Race Headquarter -Race Village & Registration:
Garden Route National Park – Stormsriver Mouth.
Day 1 – The Prologue
The prologue is a short run (approx. 5km) that has similar characteristics as the Otter Run. It includes a steep climb and technical terrain.
The OTTER African Trail Run – start in Nature’s Valley and finish at the Stormsriver Mouth. With the OTTER being raced for the second time from West to East, it had been NICnamed to the RETTO (OTTER spellt backwards to RETTO).
With the change in direction of the race all logistics, including the race Prologue will be moved to Stormsriver Restcamp. Tsitsikamma Stormsriver National Park becomes the Registration Venue as well as the place for all race ceremonies.
The prologue is a short run (4.8km) on similar terrain and technicality as the race itself. The Completion of the Prologue is very much a part of the Otter Events and its inclusion, and function in the seeding process for the main run has been well received by participants in previous Otter Runs. “The Abangeni” (see below) is intended to ensure that the runner who crosses the finish line first is the winner of The Otter.
Day 2 – The OTTER – Retto Run
Participants will be transported to the Start of the Otter Run at Nature’s Valley from 05h30 on the morning of race day. The 1st start is at 06h20 and the last start at 07h00. The Cut off for an official finish of the Otter Run is 8 hours (15h00) and of the Otter Challenge is 11 hours (18h00) and there are 3 cut off points en route where participants failing to arrive on time will be removed from the course.
The Otter Run traverses 4 rivers all of which involve getting your feet wet. The first river athletes have to cross, the infamous Bloukrans River crossing, involves a swim. We will have safety personnel and equipment set up at the Bloukrans crossing to assist your traverse of this section.
The Otter Run involves no fewer than 11 “significant” (steep climbs of more than 50 meters of elevation gain) with three climbs exceeding 100 meters and a total elevation gain of over 2600 meters. Some of these climbs are steep enough to force even the strongest runners to walk and in many places it is stepped.