By: Matthew Cross (Sealand Retail Supervisor and Field Marketer)
When the alarm goes off at 4 am you wake up not sure if you ever actually fell asleep. A quick coffee and some breakfast and you get into your car to start heading into the deep deep South. At this point, it was already warm. Too warm for having snowed on Table Mountain a few days before and it's still 2 hours till sunrise.
The start of PUFfer is always a laid-back affair but with some tension in the air from the athletes about to embark on the great traverse across Cape Town. No gun going off. No running under an arch. Just a simple Dedication Prayer and a 3..2..1 GO! The first 24km are mostly on the road which makes for a uniquely fast start to a 67km trail race. Trying to not get dropped by the road runners by too much at the start, myself and my brother upped the pace faster than planned but still comfortable enough to have a nice little catch-up. Once we passed Redhill and Lewis Gay Dam we got treated to one of the most spectacular sunrises over False Bay I've ever seen.
All was well going into Noordhoek and up Old Wagon Road in Silvermine. Ah, man was it good to be running on these trails again! Dropping down onto level 5 Tokai was like dropping into a frying pan that just got turned on. It was warming up! The views are always stunning and it felt good to run on the jeep track and let the legs loose a little bit. Then you get the biggest climb of this year's race… ****berg (Vlakkenberg). Up and over I went with not too much drama but on the descent, I got to witness something quite special. The top 3 women all passed me absolutely flying down the technical single track all about 1min apart. Whew, the race was on for them and I quickened my pace trying to keep up with them. Getting into the Beau Constantia aid station was a lovely treat with tons of people bringing some much-needed energy! Picking up a running friend who I hadn't seen in months was a treat and I knew it would be the boost I needed to finish strong.
Having played leapfrog with Mike Obery for most of the first half and feeling strong leaving the aid station, I upped the pace along the Contour Path from Constantia Nek. Unfortunately, that would be my downfall. The intensity coupled with the heat was too much for my stomach to handle and after throwing up a couple of times (shout out to Mikey for stopping and checking up on me) I knew it was going to be a long 20km or so to the finish. Stopping at pretty much every river in Newlands forest to cool down but not being able to stomach anything other than water, it was tough going but running with an old friend, on some of my favourite trails was never unpleasant.
Cruising along Tafelberg Road onto Signal Hill we were blessed with views of Cape Town and even a nice little breeze to keep off the heat. Running into Greenpoint Cricket Club was a long-awaited relief and the first beer went down a little too easy.
This was my 3rd PUFfer in 4 years and it is one of the few races I see myself coming back to year after year. "Running in Heaven, feeling like Hell". The race's motto and what most runners would have experienced this last weekend. The race is community driven and it proves how big and friendly the trail running scene is in Cape Town.
Big thanks to everyone who helped organise one of the most anticipated races of the year. A massive congratulations to everyone who toed the start line. This sport we love is never easy but we wouldn't want it any other way.
See you in 2025, PUFfer!
