Nature’s Valley, South Africa – Misty conditions greeted runners on Thursday morning at the start of the 42km Challenge, on the second day of the 18th edition of the Otter TERREX Trail presented by EasyEquities. The cool, moist conditions initially hugged the Southern Cape coastline and allowed runners to ease into their race. However, as the spring sunshine burnt the mist off, the racing action heated up as the runners tackled the highly technical course on the iconic Otter Trail between Storms River and Nature’s Valley.
The first runner through the finish line was Otter debutant Jono Botha, taking the overall win and men’s title in 5:40:18. In the women’s race, line honours went to UK-based South African Lindy-Lee Folscher in 6:22:17, as she finished an impressive seventh overall. In 2025, she finished third in the women’s race in the Challenge.
This is the only opportunity in the year that the entire Otter Trail can be run in one day, whereas it is usually undertaken as a five-day hike. The technical nature of the trail makes this course one of the hardest in the country to run as a marathon-length race, with gnarly coastline pathways, narrow forest single track, river crossings, fields of rocks and boulders, gruelling climbs, and nearly 7,000 stairs!
Botha Dominates Men’s Race
Tackling the Otter Trail for the first time this year, Botha broke away from the rest of the field early, opening a gap of nearly 23 minutes over his nearest competitor by the finish. This saw him take on the beach sand, mountain climbs, Bloukrans river crossing and boulder fields in a front-running solo effort worthy of the win.
“My training was less than ideal, but I did as much as I can. Hopefully one day I can do more, but right now I am happy!” says Botha. “I had a little bit of a low patch between 24 and 30 kays, and I was worried about the last 10, knowing there was a lot of technical stuff coming, but then I got some food in, felt OK and bounced back again in the last eight.
He adds, “It was a great day to be out on the trail, and the highlight of my day was the start to the finish. There are some races you just do once, but this is not one of them. I think this is a race that you can do five, six, seven, eight times, so I’ll be back!”
Second man over the line was Morgan Tebbutt, coming home in 6:03:06, with Stefan Blommaert rounding out the top three in 6:06:45. While Botha and Tebbut were entered in the open age category, Blommaert was the first 40-49 age category man home, while eight-placed Eddie Mouton claimed bragging rights in the 50+ age category.
Bonus Win for Returning Folscher
The women’s race was much closer, with just under two minutes splitting first and second place. After 42km with over 7000 of steps, Folscher took the win in 6:22:17 (seventh overall), with Marilize Raath following her home in 6:24:15 (ninth overall). Both were also competing in the 40-49 age category. The podium was rounded off by Clare Gunther, coming home 16th overall in 6:53:43. The sixth woman over the line, Suzie Caras (7:27:47) was the first finisher in the women’s 50+ age category.
“I live in a place where there are no mountains or even hills, and I train on flat roads, so my plan was just to run all the runnable bits hard, because I knew I would slow down on the technical bits, and it paid off,” says Folscher “Because I’ve done the race before, I knew what was coming, and knew the second half would be harder for me.”
She adds, “It’s such a privilege to come here and to experience being out in nature, while being away from my computer and emails. I have a high-pressure job, so to just have six hours to myself in nature was incredible. To be honest, winning was a bonus.”
Also amongst the finishers was Andrea Copland of presenting sponsor EasyEquities, who had a strong run to come home in 7:29:31.“It went better than I thought, as I had done a lot less training this year. I managed to pull through and get it done,” she says. “I’m normally quite strong on the hills, but I found them tough today, but the highlights were the downhills, and the calm swim across Bloukrans. Normally there are waves crashing over us. Timing wise, this is probably my second-best Otter by about a minute, and I definitely prefer the Retto route.
Challenge Done, Race Next
By the time the 11-hour cut-off arrived, a total of 253 runners had made it home as official Challenge finishers. In a dramatic finish to the day, nine athletes crossed the line with between 20 and 10 minutes to go, and in the final 10 minutes, another seven crossed the line, with Ingrid Carmichael the last official finisher in 10:57:55. She finished the race 83rd in the women’s race, and 45 in the women’s 40-49 age category.
Now, with the Challenge concluded, attention turns to the faster half of the Otter field, with the Race Prologue due to take place on Friday 25 September, followed by the 42km Race on Saturday. While the Challenge is aimed at being a more inclusive event that celebrates everyday runners, the Race is a fiercely competitive event with an impressive prize purse, and attracts some of the world’s leading trail runners each year. It also has a tougher nine-hour cut-off.
The first man and woman to cross the finish line will each receive R100,000 in prize money, and an additional R60,000 is on offer for a new course record (men and women), while R30,000 is up for grabs if a South African man or woman can break the local course records. With a stacked field and this lucrative prize purse on offer, the 2026 Race is predicted to make history.
2026 CHALLENGE RESULTS
All athletes are South African except where another nationality is listed.
Men’s Challenge
| 1 | Jono Botha | 5:37:47 | Open |
| 2 | Morgan Tebbutt | 6:03:06 | Open |
| 3 | Stefan Blommaert | 6:06:45 | 40 – 49 |
| 4 | Jacob Sacks | 6:17:32 | Open |
| 5 | Christiaan Nel | 6:18:10 | 40 – 49 |
| 6 | Sebastiaan Surie (Netherlands) | 6:18:48 | 40 – 49 |
| 7 | Michael Constantinou | 6:22:35 | 40 – 49 |
| 8 | Eddie Mouton | 6:33:23 | 50+ |
| 9 | Zandré Raath | 6:42:09 | 40 – 49 |
| 10 | Duncan Gutsche | 6:50:30 | 50+ |
Women’s Challenge
| 1 | Lindy-Lee Folscher | 6:22:17 | 40 – 49 |
| 2 | Marilize Raath | 6:24:15 | 40 – 49 |
| 3 | Clare Gunther | 6:53:43 | Open |
| 4 | Emily Ormerod (Great Britain) | 7:08:47 | 40-49 |
| 5 | Elizabeth Lourens | 7:26:25 | 40 – 49 |
| 6 | Suzie Caras | 7:27:47 | 50+ |
| 7 | Andrea Copland | 7:29:31 | Open |
| 8 | Alexandra Travers (Zimbabwe) | 7:40:26 | 40 – 49 |
| 9 | Evelien Brinkerink (Netherlands) | 7:48:23 | 40 – 49 |
| 10 | Georgina Muirhead | 7:50:43* | 40 – 49 |
| 11 | Amanda Bullmore | 7:50:43* | 40 – 49 |
For more results, please visit www.otter.run. For any media-related queries, please email renata@faces.africa
