Newsletter #1 – Welcome to Otter 2021.
You have secured an entry to one of the best trail running experiences on earth. Congratulations and thank you. It is our privilege to facilitate this experience on your behalf and we hope that you will have the run of a lifetime. Remember that the event should form but the cumulating part of a journey which, for most, is a year-long succession of profound and enriching endurance experiences leading you up to that magical start line next to the crashing waves of the Tsitsikamma.
It is however important that you set out on this journey under no illusions as to what you have committed to. The Otter is on the upper end of the scale when compared to other trail runs in terms of technical and physical challenges it poses. The course is relentlessly undulating, concealing more than 2300m of elevation gain tucked away under the rich forest canopy, which put it in the league of big mountain runs. The trail is also strewn with twisted and tangled roots, jagged rock shelves and slippery pebble beaches, not to mention the infamous river crossings all of which will delay your progress to a time more comparable to that of an ultra-marathon. You need to prepare accordingly. Use the time between now and then productively so that your Otter experience is what you dream it to be.
There is something indescribably essential about being profoundly challenged in nature and it resonates within the souls of everyone drawn to this event. Its is the same essential drive that makes us climb mountains, sail oceans, descend rivers or traverse jungles and it seems, the more profoundly you can immerse yourself in the experience, the more in touch you are with your essence. Trail ruining offers an accessible window into this vital of experiences with a minimal footprint. A defined challenge with an uncertain outcome in a natural and spectacular setting. None of this possible without the wilderness. Our natural ecosystems across the globe are feeling the pressure of unchecked human expansion. The Otter African Trail Run presented by Emperor Asset Management endeavours to be many things but above all, it stands for the conservation of wilderness.
Let us make the Tsitsikamma better for us having been there.
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