Retto: West to East
Participants will be transported to the Start of the Otter Run at Natures Valley on the morning of race day. The Cut-off for an official finish of the Otter Run is 8 hours and of the Otter Challenge is 11 hours. There are 3 cut off points en route where participants failing to arrive on time will be removed from the course.
11significant climbs and descents
Climbs of more than 50 meters of elevation gain with three climbs exceeding 100 meters.
2600 meters of elevation gain
Including steps (+-7000 steps ascending on the RETTO) . Steep enough to force the strongest runners to walk.
TrailFactor of 2
The TrailFactor indicates the degree of increased resistance applied by the trail on a runner when compared to a flat conventional road running course. A TrailFactor of 2.0 means completing the Otter can take twice as long as the equivalent distance on road!
4 river crossings
There are various rivers that have to be crossed, including the infamous Bloukrans River which involves a swim. We will have safety personnel and equipment set up at the Bloukrans crossing to assist your traverse of this section.
6 pacing checkpoints en route
The pace chart and pace bracelets will help you keep track of your targeted finishing time and will help you to stay ahead of the cut-off points.
7 time-based medal categories
The RUN with an 8 hours cut-off time allows for 6 medal categories (SUB 4 – SUB8 ) while the Challenge allows for 2 medal categories (SUB 8 hours and SUB 11 hours = “OTTER IN A DAY”)
