Kuun celebrates another milestone by overcoming the Cathedral Peak challenge
It’s an incredibly tough route through the wilderness of a world heritage site on one of the Drakensberg’s most beautiful peaks.
Morganridge ultra athlete Amanda Kuun has added another extreme athletic event to her resume, the Cathedral Peak challenge.
The challenge is a 20km round trip that starts and ends at the Cathedral Peak Hotel and goes right to the top and back of Cathedral Peak, with a total ascent of 1 531m.
Kuun (51), said: “Climbing the Drakensberg was all about the challenge. Getting to the top of Cathedral Peak and being able to look down on earth, it gave me a thrill just thinking about it. I had to do it. And it was worth every running and crawling step.
“The views from above the back of the dragon on both sides made me feel completely free. It is like walking on air.
“And of course you can fall and you can die. No joking. That’s why I did little running, too scared to trip and fall.
“I’m still new at trail running and already had fallen in every one I ran in. It was also scary. I knew about the ropes I had to use going up steep sections, but when I reached them after all that 4×4 climbing on hands and feet, I needed to rest my shaking legs and accumulate some courage first.
“Testing the ropes with more and more weight before I attempted it. I felt overjoyed by my accomplishment when I reached the top and at the same time relieved.
“There was still a horizontal ladder to climb at the edge of a cliff and then the very top very scary part where I nearly bailed when I saw the real deal.
“Then I realised the challenge did say you challenge yourself, not the mountain. I had to overcome my own fears and make the decision to go to the top.
“I was just a few metres from it. I went for it, clinging to the rock, crawling over it so close my clothes chafed on it. I wanted to be on top of the mountain and I did it.”
Kuun is a three-time Comrades Marathon finisher out of five attempts. Furthermore, her sporting resume includes seven Midmar Miles, three short of getting her permanent number.
She’s completed two Argus Cycle Challenges with her daughter and the fish river canyon hike – just to list a few.
This prompted the Advertiser to quiz her on her toughest sporting challenge and her greatest achievement to date, to which she said: “The toughest challenge will always be the Comrades. I’m just an ordinary 51-year-old athlete, so all my challenges are tough.
“My greatest sporting achievement is reaching the goals I have set for myself in all challenges I’ve taken part in.
“But the real achievement or goal is to show my children how hard you have to work if you really want to achieve a goal. They also draw strength from my achievements and get inspired to reach for their dreams.” – @SabeloBoksburg
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