Chris Ngaka approaches the RMB Ultra Trail Drakensberg 100 Miler with a focus on experiencing the iconic Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage site, embracing the challenges, and reconnecting with the UTD community, rather than seeking first place glory. Picture supplied.
Image: Picture supplied
Chris Ngaka's objectives for this year's RMB Ultra Trail Drakensberg 100 Miler (RMB UTD) starting on Friday are pretty modest for the competitive ultra trail runner he is. Having built himself a reputation as one of the country's top athletes in the sport, Ngaka almost always lines up at every race as one of the potential winners.
And so it was surprising on Thursday to hear him say his run this weekend is all about 'ticking the box' of having run the loop in the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage site.
"What do I want to get out of this one?" Ngaka echoed my question during the interview at the new race village in the Sani Pass Premier Hotel precinct.
"Experience, really. Like, I don't think it's every day that you can get to Tabanantlenyana to do that loop and then come down Black Mountain, run the 12 Apostles, run the Giants Cup in one loop. I don't think many people can boast that. So the ability to be able to do that in a very well organised manner, which is what UTD brings, certainly is a great opportunity that I think anyone who gets that opportunity should be grateful for."
Understandable then why first place glory is not what's swelling in his head as he prepares to toe the start line alongside nine other elites and a host of social yet competitive runners.
“So, I want that experience - you know. The ability to say, I’ve ticked all those. That I was able to move through all those amazing sections of the Drakensberg, in fact, amazing sections of our country, really, in one setting. So that’s what I’m looking for out of it.”
Exciting as the prospects are, Ngaka knows it is going to be a testing weekend too.
“Yes, the challenges, absolutely looking forward to that. You don’t run 160 kilometres getting up to 3,400 metres above sea level without those. And that’s something to relish and something to look forward to. And that’s something that being able to get through those, it just makes the experience even sweeter, even more satisfying.”
Last year, Ngaka only ran the 100km race having been invited to the event following the unfortunate experience of his having to pull out of an adventure with a friend to do the Drakensberg Grand Traverse for safety reasons due to adverse weather conditions.
“I’ve always been curious about the UTD 100 miler. So last year’s race was different in the sense that it was not primarily the plan to run UTD 100k last year. And then, yeah, it was a bit of a sad thing, obviously, to walk away from the Drakensberg and Stuart, the race organiser, offered an opportunity to come and do UTD 100k’s.
"So that’s how it all happened. And yeah, so there’s never a sad moment on the Drakensberg. It certainly was a happy time. I always have a great time on these mountains. Yes, I was a bit more fatigued than what one would expect to be coming into a race of that magnitude following our attempt of the Grand Traverse. But nonetheless, I still had a great time, got to the finish. I didn’t come within expectations and the main thing was just to finish the loop and that went as planned.”
It is for that reason that he feels as though he is going home whenever he comes to this part of the country.
“Well, I love the Drrakensberg. It sounds cheesy, sounds like a cliche. I think that’s what everyone says. But I absolutely love this place. I often say this is my favourite place in the world. Yeah, I always feel like coming to this mountain, I am coming to collect a part of me that lives there. And the race itself, there’s a huge personal touch that goes into the organisation of Ultra trail Drakensberg.. And we, I mean, my family and I, when we come here, we always feel like we’re coming home.
"We feel like we’re part of the UT Drakensberg family. Yeah, I don’t say that lightly, quite frankly. We feel that we belong to this community. Every opportunity we get, we will always come back. I mean, opportunity to come and play on these mountains and the opportunity to come in and reconnect with the UTD community. We absolutely relish that. So, yeah, this is home. This is homecoming.”
That’s surely the feeling of the many runners who will be spending the weekend here competing in the numerous different distances that make up the RMB Ultra trail Drakensberg from the new 14km distance all the way through to the 100 miler.
RACES
UTD Miler – 165km
UTD100 – 100km
GCU – 62km
SDR – 34km
DRJ – 25.5km
GXA – 14km