The K- Way 4Peaks Mountain Challenge is a rugged mountain skyline route for trail runners, held every September since 2002 in the
Witteberge NNE of
Ficksburg
Ficksburg is a town situated at the foot of the 1,750 meter high Imperani Mountain in Free State province, South Africa. The town was founded by General Johan Fick in 1867 who won the territory in the Basotho Wars. He laid out many erven and p ...
in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
's
Free State province near the
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...
border.
A record field of 210 mountain runners tackled the route in 2010. The large number of entrants necessitated a start of 3 batches at 15 min intervals.
Ryan Sandes
Ryan Nicholas Sandes "Hedgie" (born 10 March 1982 in Cape Town) is a South African trail runner. In 2010 he became the first competitor to have won all four of the 4 Deserts races, each a 6/7-day, self-supported footrace through the Atacama D ...
, the 2010 men's winner, set a new record time of 2h 41m 58s. Fit athletes complete the course in about 6hrs with the backmarkers finishing in about 9hrs.
The skyline route runs clockwise around an amphitheatre curving around the valley of Moolmanshoek. Starting at 1750m, the first high peak is 'The Pyramid' at 2167m. There are some sections of fairly flat terrain along the high ridges. Grassy tussocks form a large part of the landscape, broken by rock bands and steep scrambles to reach the saddles and high points.
The route rates as extremely demanding, but is made bearable by spectacular mountain scenery. The start and finish are at the
Moolmanshoek Private Game Reserve.
External links
Official website
References
Sports competitions in the Free State (province)
Mountain running competitions
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