Saturday, 16 May was host to the 2009 Water for Africa Mnweni Marathon in the Northern Drakensberg. The circular 38Km route begins at the Mnweni Cultural Centre, follows the Mnweni river upstream, then climbs steeply to the Lesotho summit via the Mnweni Pass to the "Source of the Orange".
From there the descent is made via the aptly named Rockeries Pass (destroyer of ankles), down the Ntonyelana River, and back to the Cultural Centre where competitors finish between 5 and 12 hours later. The route gains 1800m from start to summit (the last 1000m covered over a distance of a kilometre or so in the pass), and seeing as though what goes up needs to come down, involves a further bone-jarring 1800m descent on the way home. Basic navigation skills are required as the route is unmarked, and I confess to having revisited my self proclaimed expertise in this respect, as I would have found myself well off-track at times without the support of my companions. The Drakensberg streams provide the water-points, and competitors need otherwise to be self-supporting throughout the event.
The overall experience of the 2009 Mnweni was nothing short of awesome, mind-boggling, breath-taking, incredible - I will go on about this event for a while to come !
The scenery in this area is tremendous, surely some of the most breath-taking in the 'berg, and somehow just when the route is at its toughest, so are the views at their most spectacular.
Over and above the exhilaration of running in such a beautiful yet challenging environment, I couldn't help but remind myself how privileged I am to have the opportunity, ability, and passion to take part in such an event.
Congratulations to trail running legend Bruce Arnett for his new record time of 4H51, and to ladies' winner, Tracey Zunckel, also in a new record time of 6H24. Above all, congratulations to all participants for their camaraderie and spirit in seizing the challenge and completing this event. Well done to the organisers for an event run like clockwork, and to the marshals for suffering on our behalf. Huge credit as well to the Mnweni Cultural Centre which provided an excellent, well maintained, friendly base for the event.
Back next year ? Already in the diary !!!
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