The course is 5000m (5k) long. This has been accurately measured by us with a professional measuring wheel. The course is at Makana Botanical Gardens, Grahamstown. The course is run on a mixture of bricked lanes, trail paths and grass. Some sections of the course may accumulate mud, leaves and puddles after rain. Dependent on availability, marshals will be at key sections of the course, or signs will be in place.

Course Description

The course is made up of 2 laps.

The warm up stretch is about 500m of flat gravel. At the end of this road, you’ll reach a metal gate at the boundary of the gardens – here you will turn right up a small hill. You follow the pathway until you see another arrow pointing you right ? this will take you up a fairly steep hill with a beautiful view of Grahamstown from the top. The path often becomes congested here as it is quite narrow and overgrown so please stick left and pass right should you wish to overtake.
As you start to descend from the lookout point there are lots of loose rocks so please be careful. You will run along a nice open flat section before seeing another sign which points you down the big hill where there is a gravel pathway ? this can be slippery so rather run on the grass if you’re concerned.
At the bottom of the hill, there will be hazard tape and a sign which says “run around the pond” follow this right arrow around a narrow body of water and you’ll come out just about where you started your run.
As you face down the warm up stretch again, you’ll see a big lamp on your left with a bricked lane, you need to run down this bricked path towards the river where you will cross over the bridge and keep left & keep off the stairs. Follow the bricks until you reach an open grassy section ? there is a pole located at the end of this grass section, you’ll need to run a loop around that pole before returning to the bridge. When crossing back over the bridge, keep left to avoid oncoming runners. After the bridge, you’ll see a sign which points left, this is telling you to run across the grass keeping the river on your left hand side.
When you reach the T junction look up at the signs! One points left saying “Lap 2” and the other points right saying “To the finish line”.
If you have completed only 1 lap so far, you need to turn left and repeat Lap 1 again. If you have already completely 2 laps in our beautiful gardens, you’ll need to turn right and give it your all for the last 400m to the finish line.

Facilities

Toilet facilities are available however these will be locked ? you will need to ask a volunteer for the key. Free parking can be found at The Provost Cafe and below the Gardens at the Eden Grove parking lot.

When is it?

Every Saturday at 8:00am

Where is it?

The event takes place at Makana Botanical Gardens, Lucas Avenue, Grahamstown, 6139