It all started with a bet

The Three Peaks Challenge started as a bet in a pub in Greenmarket Square between three friends in 1897- to run the three peaks of Cape Town in one day, and running back to Greenmarket Square after every peak.
It has become an annual running event for the past seven years. The race was run again in 30 years later in 1927, and then it had a 50 year gap until the next race in the 1970s. Without any multi-million sponsorship deal or fanfare the race goes ahead each year.

Only the “crazies”!!
The race starts early in the morning, usually the first Saturday of November, at around 5:30 am. From the historic Greenmarket Square, runners ascend Devils Peak- return to the square and continue up to Table Mountain via Platteklip Gorge to Maclears Beacon. The winner for the past three years, Danny Biggs, says “you’ve got to be mental to do this race”. Along the route runners have to contend with Saturday morning shoppers and traffic. There aren’t any special traffic arrangements made for the race.

Really tough
Biggs finished this year’s race in 5h: 44m: 24s with bemused hotel guests looking on not knowing what all the big fuss was about. Biggs says: “One year while doing the race I tore a muscle and was unable to finish.
“I’ve finished all the other races though, coming close to breaking the record last year,” he says. He admits though that preparation for the race takes a lot of hard work and a strict training routine. Runners have to endure all sorts of obstacles during the race like thorny bushes and the risk of getting lost- something that happened to a lot of runners this year.
This year runners also had to endure the strong South Easter, a wind that is known to kick up a fuss as it blows everything away in its path.

Few crazies
While his fellow competitors were coming down from their second peak, Biggs was enjoying the moment with a couple of friends who had come along to show their support. Unlike the other big events in Cape Town -the Cape Argus Cycle Tour- this race has no sponsor. For their efforts though participants get a specially-made t shirt and a bottle of red wine with the logo of the race. The race organisers only allow a maximum of 100 participants.

Tough training
Biggs says his training routine consisted of running about 120 kilometres a week. What also helped is the experience he gained from running several Comrades Marathons- arguably the toughest marathon in South Africa. Several top ten finishes, which equates to gold medals and he’s ideally suited for this event. “All the training helps on raceday, especially for the third peak when runners struggle,” says Biggs.

Dedication
The Challenge, as an event, is not amongst the big ones on the racing calendar but it does succeed in bringing together a bunch of dedicated runners each year. Don Hartley who manned the finishing point says that no one actually knows the exact distance of the race.

“There have been ‘guestimates’ that it is around 50 kilometres, this morning someone actually measured the course with a GPS device but you can’t do it accurately because it does not measure the inclines.
“I would guess though that the course is approximately 55 km’s,” says Hartley.

A historical bet turns in to a tradition with character, like all good traditions finishing with a glass of wine.