Race Events

Prince Albert Olive Festival Half Marathon and 10km races

When

April 28 2012   07h30
Transport from the Lazy Lizard to the start of the 10km and 21.1km races leaves at 06h30 - 06h45.

Where

The 21.1km route goes deep into the spectacularly scenic Swartberg Pass. You will be running in the cool of the morning, gently uphill, between the twisted and contorted masses of Table Mountain sandstone cliffs, then more steeply uphill past the start of the 10km route, and then out of the Pass downhill to Prince Albert, finishing in front of the 7 Arches building on the main street. There will be category prizes.

Start of the 21.1km race is a few km into the Swartberg Pass road at 07h30. Start of the 10km race is also at 07h30 just after the half-way point of the 21.1, deep in the pass. Finish is at 7 Arches. Cutoff and prize-giving presentation time is 10h30. The last 4km is tar road, the rest dirt.

Prince Albert is an oasis on the edge of the Great Karoo at the base of the Swartberg Mountains. Click here to see a map.

Why

Its the best experience you'll have running. The route has not changed since 2010. Its great, come and enjoy the Karoo. Enjoy also the Olive Festival, and the firendly town.

A whole Karoo lamb will be auctioned on the day, and all finisherd of the races will be automatically entered into the draw.

How

There is an entry form which you can download, print, fill in and fax/email it and proof of payment/deposit slip back to us (or just bring it with you to Prince Albert.) Our email address is zwartbergrunners@gmail.com, and fax number is 086 551 0465. ... or you can Enter On-Line.

See the route map below...

Thanks to our sponsors

We are very grateful to our sponsors. Our 2012 sponsors are The National Garage Supermarket (at the north end of town) Tel 023 5411 797,   Kobis and Lenor Snyman (Jakkalsfontein),   The Lazy Lizard (Cafe/Restaurant/Internet) at the south end of town, and   Bergwater Vineyards,   Zwartberg Research & Development.

We are also very grateful for Bushman Valley (who are granting us access on their road so we can run through their private property).

Description of the route 21.1km start point "Bergwater Vineyards" The sun rising behind you, the hills surrounding you... a sense of space and freedom. Golden light on the hills. What better way to start a race? This is near to Bergwater Vineyards property, our chief sponsor, just inside the Prince Albert Valley. 20,19,18 km Markers "Cool Running" This is the fastest section of the route, slightly downhill, straight, smooth tarred road with the sun behind you in the cool of the morning. Resist the urge to run too fast at this point, you'll be sorry later on.

17, 16, 15 km Markers "Dirt Road" The 17km point is just after the corner onto the Swartberg Pass road. In my opinion, this is the only monotonous section of road. Its slightly uphill, and straight. So at the beginning of your race, after the easy downhill of the first 4km of tar, you can use this dirt section as a warmup.

8/14 km Marker "Baboon Territory" There are often Baboons on this section of road, but you'll probably only see them as you run uphill from the R407, and then only if you are a front runner, because they scatter quickly.

9/13 km Marker "Water Crossings" This point is midway between the two water crossings, Eerste Water and Tweede Water. The route is uphill from the 14km point inwards. If you are going to stop and walk on this route, now is the time to do so! Enjoy the scenery, look around and up at the rock formations. If you are a Geologist, it will distract to the point that it will totally ruin your running time! But enjoy it, even the front runners seem to take about 5 minutes longer to get around this race than at most races.

10/12 km Marker "Malva Draai" This is the 10km start point. Look over to the left as you run up this section of road. There is a creek in the gully with water holes for swimming in, or for cooling beers, and on the opposite side of the gully there is a walking track snaking its way around and up the hills. That track leads to a hut 12km away... an ideal day's hike with a backpack, but at this point in the race, the last thing you want to think about is backpacking.

11 km Marker "Turn Around point" If we had taken the route another km into the pass, you would have run past Dro Waterval... or more likely walked past it, because it gets so steep. Then you would have seen the dry stone walled road, a feat of engineering brilliance. But, the road gets too steep, and you'll be very glad at this pooint to be able to turn around, and head back down hill.

7 km Marker "Rust" After turning on to the Detour road (Bushman Valley road), about 700m in is the 7km point. This section of the route is probably the gentlest running of the entire race. It is very slightly and consistently downhill, and is dirt under foot, which is always easier on your body. You can't run as fast on dirt, but you won't injure muscles so easily on dirt.

6 km Marker "Detour" This is the most popular spot for Photographers, because there is the mountain as a backdrop. You'll likely find a photographer just along from the 6km marker.

5 km Marker "Water Furrow" At this point you will cross the water furrow for the first time. This water feeds the town, and it used to be an open furrow, but that did result in a loss of water due to evaporation. So it was covered with cement blocks. Now it is effectively just a pipe.

4 km Marker "Bushman Valley" This point is about 120m inside the first Bushman Valley gate. It marks the end of the 1km of trail. This is an exquisite section of the route. The whole route, from start to finish is through the type of Karoo country that kindly beckons you to fearlessly walk (or run) "in the light".

3 km Marker "Nelson Mandela 3km" The odometer on Lars Naylor's bicycle clocked to exactly 46664 at this point when measuring the route. So it has to be associated with Rolihlahla Nelson Madeba Mandela.

1 km Marker "Weltevrede" At this point there is 1km to go. Runners will be tired, and they have passed the last water station (at 2km), and heading in to town. This point is before the last sweeping corner into Prince Albert, past the Weltevrede road intersection. The Weltevrede road is a dirt road with undulating hills, a particularly gruelling and lonely stretch of road very good for endurance training, but thankfully, not part of this Half marathon or 10km route.

See also the official description of the route by qualified race measurer Lars Naylor

Previous Race Events

Prince Albert Olive Festival Half Marathon and 10km races (April 30 2011)

The 2011 Prince Albert Olive Festival Half Marathon and 10km races were enjoyed by about twice as many runners as 2010, and there were three times as many 10km runners. This caused a bit of excitement for us late on Friday evening when we realised we were fast running out of licences. We made a desperate call to one of the race referees, Marie Zwigelaar, who was travelling in from George, to ask if she could collect some more from SWD. She, and the licences, were certainly a welcome sight as she pulled up on Church Street as we were constructing the Finish area at about 5:30am on Saturday. We also organised extra transport into the Pass for the runners, and were very grateful to those in the community who willingly rallied to help. Our race is showing signs of becoming a major event, and we will need to prepare logistics for next year, which we expect to be more popular again. This is without any advertsing, except a modest web-site. These events advertise themselves by word of mouth, and it is no wonder - the runners are treated to the marvellous scenery we are privileged to live amongst, and then they can enjoy the Olive Festival after they have run.

The race route goes into the Pass and then through Bushman Valley property. The Bushman Valley section is a bit of a hidden treasure to most of us who regularly drive past on the R407. The same mountains are in the background from all directions, but the creek beds and native trees and bushes make it an exquisite treat of nature. In our modern life, commuting comfortably in motor cars, we miss what is clearly visible to those runners who compete in our half marathon (21.1km) and 10km races. Believe me, by the end of a 21.1, some of us are not taking in that much either! But I'm sure some of the competitors come mainly to take in the environment. One lady certainly did, she walked the entire route at a leisurely pace, taking 3 1/4 hours, most of it with the patient police "sweeper" escort behind her complete with flashing lights!

Thanks to our 2011 sponsors

We are very grateful to our sponsors. Our 2011 sponsors were Bergwater Vineyards,   The National Garage (at the north end of town) Tel 023 5411 797,   The Lazy Lizard (Cafe/Restaurant/Internet) at the south end of town, and   Zwartberg Research & Development.

We are also very grateful for Bushman Valley (who are granting us access on their road so we can run through their private property), and our other sponsors   Kontrei Eiendomme,   and Dennehoff guest house.

Organsing an event of this nature costs more than it brings in because we are a new club, and numbers attending this race are on the rise, but still relatively few. So we are vey grateful for our sponsors. These are very good sponsors also from the point of view that we are proud to be associated with them. Do yourself a favour and sample Bergwater Vineyard's wines (available in the middle of town from Gordon's.) Please fill up at the National Garage, and visit the Lazy Lizard, a very lively and "homely" place. If you are looking for Real Estate in Prince Albert, we can recommend Denise Ohlson (Kontrei Eindomme) 082 826 1326. If you are looking for accommodation, call Bushman Valley 023 5411 322, or Dennehoff 023 5411 227. Have a look also at Zwartberg R&D web site if you need a specialised computer consultant.

Prince Albert Olive Festival Half Marathon and 10km races and 5km fun run (May 1 2010)

(Previously called the "Swartberg Pass Half Marathon"

The route was similar to 2009's, except that it started out of town on the R407 tarred road near Bergwater Vineyards. Then it turned on to the Swartberg Pass dirt road and went deep into the pass, except deeper than 2009, then looped back on itself, and then detoured onto the Bushman Valley road, which made it much more interesting, and then finally back onto the tarred road and into Prince Albert, finishing in front of the 7 Arches building in the middle of the Olive Festival.

Some photographs of the route:

The Olive Festival:

Swartberg Pass Half Marathon and 10km races and 5km fun run (May 16 2009)

We thoroughly enjoyed it, and are already planning the next event. We'd like to thank the runners from other clubs and individuals, the race referees, and our club members, who all contributed by their enthusiasm and enjoyment. We are also thankful to the Prince Albert community, the police, and our sponsors. Its just totally inadequate to attempt to express it on a web site.

See the photos here, and the results here.

The 21.1km route leaves Hoerskool Zwartberg and goes deep into the spectacularly scenic Swartberg Pass. Athletes ran in the cool of the morning, gently uphill, between the twisted and contorted masses of Table Mountain sandstone cliffs, then more steeply uphill past the start of the 10km route, and then out of the Pass downhill to Prince Albert.

The start of the 10km race is at about the half-way point of the 21km race, in the Pass, its gently downhill all the way out of the pass on a dirt road to the R407 (which is tarred), and then almost flat (or slightly downhill, if anything) into Prince Albert directly into the school grounds.

The 21.1km race starts at the school and along the R407 out of Prince Albert while its still twilight and into the pass along a dirt road. The road rises into the pass to the point where the pass just begins to become steep and a bit of a challenge to runners, then it turns back on itself and back out on exactly the same route to Prince Albert.

The hard slog was the first half of the race, and then whenthe sun was higher, we could enjoy the scenery and coast back "home" to the finish. Its all downhill from the halfway point, and really, the 10k'ers had it easy... they just got the downhill, and they were transported out to the start.

The stretch between the 9th and 11th km is steeper than the rest, but the course is fairly constantly rising about 10m every km up to the half way point, after which, of course, it is down hill.

The 21.1km race is a race not to be missed if you really want to get your teeth into something and enjoy it at the same time.

There were two photographers working during the event, and those photographs are available in high resolution electronic form delivered by email. Preview them here.

We had a live singers to entertain us: Therene Fourie.

We showed the Super 14 games Blues vs. Crusaders on a large screen.