Andrew Hagen has just broken the long standing Three Peaks record. Probably the longest standing record on trail in SA and without a doubt the oldest trail race in South Africa.
Three Peaks was started by Carl Wilhelm Schneeberger in March 1897 like any good challenge does: after a couple of pints. The challenge was to ascend all three peaks around the city bowl in a day.
He managed to complete the challenge in 9h05 excluding rests in the old Johannesburg Hotel in Long Street.
One hundred years after this incredible feat Don Hartley gathered a crowd of 13 runners to take on this challenge on 13 September 1987. Don himself has won the Two Ocean’s Ultra Marathon on two occasions in 1972 and 1973 in a fantastic time of 3h24:06.
In 2001 Chad Ulansky arrived on the running scene and lined up for Three Peaks. He set a blistering pace and set a new record at 5h27:29. This record stood until today!
The record has been under threat for a little while now. Bruce “The Legs” Arnett equalled the winning time a few years ago.
This year however Ake Faqerang and Andrew Hagen were certainly going to be the favourites with both runners having won the race twice before. Ake has returned to South Africa after several years away and won the super competitive Hout Bay Trail Challenge in July while Andrew chose to focus on this event.
Last year Andrew posted ridiculously fast times up Platteklip Gorge but what was more impressive was his time of 11min and change DOWN!
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| view up Platteklip Gorge |
Conditions were looking good this morning with temps being cool and not too much of a breeze about. Devil’s Peak was under cloud for a little while but that did not last. The first few runners were fairly close together on peak 1.
At the start of Platteklip Ake just managed to start ahead of Andrew. However soon Ake was passed and Andrew pushed the pace. He set a time of 2h13 for that leg with a time of 15 minutes down Platteklip! Then down to Greenmarket Square again and head up the final peak of Lion’s Head. There was no real competition here as second place was already 10 minutes behind. Andrew completed this in a respectable 1h24 posting a total time of 5h23!
Phenomenal effort and a huge well done to Andrew and all other runners to complete this amazing event. A definite must on every person’s trail running bucket list!
leo rust 