Eric’s festive season proves fruitful

IT has been a fruitful festive season for local runner, Eric Ngubane, who capped off a sensational win at the Lesotho Ultra Trail (Ultra Sky marathon) with a win at the uMhlanga Trail Run. The 34-year-old said he would now be turning his attention to the Comrades Marathon and road running.

In the fourth edition of the Lesotho Ultra Trail, runners took on a 50 kilometre trek through the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho with arguably the largest international field in any trail run in Southern Africa. The high altitude course boasting more than three kilometers of vertical ascent, and peaked at 3155m above sea level, however, the race proved no challenge to Ngubane.

Ngubane, who was leading the race lost the lead just eight kilometres from the end to Gerard Morales from Spain. He managed to catch up on the four minute lead Ngubane had secured and then surged into a one minute lead. However, Ngubane, showed his class in the final stages to catch and pass Morales winning by a mere 16 seconds.

“It was an extremely difficult race, the altitude is challenging but I’m just happy I could win the race. It was the first time I’ve won this race, in the past I had taken part in the Sani Stagger and I decided to test myself by the doing the Sky marathon. I had to believe in myself as Gerard passed me, I knew I had a chance in the final stages. It was one of the highlights of my career,” he said.

Ngubane followed up that win at the Umhlanga Summer Festival, winning the 18km trail run event.

“I managed to keep my time under 4 minutes for a lot of the race but the final 4 kilometres stretch on the sand was hard,” the very fit and wiry Ngubane said after he cruised through the line. “I ran 29 kilometres before the race to loosen the muscles. I am feeling strong but will be taking a well-deserved break after this race. My focus is now shifting from trails to road in the build-up for the Comrades Marathon, after that I will be back on the trails.”