Will Robinson wins the Addo Elephant 50 Miler Trail Run

After my experience of the Addo 100 in 2009, I was keen to return to the Eastern Cape to have a go at the 50 mile distance. As things worked out, I got married the week before the race. My wife, who loves me a lot, agreed to let me work the run into our honeymoon.

After a week's holiday, which did include a few training runs, we arrived at the Addo Main Camp to discover that the organisers had added 4 km on at the beginning of the race, "for free". This made the distance 84 km: two full marathons. My wife, who loves me a lot, got out of bed at 4:30 to drive me to the start for 6am, just outside Kirkwood.

As we set off in thick mist, I fell into step with Jayde Butler, keeping an eye on the front runners. As we approached the route split, the mist was dissipating rapidly. I counted three runners turning left for 50 miles, while two went right, before Jayde and I parted ways.

The morning was cool, but even though I was running easily I quickly worked up a sweat on the undulating roads. As the leader disappeared ahead, I moved into second place on the steep part of the first climb. Last year's winner Hilton Dunn caught up to me as I paused at Check Point 1 (17 km), but I stopped more briefly and I was on my own again all the way till Check Point 3 (33 km). I was enjoying the solitude and peace of the early morning as I traversed the beautiful slopes and valleys.

At Check Point 2 I was informed that I was three minutes behind the leader Aaron Benzi, and a few kilometers later, after splashing through some huge puddles (lakes), I caught sight of him as we approached Check Point 3. Hilton Dunn and Michael Hendricks caught up here and we all tackled the incredibly steep muddy jeep track up to the plateau together.

I started running at the top of the slope first, and I soon had a gap on the others. Running along the ridge one feels as if one is on the top of the world. Going steady on the descents, and suddenly rather hungry, I was soon heading for The Farm, where I guzzled some potatoes before tackling the stiff climb up to Zuurberg Inn.

The 8 km climb was a little unkind to me last year, so I was pleased to get to the top having improved my split by about 20 minutes. On the way up, I heard news from the 25 milers that Jayde had likely won the short event, which cheered me on. My wife, who loves me a lot, was waiting at the top to see me, which was very sweet.

I jogged down the Zuurberg Pass, which was really pretty in daylight, and shuffled on through the last check point. At around 6 km to go, I heard that my lead was "a kilometre or two", which I knew would be enough if I just kept moving forward. I was very pleased to reach the road, plod up the last hill, and jog round to the finish where I could sit down, rest my legs and enjoy some cold water.

My race time was 8 hours 24 minutes. The gap to Micheal Hendricks in second place was a comfortable 12 minutes, and he finished just a minute ahead of Aaron Benzi.

The next day Coach Dion won the Volunteer Wildfire Services 25 km race on Table Mountain to make it a good weekend for the CAPESTORM/Buff team.

This race has such a beautiful route and is organised so nicely that I certainly hope that I will be back to compete again.
Check out www.extrememarathons.com