Dear Wartrail Challenge Community,
Due to a lower-than-expected number of entries, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the Wartrail Challenge 2023. We deeply appreciate your support and understand the disappointment this may cause.
Please note, all entries will be automatically carried over to next year’s event. Alternatively, you can choose to transfer your entry to the SkyRun training camp.
We’re already looking forward to an exciting Wartrail Challenge in the future. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Stay adventurous!
The Wartrail Challenge Team
About The Wartrail Challenge
The Led Lenser Wartrail Challenge is for the maverick, crazy, brave-hearted, extreme multi-sport athlete. Utilizing an extreme adventure sports terrain in the South African heartland – the North Eastern Cape – a new dimension in adventure sports opens to reveal a balanced multi- sports adventure.
The Wartrail Challenge may be entered as a Relay event of three members, with one member for each stage or as a pair requiring to complete all stages together. However, the SOLO challenge is the ultimate challenge, with one discipline per day in a totally self-sustainable event, meaning that each athlete or team will have to provide own back up, with vehicle, logistics and support crew.
Stage 1 - 56KM Mountain Run/Hike
Starting in Lady Grey, from the Lady Grey City Centre (in front of the Mountain View Country Inn and ending at Balloch via the Witteberg / Drakensberg mountain ridge-line) following the Herschel border fence.
Stage 2 - 120KM Extreme Mountain Bike
Starting from Balloch Caves to Lady Grey. This mountain bike route consists of multi terrain riding that will test both your skills on the bike and how well you can carry your bike.
Stage 3 - 60KM Paddle
Start from Mdlokovana to Aliwal North. Easy rapids depending on the strength of the river for the first 10 km, otherwise a long flat hard paddle to the Riverside Lodge. The finish is at the Hertzog Bridge in Aliwal North.
The NON-STOP Wartrail Challenge
The Non-Stop teams will be starting their adventure a day later than the Wartrail staged athletes and we hope to meet up with them on the paddle leg. Their adventure is based on the principles of adventure racing with them having to clip CP’s on the route and their seconds helping them at transition. Tactics will play a major role in the event.
This means teams of two, 3 or 4 will complete a 60-kilometer mountain run, a 120-kilometer MTB ride and a 65-kilometer paddle all back-to-back in an Adventure Race style event.
For Athletes to qualify, you must be 100% fit and healthy, with a keen respect and knowledge of the outdoors, mountains and rivers including navigational skills. Temporal sports insanity is a bonus.