Eish..... The inaugural Heaven & Hell Mountain Marathon will be held on Saturday 23 September 2017 at Grace-Hill Farm just outside Rhodes in the southern Drakensberg. The Heaven & Hell Marathon is intended to provide the ultimate 42 km mountain running challenge in Africa, and is not recommended as a Comrades qualifier! The race is a brutal 42 km mountain run with 3 800 m total elevation gain over extremely technical terrain. That translates into 90 m elevation gain per kilometre; an amount of climbing which no other race in South Africa comes close to matching. The organisers have also not been able to find any 42 km race globally that includes as much climbing as the Heaven & Hell. The race has been developed over a period of two years, including a trial race with 14 invited runners in October 2016. The race is run at an average altitude of 2 200 m and the route has everything a mountain runner looking for the ultimate challenge could hope for – extremely steep gradients, ridiculously technical wilderness terrain, multiple crossings of the famous Bell River, two peak summits at 2 500 m, pristine mountains and spectacular scenery. A few sections of the ascents and descents will require scrambling and liberal use of grass tufts as handholds! Participants can choose to enter the 21km half marathon distance with 1 900 m total elevation gain, or the ultimate challenge of the 42 km race with 3 800 m total elevation gain, which will be the most gruelling marathon of your life, guaranteed. The 42km race comprises of 2 laps of the 21km race. The cut-off time for the 21km race is a generous 12 hours. The cut-off times for the marathon are 12 hours for men and 13 hours for women to ensure the safety of runners and marshals. The winning time for the marathon is expected to be just under 10 hours. Very few athletes are therefore expected to finish within the cut-off times, but those who do will have the satisfaction of knowing that they completed one of the world’s toughest mountain races and will receive an engraved Heaven & Hell sheep-bell. A preliminary cut-off of 9 hours for men and 9.5 hours for women will be strictly enforced at the 29km checkpoint. For friends and family members accompanying the 21 km and 42 km runners there will be a 8 km race (cut off of 12hrs) which follows the first section of the marathon route, a 5km fun run along the Bell River and various other fun activities for the whole family, including horse riding, hiking, fly-fishing, swimming and tennis. Please see attached route and profile for the 21km race. Also attached is further race information and route photos For entries and further information please visit www.alpineswifttrails.co.za or contact Hylton on 072 5292747 or at hylton.dunn@gmail.com Hope to see you in September! Cheers Hylton Dunn and Sunelle Dunn
