Arnett once again reaffirmed his legendary SkyRun status by winning the epic mountain trail run between Lady Grey in the Eastern Cape and Wartrail to claim his 13th victory in his 17th outing.

While Arnett didn’t break Iain Don-Wauchope’s record time of 12:08:00 set in 2014, he claimed the men’s race in 13:57:00 to achieve his second goal which was to run a sub-14 hour time.

For the majority of the race it was a proper slugfest between himself, Jock Green and Bennie Roux, however, Arnett banked on all his years of experience in the gruelling race to ultimately win by more than 52:02.

Green and Roux battled with the adverse weather conditions in the last quarter of the race and this saw them being edged into joint second by South Africa’s AJ Calitz, Christiaan Greyling and Spain’s Pedro Caldereu De La Barca.

Green and Roux crossed the line in 17:15:44 in tied 5th. It came as little surprise that Landie Greyling once again reigned supreme in the women’s event for her umpteenth win to cap off a fantastic 2015, which will see a big accolade coming her way next month.

Unfortunately, Jackie Moore had to withdraw from the race leaving no real threat to Greyling and she had an easy run in to win in 18:07:06.

Misty Weyers took second in the 100km race in a time of 21:37:14, while the podium was completed by Riana van der Merwe in 25:42:42.

The SkyRun Lite was clinched by Nico Schoeman in 08:52:19, however, it was not enough of a challenge for him and he then proceeded to complete the 100km trail.

Jacques Mouton ran in second in 10:42:32 in a race he simply described as “tough” as he crossed the line at Wartrail. Herman Fourie claimed third nearly 15 minutes off the pace of Mouton in 10:57:59.

Natasha Kask took the women’s 65km in 12:02:34, more than 21 minutes faster than Karen Behrens in 12:23:46, with Kate Barnes taking the bronze in 14:13:19.

While records weren’t broken in 2015 minds, bodies and souls surely were, but old friendships were rekindled and new ones were made.

Camaraderie was at the order of the day and the bond between a unique and special group of athletes stole the show, epitomising the ethos of the SkyRun.

Morgan Piek / OFM News

Photo: Bruce Arnett - Morgan Piek