Storms River Mouth, South Africa – The 18th edition of the iconic Otter TERREX Trail, presented by EasyEquities, kicked off on Wednesday 23 September with the Challenge Prologue. A field of 258 trail runners from 12 countries braved wet conditions as they took to the famous trails around Storms River for a short seeding time trial the day before their main event, the 42km Challengecovering the length of the Otter Trail.
Runners could tackle the 4.4km Prologue any time between 10am and 4pm, with the top 24 men and 16 women qualifying to start in the elite seeding group, known as the Abangeni, in Thursday’s 42km main event. The fastest finisher in the men’s prologue field was JacobSacks, who clocked 24:37. Jono Botha (24:45) also came in under 25 minutes, while third-fastest was Joshua Geringer (26:07). Amongst the women, the fastest prologue runner on the day was Lindy-Lee Folscher, whose 28:16 put her well clear of second-placed Marilize Raath (30:13) and third-placed Suzie Caras (30:49).
These six runners will line up as part of the 40-strong Abangeni group at 6am on Thursday 24 September, fittingly looking to celebrate the heritage of the Otter Trail on Heritage Day. But, while the rest of the country will be relaxing (and possibly enjoying a typical South African braai), the Challenge athletes will take on what is known around the world as the Grail of Trail.
One Challenge, Two Races
The Otter TERREX Trail presented by EasyEquities actually consists of two races, the slightly easier Challenge with an 11-hour cut-off – this year being run on 24 September – and the Race, with a nine-hour cut-off, being run on Saturday 26 September. The Race attracts some of the leading trail runners from around the world, whereas the Challenge is considered a slightly more relaxed adventure on the Otter Trail; but both remain a tough prospect for any trail runner.
What makes the race so iconic, and entries so sought after, is that this is the only opportunity in the year that the entire Otter Trail can be run in one day, whereas usually it is undertaken as a five-day hike. Furthermore, to keep things still more interesting, the marathon is run in reverse every second year, and this year sees runners tackling the reverse Retto course (Otter spelt backwards), from Nature’s Valley to Storms River, rather than the Classic route. That direction change also shifts the Prologue, moving the action over to the Storms River end of the trail.
Both the Challenge and Race have a Prologue to determine seeding for the marathon-length main race. The Prologue was introduced before the 2012 edition of the race, in order to seed the field and put runners of similar ability on the trail at the same time. This reduces the chance of backlogs caused by slower runners finding themselves in front of faster runners on a predominantly single-track route, with long stretches where overtaking is much harder.
A vital part of the event is the support crew that need to be stationed all along the Otter route to support the runners. As Race Director Nina Weiss explains, “We have 118 crew here this week to support 600 runners to the Otter trail – 300 in the Challenge and 300 in the Race. That’s a ratio of around three runners to each crew member, showing how much goes into this event. Part of this is not only supporting the runners, but also to leave the trail better for us having participated. That has always been a core aim of this event.”
“With this being the only time in the year that you can run the trail, it is a real privilege to welcome our 2026 runners to the event, and today’s Challenge Prologue got race week off to a thundering start… literally!” continues Weiss. “The unexpected electrical storm opened the event and made for a very wet and slippery prologue, but all went smoothly, and with better weather predicted for Thursday, the Challenge will start with the sun rising over the Nature’s Valley beach. Good luck to all our Challenge runners as they tackle this incredible trail.”
Challenge Prologue Results
Just under 260 runners completed the Challenge Prologue. The 12 nationalities that will be represented in the Challenge will include South Africa, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Zimbabwe and the United States. The leading men and women who will start in the Abangeni elite seeding batch are listed below, along with their Prologue finishing times.
Men’s Abangeni
1 – Jacob Sacks (South Africa) 24:37
2 – Jono Botha (South Africa) 24:45
3 – Joshua Geringer (South Africa) 26:07
4 – Stefan Blommaert (South Africa) 26:11
5 – Morgan Tebbutt (South Africa) 26:19
6 – Michael Constantinou (South Africa) 26:43
7 – Matthew Boy (South Africa) 27:13
8 – Eddie Mouton (South Africa) 27:29
9 – Craig van Dyk (South Africa) 27:42
10 – Zandré Raath (South Africa) 27:46
11 – Justin van Dyk (South Africa) 27:52
12 – Matt Savage (South Africa) 27:57
13 – Sebastiaan Surie (Netherlands) 28:56
14 – Bradley Spolander (South Africa) 29:01
15 – Francois Venter (South Africa) 29:07
16 – Morne Du Toit (South Africa) 29:28
17 – Deon Victor (South Africa) 30:03
18 – David Correia (South Africa) 30:04
19 – Marcus Nouwens (South Africa) 30:18
20 – Scott Innes (South Africa) 30:27
21 – Andrew Ellis (South Africa) 30:28
22 – Christiaan Nel (South Africa) 30:57
23 – Christo Bezuidenhout (South Africa) 31:02
24 – Neil McKillop (South Africa) 31:14
Women’s Abangeni
1 – Lindy-Lee Folscher (South Africa) 28:16
2 – Marilize Raath (South Africa) 30:13
3 – Suzie Caras (South Africa) 30:49
4 – Andrea Copland (South Africa) 32:59
5 – Emily Ormerod (Great Britain) 33:11
6 – Clare Gunther (South Africa) 33:12
7 – Elizabeth Lourens (South Africa) 34:14
8 – Evelien Brinkerink (Netherlands) 34:43
9 – Alda Vermeulen (South Africa) 34:50
10 – Jani Roodt (South Africa) 35:07
11 – Tara Menage (Italy) 35:13
12 – Marlene Oosthuizen (South Africa) 35:23
13 – Emily Pollock (South Africa) 35:32
14 – Angela Johnson (Zimbabwe) 35:56
15 – Carey Mccann (South Africa) 35:56
16 – Alexandra Travers (Zimbabwe) 36:03
For more results, please visit www.otter.run. For any media-related queries, please email renata@faces.africa
