Cape Town-based athlete Rohan Kennedy, 29, wrote his name into the record books at the 2009 Salomon Featherbed Trail Run by winning both the morning Breakfast Run and afternoon Supper Run to stamp his undisputed authority on the event
THE Salomon Featherbed Trail Run was introduced to Knysna’s Oyster Festival in 2008 and its instant success and new found cult status prompted the organisers, sponsors and venue hosts to piece together a double running of this unique sports event in 2009.
The choice of two routes (Coelacanth 13km & Seahorse 7km) gave those not too fit to take on the challenging coastal trail - that also includes a mind-numbing climb of 200m in under 1km - the option to be transported by a 4x4 truck and passenger trailer system to the top of Featherbed.
The route back to the finish line at Cruise Café also includes a variety of surfaces from dirt trails through ancient Milkwood forests, coastal fynbos, paved brick and tar roads through Lake Brenton to finish with the equally unusual dash next to the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe railway line that traverses back across Knysna Lagoon.
To accomplish a double win on this tough and fast track is an exceptional achievement. You have to be an all-rounder to master the mix of surfaces which includes pristine trail more suited to the technical runners plus the tar and paved sections which naturally suit the more conventional marathon road running fraternity.
Rohan Kennedy, racing for GU Energy Gel/Brooks Running, certainly has all these qualities and he has set a new benchmark that many will want to aspire to and so add their names to this exclusive list of runners.
Another up and coming athlete that has made his mark on the shorter Seahorse route is 12-year-old Mathew Lombardi who finished up as the overall winner in this group. More impressive is that his first place was against runners far older than himself, running in a category which also included all the other senior athletes competing for the same title.
Event organisers Magnetic South reports an amazing spike in the performances of junior athletes at all its 2009 Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival events.
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