BISLEY NATURE RESERVE ON SUNDAY
Bisley Nature Reserve has a way of surprising people. One moment you’re looking out across open bushveld and rolling hills, the next you remember you’re right on the edge of a city. It’s wild, spacious and full of life, with jeep track and winding singletrack carrying you through acacia-dotted grasslands and thornveld.
The trails climb early, the legs wake up quickly, and then the reserve opens up around you. Rolling terrain, flowing sections and wide views across the valley make this one of those runs where the city fades away and the rhythm of the trail takes over.
QUICK INFO:
Bisley Nature Reserve, Pietermaritzburg
Sunday, 15 March 2026
18km | 6:30am | R230
10km | 7:00am | R195
5km | 7:30am | R135
U18s pay half price and pensioners save 25%!
Registration & late entries from 6:00am (R50 late entry fee applies to adults)
If views like this catch your breath…trails like this make you wonder what is around the next corner…And a community like the trail community makes you feel at home.
Come. Come to Bisley. Come join us and find out!
DNT 2026
DNT: A Weekend That Reminded Us Why
Eight hours is a long way to travel when life is busy and the to-do list is full. You start asking yourself quiet questions. Is it worth it? Should we really be driving across the country to stand in the mountains while runners take on 40 kilometres through wind, cloud and cold?
And I suspect some runners had their own version of that doubt.
Standing on the start line at the Border Post at Windmill Cottages, looking up into the mountains and feeling the weather roll through, it would have been easy to imagine the comfort of a couch and a warm fire instead.
But that’s not what these weekends are about.
They are about stepping slightly beyond comfort, letting the day unfold and discovering what happens when you commit to the mountains anyway.
Returning to the Border Post felt like a homecoming. Those sandstone cottages, the quiet valley and the towering escarpment above create such a grounded and honest setting for a race like the Drakensberg Northern Trail. Nothing flashy. Just people, mountains and a serious challenge waiting out there.
And somewhere between the start and the finish, the doubts faded.
In the 40km race, Martin Malherbe delivered a superb run to take the win in 5:14:25, followed by Mlungi Mazibuko in 5:39:15 and Niel Neethling in 5:49:49.
In the women’s race, Nathalie Percheron ran strongly to claim victory in 6:25:32, with Kelly Martin finishing second in 6:40:12 and Andrea Osterloh rounding out the podium in 7:00:52.
But as always with DNT, the results only tell a small part of the story.
What really stood out was the feeling that settled in over the weekend. Runners sharing stories around the cottages, the KZN trail community reconnecting with a race that has become something of a classic, and our team all staying together in one of the houses. It felt more like a family weekend than a race operation.
By the time we left the mountains, the long drive no longer felt like a question. It felt like an answer.
Several runners told us the weekend had reignited something in them, a reminder of why they run trails in the first place.
And in many ways it did the same for us.
Thank you to everyone who came to be part of it. DNT has always been special, and this weekend reminded us exactly why.
See you at Mnweni?
Andrew Booth
Tala Trail Run - 22 March
Most standard KZNTR events top out around the 18–20km mark, which makes the 30km distance at Tala Game Reserve something a little different.
For runners who feel ready to go a bit further, the 30km offers a proper step up without needing to commit to a full ultra. It’s long enough to test your endurance and settle into a rhythm, but still achievable for anyone looking to stretch themselves beyond the usual trail distances.
Set inside the beautiful Tala Game Reserve in Umlaas Road, Camperdown, the route winds through open savanna and rolling grasslands on flowing trails, with the chance of seeing wildlife along the way. It’s a special setting and a rare opportunity on the KZN calendar to take on a true 30km trail run.
If you’ve been comfortably running the longer distances at most standard KZNTR events and wondering what the next step looks like, Tala might just be it.
𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢
📅 Sunday, 22 March 2026
📍 Tala Game Reserve, Umlaas Rd, Camperdown
🏃♂️ 30km | 20km | 10km | 5km
🌿 Wildlife reserve trails in the rolling hills of the KZN
Entries are available through KZN trail Running… click the button below.
