Challenging and rewarding
The two-day event challenged experienced trail runners with back-to-back runs, and delivered some stunning performances.
A total of 192 trail running enthusiasts participated at the weekend in the Bank Windhoek Dusk and Dawn Stage Trail Run organised by Farm Windhoek Fitness.
Participants entered in the Great Explorer, Adventurer and Scout categories, while 66 timed participants entered the Individual Dusk and Dawn stages. The two-day event challenged experienced trail runners with back-to-back runs. Thomas Miller beat 24 runners to win the Great Explorer category, consisting of an 18km run on Friday evening and a 26km run the following morning, with a time of three hours, 51 minutes and 24 seconds.
In second and third place were Kyron Raad (3:53:18) and Laurie van Zyl (4:00:59), respectively.
Michael Nuuyoma won the men's section of the Adventurer category, which covered 27km in total, in two hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds, closely followed by women's section winner Robyn-Lee Schwartz in a time of two hours, 37 minutes and 27 seconds. Second and third places in the women's division went to Maryke Jacobs and Tania Maritz, respectively. Second and third places in the men's category went to Nawaaz Dinath and Leonard Ashikoto, while André Engelbrecht and Shani Scholtz won the senior men and women's categories, respectively.
The Scout category, by far the most popular, saw participants do a run of only 4km on Friday night and 9km the following morning. Nesley Gawaseb from Okahandja Running Club sprinted home in 55 minutes and 34 seconds, ahead of Arno Toua and Ian Daniel, while Tania Wiese won the women's section in 1:09:57 ahead of Ruda Hoch and Jean-Mari van der Merwe. Usiël Afrikaner, also from Okahandja Running Club, and Lealani Barth won the senior men and women categories, respectively.
Stephanie Roland won the open women's gold medal in a time of four hours, 36 minutes and 37 seconds. Cameron MacRae and Brenda Esterhuyse won the senior over-40 men and women's categories, respectively. The athletic initiative, started by Wilke van Greunen and Jaco van den Berg a year ago, is the second Dusk and Dawn Run and the first one to be sponsored by Bank Windhoek.
“Overall, 49% of the participants were female with the longer runs attracting more male participants. A total of 77% of the Great Explorer (44km) participants were male, while 52% of the Scout (13 km) participants were female,” said van Greunen.
Van Greunen congratulated all the winners and participants and thanked them for making the event a success.
“We also would like to thank Bank Windhoek for its sponsorship and support. It helped make the Dusk and Dawn Stage Trail Run an exciting and fun occasion.”
SPORT REPORTER
Participants entered in the Great Explorer, Adventurer and Scout categories, while 66 timed participants entered the Individual Dusk and Dawn stages. The two-day event challenged experienced trail runners with back-to-back runs. Thomas Miller beat 24 runners to win the Great Explorer category, consisting of an 18km run on Friday evening and a 26km run the following morning, with a time of three hours, 51 minutes and 24 seconds.
In second and third place were Kyron Raad (3:53:18) and Laurie van Zyl (4:00:59), respectively.
Michael Nuuyoma won the men's section of the Adventurer category, which covered 27km in total, in two hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds, closely followed by women's section winner Robyn-Lee Schwartz in a time of two hours, 37 minutes and 27 seconds. Second and third places in the women's division went to Maryke Jacobs and Tania Maritz, respectively. Second and third places in the men's category went to Nawaaz Dinath and Leonard Ashikoto, while André Engelbrecht and Shani Scholtz won the senior men and women's categories, respectively.
The Scout category, by far the most popular, saw participants do a run of only 4km on Friday night and 9km the following morning. Nesley Gawaseb from Okahandja Running Club sprinted home in 55 minutes and 34 seconds, ahead of Arno Toua and Ian Daniel, while Tania Wiese won the women's section in 1:09:57 ahead of Ruda Hoch and Jean-Mari van der Merwe. Usiël Afrikaner, also from Okahandja Running Club, and Lealani Barth won the senior men and women categories, respectively.
Stephanie Roland won the open women's gold medal in a time of four hours, 36 minutes and 37 seconds. Cameron MacRae and Brenda Esterhuyse won the senior over-40 men and women's categories, respectively. The athletic initiative, started by Wilke van Greunen and Jaco van den Berg a year ago, is the second Dusk and Dawn Run and the first one to be sponsored by Bank Windhoek.
“Overall, 49% of the participants were female with the longer runs attracting more male participants. A total of 77% of the Great Explorer (44km) participants were male, while 52% of the Scout (13 km) participants were female,” said van Greunen.
Van Greunen congratulated all the winners and participants and thanked them for making the event a success.
“We also would like to thank Bank Windhoek for its sponsorship and support. It helped make the Dusk and Dawn Stage Trail Run an exciting and fun occasion.”
SPORT REPORTER
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