Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 55, February 2014 | Page 38

Race Report

From one Bay
to another…
Ocean Basket Bay to Bay
30km & 15km, Western Cape,
5 January

Coming down Suikerbossie is great,
but runners have to go back up it!

Running from Camps Bay to Hout Bay
and back, the Ocean Basket Bay to
Bay 30km is undoubtedly one of the
most scenic races in South Africa, and
given its traditional position on the
first weekend of January, it is seen
as the kick-start to the running year,
the first long run and a challenging
tester to shake off the Festive Season
cobwebs, for many a Cape Town runner.
Unsurprisingly, it always attracts a huge
field. – BY SEAN FALCONER

features prominently in the Ocean Basket Bay to Bay
30km & 15km road running event.

hen the Dutch established a colony in Table
Bay in 1652, in what we now know as Cape Town,
they required timber for building and for ship repairs,
but there was no large forest in the immediate vicinity
of the settlement. After exploring the area further,
they found a wetter valley on the other side of the
mountain, with a plentiful supply of trees. This area
became known as Hout Bay, or Wood Bay. The only
problem was that Hout Bay could only be reached via
one of three mountain passes, meaning it was hard
work to get the timber…

In past years the 30km had been accompanied by
a 2x15km relay on the same route, but this was
replaced by a point-to-point 15km race in 2014,
starting in Hout Bay. The inaugural men’s title went
to Sityhilo Diko of Nedbank in 51:02, while Zintle
Xiniwe (Maxed Elite) won the women’s race in
1:03:30.

Today there are three roads leading into Hout Bay
– Chapman’s Peak Drive, Constania Nek Drive and
Suikerbossie Drive, and all three feature prominently in
long distance running or cycling events, a fitting throwback to those intrepid settlers of the 17th century. The
road from Camps Bay to Hout Bay, via Llandudno,
goes through the pass between Judas Pe