lowveld”, and Lauren has just published Letter 4.
The third story is about Bush Trails and Animal Encounters. It will document the new work Andrew is undertaking on a different trail to the running one.
A little taster from Lauren’s Letter 4:
“Buying a hamster in the Lowveld. Shortly after arriving in the Lowveld, both our boys’ birthdays were looming. Ben was quite satisfied to receive Transformers. However, I started to become aware that Charlie & Andrew had been in negotiations around a hamster. Apparently, an agreement had even been reached……”
To carry on reading, hit the link below.
Because conservation is everybody's business
The fight to conserve space for wild animals is a very real one. Once the space is conserved, it is often limited, enclosed and needs to be managed through interventions to prevent the block of conserved area from ecological degredation or catastrophe.
Elephant populations in a fenced reserve are an obvious example of this – limit their natural pathways to food and water and the impact they have within their enclosed space is going to be large. Makalali is an example of one of these managed spaces and is a leader in their approach to conservation interventions. Siyafunda is a camp within Makalali, the word means “come and learn” and much of the work is driven by Siyafunda and its volunteer programme.
But of course this costs a lot of money, and its important to keep developing understanding and methods, especially the incorportation of rapidly advancing technology.
This is where the Siyafunda Slog comes in. It is a fund raiser taking place in May that involves 35 wildlife warriors walking the 100km of fenceline around the reserve over two days and using the platform to raise funds for Siyafunda. Read all about it and the Wildlife Warriors participating on the website below and if you are able to, please leave a donation, no matter how small.
There are still a few places open to the public, you can apply to be part of the challenge by submitting a form on the website. It takes place on 27 and 28 May 2023 and being a Big 5 Reserve, will be managed by an experienced team on the ground.
The objective is to raise more than R200k for the endangered species projects in Makalali.
