Dear Triple Troublers

Its five weeks out and all systems go. The details for the run are in the following PDF – 2019 INFORMATION PDF

Please read through carefully.

Enjoy the trails and happy training!

Eric

What a day, what a day!

First up, a huge thanks to you all for coming out to play, the Triple is what it is because of you all and the spirit in which you run it. It’s 14 years strong and I think one of the nicest comments I’ve ever heard about it in all the years, that sums it up perfectly, came on Saturday when it was described as ‘like a family reunion’ (hopefully that’s a good thing!) – and it really has become like that for me over the years.

This year, in complete contrast to last year’s conditions, we had a belter of a scorcher out there. Thank goodness for the wind that kept us cool or we would have had a few more faces looking like John Gillmer’s on finishing. Despite the heat, the mountains were truly alive after a wonderfully wet winter, the flowers lining the trails were magnificent and the streams on the ascent of Judas and Chappies were a blessing to most of us.

While everyone of you deserves to be proud of crossing the line and earning your trophy in those conditions on Saturday, there are a few names I would like to mention in particular.

Firstly to our winners –

to Ryan, having a world class athlete like yourself at the humble Triple Trouble is really an honour, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. You’re in a class of your own and we all could see that in the way you ran circles around us. And still had time to make videos and upload them online in-between while we were slogging it out! Thank you for constantly inspiring us the way you do.

And to Linda, what a run and may this be the start of a good solid comeback. You always looked far too relaxed and composed out there and it was a very well deserved win.

Ryan and Linda’s victories came with two top class runners hot on their heels – Rupert and Karoline, both star athletes and pushing it to the limit. Rupert’s sub-5hr (4:52) is a fantastic achievement, and Karoline, rolling from one massive feat of endurance to another (I don’t know how you do those distances), to come in within sniffing distance of Linda, these are both highly recognised athletes achieving great things out there on Saturday.

To Neil for his 10th Triple Trouble, a special day out and a wonderful achievement, and I hope you’ll be back on the start line for many years still.

To Gary – a newcomer to the Triple this year, the DNF doesn’t do justice to your enthusiasm and smile! Every time I saw you out there you had the most cheerful and positive attitude and I suspect if it wasn’t for kick-off looming at 5pm you’d have gritted it out up to that final beacon.

To Steve, Dale and John – soldiers out there, and well done on bringing it home together. I suspect there are a few war stories worthy of exchanging over a few beers.

And to Darnell, Terence and Michelle for braving that afternoon sun on Chappies to finish that final peak after a long day out.

Slightly off topic, happy birthday to Paul Mitchell who finished his 4th run, interestingly the lad turned 49 on Saturday, and will still be 49 on next year’s Triple, an interesting claim to fame in the history of the run!

Times & Records

Ryan’s win was in a phenomenal 4hr39’48, and Linda’s in a superb time of 6:05.

Worth noting is that Ryan narrowly missed his own Judas Peak record (set in 2016) by just 90 seconds (plus 1 million points for prioritising beacon video clips ahead of hauling after your record!), while Rupert’s Suther Peak time of 1:14:22 narrowly missed his record (shared with AJ Calitz) that has stood since 2011, at 1:12:00.

All the results are up on the website.

And on a personal note…

It was good to see some suffering going on out there, and although the blood-letting was thin this year it seems that the Triple redeemed its status as something of a tough challenge with a few cases of borderline dehydration, and it was nice to see that it meant a lot to those of you who crossed that finish line. 

I was genuinely surprised to not be on the receiving end of more swear words on the final peak, as is usually the case when there’s a noticeable increase in suffering, a sharp decline in senses of humour, and someone has to be held responsible, and just then the organiser comes around the corner and who better to blame. It seems this time round I got off lightly if the antics on Chappies were anything to go by – the hills were alive with the sound of abuse, but this time it was two poor parents getting loads of stick from their sweet little girl who’d quite clearly had enough of the family outing under the blazing midday African sun, To their credit, the parents were handling it with remarkable dignity and I could only admire their resilience, and hopefully learn a thing or two from it. This was far more than I was getting from 40 runners who’d been at it since sunrise, so thank you – I’m definitely feeling the love this year. Long may it last!

On a less dramatic note, it seemed that not even Pikker managed to get himself lost this time round, on the mountain or in the grid-formation streets of the village (this is a truly remarkable thing to watch happening if you ever get the chance), so it seems that the Village Idiot Award gets to be shelved this year. GPS devices are making things increasingly boring for the organising committee who once thrived on shredding its participants wherever possible, however… having said that… <cringe> …  I’m sure one of the highlights for many of you was witnessing the organiser getting lost on the dunes at the start of Suther peak, which was apparently quite strongly pointed out in the briefing beforehand. I’ve yet to work out how to word this delicately so as not to find myself banned from all future runs.

As always, the eagerly awaited points table, reflecting some interesting and lesser known stats about the day, a close-call in the final standing between Gary (happiest all round) and John who sported the most relieved look across his horrendously gaunt and pale face on crossing the line at the end (Steve, what exactly did you okes do to him out there??). 

Photos:

I will be uploading photos into a gallery on the website this week so if you have any nice pics please can send some through to include.

The Thank-you’s

A day like Saturday doesn’t happen without a lot of generosity and behind the scenes happenings –

• To Angela and Velocity Sports Lab, a huge huge thank you once again for hosting us and allowing us to use the Vida Lounge. It is always sincerely appreciated.
• To our further sponsors: to Janette of JanTee Designs (involved in making those awesome shirts),
• To Linda at the Chapmans Peak Beach Hotel,
• and thank you especially too to Philippa (Hout Bay Office National) for coming on board as a new additional sponsor on the shirts.
• To Craig for so diligently manning base-camp and doing the time-keeping, its a huge task and really greatly appreciated being able to leave all that in your capable hands.
• To Roger and Kylie and their hounds for the support at Judas – that Coke went down an absolute treat!
• To Mike and Barry for popping up at Suther beacon and getting photos, and for legendary support during the day.

 And lastly – a big thank you to all of you for making Saturday another successful day in the life of the Triple Trouble, and for enabling us to contribute towards the Sunflower Fund and their amazing work in putting donors on the registry.

The date for the 2019 running will be Saturday 5th October. I hope to see many of you back again next year.

Take care and see you on the trails

Eric

2018 INFORMATION PDF

Final details are here, including the ever popular and strictly audited points system.

The series of traditional trig-beacon trophies for the run, from left to right, the gold plated trophies for the 1st man and lady,

the nickel-plated trophies for those doing their 5th and a special edition for one runner doing his 10th, and (R) the finishers trophy

2017 INFORMATION PDF

Dear Triple Troublers.

What can I say besides a very heartfelt thank you once again for making yesterday what it was.

If it wasn’t for you the runners, the Triple would not have happened at all. I was quite happy to let 2016 quietly go by unnoticed, but you had the final say and despite the last minute panic I think we managed to somehow pull off the best one to date…  I’m finally learning to act like a true Capetonian, leave it until the last minute and it will somehow work out.

While the run is not all about speed and records, having some of SA’s top runners on the start line was an honour and always meant we were going to be in for an exciting race. And it did not disappoint, with 7 out of the 8 standing records broken, the only record that did not fall was the Suther Peak time and it made it by a mere 45 seconds. If you’re into stats, the accumulated time difference in the new records set added up to almost 2 hours.

Big congratulations must go to the gold trig-beacon trophy winners, Ryan and Landie, doing what they do best in style and grace, and setting new records that are going to be difficult to beat at 4:26:10 and 4:58:20 respectively, Ryan taking 20 minutes off Rupert’s previous record that has stood since 2011, and Landie taking close to 40 minutes off Linda Doke’s record from 2012. Special mention must be made too of Lucas, in 2nd place and also breaking the previous record and finishing only 6 minutes behind Ryan, and Dom finishing in 3rd and tying the old record. Under 5 hours on this course is a staggering achievement and these efforts made for an amazing morning of racing, congrats!

A big mention also to Steve Haldane, finishing his 5th consecutive run and getting his special edition trophy. A further special mention must go to Brian Key, not only winning his age-group on his 9th race, but also beating most of the field who are half his age or less, not shedding any blood, and also inspiring Mike Ohlsson with that unmistakeable hair-style. Could this be the makings of a modern day Samson-styled success story? We will be watching your upcoming race results closely Mike…

As always, thank you to our auditors, Amstel and Diemersfontein for closely scrutinising the highly sophisticated points system which has been included below. Should there be any complaints please put them in writing, but not before you have indulged in a bottle of pinotage as it may correct your sense of judgement.

There are thank you’s that must also be extended as the run can not happen without the involvement of many:

• to Velocity Sports Lab – Rob and Angela, thank you once again for hosting us, the venue is superb and is always enjoyed and appreciated by all the participants.
• to the Chapmans Peak Beach Hotel for sponsorship,
• to JT for the awesome shirts
• to Sportsmans Warehouse who came on board at such very short notice.
• to the chocolate brownie chef… say no more.
• to those who kindly offered assistance and a helping pair of hands in the last minute rush!
• to the IAAF for sending out an official to monitor Ryan and Landie’s speed on Suikerbossie… he was so well hidden we almost didn’t see him, had we not tripped over his camouflaged camera.
• to you all for helping add another donor to the registry through the donation to the Sunflower Fund
• and to Marius and Guy who so willingly helped with the time-keeping

But as always my biggest thanks are to you, the entire field of runners. The Triple is what it is because of you and the way you enjoy it and want to come back for more every year. Thank you for embracing it in the spirit intended. The conversations and (mostly) laughs encountered along the way say it all. Its a special day out for me, it always has been and I look forward to many more. You are part of a small group of people, to date only 115 people have finished the Triple in its 12 year history.

And I hope to welcome you back again next year – the date as always, the first Saturday in October which means 7th Oct 2017… easy to remember, even for us runners!

See you on the mountains

Cheers

Eric

What a magic day for the 12th running of the Hout Bay Triple Trouble.

As if the spectacular setting isnt enough, with the craziest line-up of speed freaks we’ve ever had the day was never going to be a dull one, and it didnt disappoint, with 7 out of the 8 records broken, the only one still standing being the time on Suther Peak, and only just by 45 seconds.

Big congratulations to Ryan and Landie for doing what they do in style and grace, making it look way too easy. A special mention must be made too of Lucas – coming in 2nd and also beating the previous record, and Dom in 3rd tying the old record.

Speedsters and records aside, its the entire field that make the day what it is, and to date you are part of a very special group of only 115 people that have completed the Triple Trouble in its 12 year history.

The final email will go out shortly with results and thank-you’s and will be posted here too.  In the meantime provisional results are up on the results page, along with the updated Roll of Honour.

The finishers trophy (L), the nickel-plated Trig beacon trophy for those finishing their 5th Triple Trouble (center) and the 24ct gold plated Trig beacon trophy for the Mens’ and Ladies’ winners. (R)

23 September 2016 –

1 week to go and we might actually pull this off in record time! Even the long range forecast is looking promising so we should be in for another cracker edition of the Triple Trouble.

As a matter of courtesy, if you have not yet paid please do so immediately or I will have no option but to assume you’re not running and I will pass the entry on.

As usual the final details will be emailed out shortly before the day.

1 September … Happy Spring day!

Please click on the link below to download the information for the 2016 running of the Hout Bay Triple Trouble.

2016 Information PDF

30 August 2016 – Final details being compiled and will be emailed out shortly… in the meantime, get training!

17 August 2016 – We have a green light and its all systems go!

Thank you for the encouraging feedback, it was deeply heartwarming to read all the objections and insults at the thought of the Triple being put on ice for a year, so for fear of having a bunch of angry trail runners arriving with pitchforks and burning torches at my door, I am happy to announce we have lift off!

With 6 weeks to go this will undoubtedly be a PB in organising!

Watch this space for more details and updates.