Tumi and Malcolm represented KeyHealth at the Kaap se Hoop Marathon. They both ran the 21 kilomtre route. Tumi came second in the ladies division, and Malcolm was in the top 30. They did a gret job of represeneting!

Race report by Malcolm:

“The mine shaft”

I decided to take on a slightly different challenge as part of some final preparation for the SkyRun100 and that was to run a road race. Fortunately it was a rather adventurous one as it started halfway between Keep se Hoop and Nelspruit in Mpumalanga.

The race known by many as a mine shaft because we descended 583m and only climbed a measly 269m. The route was on a beautiful road and rather luxurious in comparison to my normal trail running. It was an early start as we needed to wake up at 03:00am to catch a bus at 04:00 outside the Mbombela stadium which would ultimately drop us off at the start.

It was a beautiful day at and 05:30 the gun went off for the start of the race, on a downhill. Fellow Keyhealth athlete Tumi and I started off with a brisk pace. It was an awesomely fast route and I enjoyed the speed of the race. After about 11km though I realised I was going to need a pit stop, this was disappointing as any short break would lose valuable time (however it was VERY necessary). I was happily sitting in a top 30 position and feeling good.

The short pit stop also allowed Tumi to run past ultimately finishing 2^nd overall in the ladies race which was a superb result for team Keyhealth, well done Tums!!!

Despite the pit stop I managed personal best over the 21km distance of 1:25:38, according to my Strava stats I also made personal PD’s on 5km (18:16), 10Km (37.37), 15km (59:49), 10 miles (1:04:04) and 20km (1:21:25). My overall running time was 1:23:35 at an average pace of 3:58/km.

It was a great race and I was super proud to take Keyhealth to Nelspruit, thanks for the opportunity to race.

Malcolm Dunkeld