TRAIL

WORDS DEON BRAUN Happy Earth equals happy trail runners What are you doing to create your own natural abundance? Tweet #TrailPlanet @TRAILza There was a place that was paradise. They called it Earth, to honour the soil that provided food for all life

WORDS HELOISE HUNTER Trail through the pen, lens, and microphone What is inspiring your days? media@trailmag.co.za FILM | DOCUMENTARY Barkley Marathons organiser Gary Lazarus Lake Cantrell is either a sadist on a grand scale, with a sense of humour t

“Rory is just a cool kid. I don’t think he knows how talented he is.” Rory Scheffer’s coach, NIC DE BEER, sees his potential as he builds to longer distances. “You identify a great runner by their speed, strength, and style,” says Nic. “Rory has all

Thank you for being brave enough to pose a question that many want to ask. When we try to focus on finding a balance between work and life, it always seems as if something has to give. That feeling is created by the way our brains work. The human min

EASTERN CAPE 10-12 March 2017 RIAAN VAN ZYL begins his journey into the Valley of Tears in Addo Elephant National Park, with 50km of the 100 miler (160km) ahead of him. “I wondered about the name Valley of Tears, but three hours later, I understood,”

WORDS DEON BRAUN, MICHAEL BOTES, LANDIE GREYLING, KIM WALKERPHOTOS CRAIG KOLESKY, NICK MUZIK, DEON BRAUN Have you ever taken a punch to the jaw? Not your actual chomper, although that will be an interesting story sometime. No, I’m talking about the p

Strange fun people Who do you admire? people@trailmag.co.za Herman Mulder lives in Hartbeespoort and discovered an incredibly challenging climb in the Magaliesberg. “I challenged myself to do a few more repeats, and after five I thought that it would

During the first four Trail Clinics around South Africa, RYNO GRIESEL gave a presentation on how to maximise your training while you have a demanding full-time job, as well as relationships to maintain. Ryno balances his own businesses with adventure

Experience is the best teacher What adventures have you been up to lately?trailtalk@trailmag.co.za On the morning of 23 December 2016, Andrew Booth, Michelle Davis, and Jack Davis set out on their mission from Bushman’s Nek in the Southern Drakensber

Bookings:gear@trailmag.co.za DON’T OVERDRESS. Technical gear is designed to keep you warm and or cool when you are actually active. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to overdress to keep warm ahead of the activity. Once you do get going you

We asked you: will the ASA help or hurt trail running? Twitter voted and decided that trail runners are in fact kinder than the general population. There was a minority of what we can only imagine are angry mountain bikers contradicting the fact... F

Hauling your bodyweight plus gear up a steep incline is tough enough when you have traction. So how do you cope when the ground beneath your feet turns to muddy slush, wet rocks, or crumbly sand? These four mountain goats from the Cape and Gauteng ha

We know we’re supposed to warm up, but it’s more fun to chat at the start line, or to get your workout finished so you can head home and eat, right? The best way to get you to warm up is to explain the benefits, and the dangers of ignoring it, says D

Covering 100km in one go has its own challenges, but it’s a whole different ballgame when you have to run that 100km really fast, even if over three days. COACH NEVILLE outlines your training, gear, and strategy for multi-day events. If running in th

Trail runners who inspire us As a test of your trail trivia, decode this set of acronyms: TM VK FKT. Maybe ‘The Most Violent Kiss From Killer Trails’? Excellent effort, but no carrot. In late 2016, Ryan Sandes set up the Table Mountain Vertical Kilom

For one, traction is entirely different on dry crumbly terrain than it is on ice, mud, or wet rock. You also have to consider how to keep your little piggies from getting numb. Here are some tips from three elite trail runners to address winter foot

There has been much debate as to which nutrients make us sick and fat: Is it carbohydrates? Or is it fat? The general consensus within the scientific community for much of the last few decades has been that we should limit our total fat and saturated

A quest for perfect balance In part four of theUnder the Microscopeseries, SEAN TAIT, founder and running technique coach of Off the Mark, reveals what effect symmetry has on performance and injury. In many cases these are obvious, but often there ca

A full body workout where balance is a necessity, slacklining is ideal cross-training for trail runners. With the help of highline extraordinaire CHARMAINE KRITZINGER, elite trail runner KANE REILLY shows you how. I have mastered the very basics of s

It can be confusing. One minute experts tell you to stretch before you run, and the next, research shows that static stretching (a stretch held in a single position) may actually reduce performance or cause weakness. That said, one of the few things

IS THIS RACE FOR YOU? The first thing I saw on the Laugavegur website was a page dedicated to helping answer this question, including the advice that this race was meant for ‘experienced runners’ who ‘know their limitations’ in ‘difficult circumstanc