When you think of great marathon races in South Africa, the one that’s usually top of mind is the Attakwas Extreme. Besides offering a tough point-to-point route from Oudtshoorn to Groot Brak, the race has seen some great battles among some of South Africa’s and the World’s finest racers. Here’s a look at some standout achievements and racing moments over the past 17 years.
Paid partnership with Dryland Event Management
The Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen was established in 2007 by Henco Rademeyer and Carel Herholdt, now co-owners of Dryland Event Management, the company that owns and runs some of South Africa’s finest endurance mountain bike and gravel bike races.
Starting in the Karoo and finishing at the coast 121km of distance and 2900 metres of ascent later in mid-January, the peak of the South African summer, means that the Attakwas Extreme tests endurance, strength and adaptability to heat. There’s also the wind. The most common conditions for the race have been heat with a headwind for the final stretch over 30km or so.
There have been exceptions though. Some years have been rainy and cool. And then there was the 2021 edition, which took place in August due to postponement as a result of the government’s Covid-19 regulations.
The current men’s record was set by Wessel Botha in that 2021 edition – his time of 4:46:22 eclipsed the previous record set by Swiss racer, Urs Huber, whose 4:47:56 was set in 2014. Some may say that the cooler conditions in August were more favourable and they may have been, but there’s never an easy Attakwas and that was an undeniably impressive performance regardless, especially since three racers crushed the previous record. Botha had to outsprint Alex Miller and Marco Joubert for the 2021 crown.
Five-time Absa Cape Epic winner and multiple World Champion, Annika Langvad, set the current women’s course record in 2017, a time of 5:25:55. She is the only woman to have broken the 5:30 mark for the event.
The men with the most wins are all on three apiece: Kevin Evans (2007, 2008, 2010); Matthys Beukes (2012, 2018, 2019); and Christoph Sauser (2013, 2015, 2017).
Swiss marathon specialist, Ariane Lüthi, holds the record for the most women’s race wins with six titles (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2015, 2018). South African Yolande de Villiers has five, her first coming in 2007 and her most recent in 2022, 15 years apart!
CLOSEST FINISHES
In addition to Sauser and Langvad, both five-time Cape Epic champions, Karl Platt, the only other five-time Cape Epic winner, has also won Attakwas, in 2016. His was one of the closest winning margins as he rolled across the finish line with his Team Bulls teammate, Tim Bohme. However, the photo showed Platt crossing the line first, marginally.
Other close finishes in the Men were thrilling sprints in these editions:
- 2011 – David George, Stefan Sahm and Karl Platt
- 2017 – Christoph Sauser and Kristian Hynek
- 2021 – Wessel Botha, Alex Miller and Marco Joubert
- 2023 – Matt Beers and Alex Miller
For the women’s race, the closest finishes were also sprints in these editions:
- 2019 – Yolande de Villiers, Samantha Sanders and Jennie Stenerhag
- 2020 – Jennie Stenerhag and Robyn de Groot
Of the 17 editions, South African men have won 11, while South African women have won nine. A total of five nationalities (male and female combined) have won the race and after South Africa’s total of 20 wins, Switzerland is next with 10 victories, then Denmark with two and Sweden and Germany each with one.
The first foreign men’s victory came in 2013, when Swiss legend, Christoph Sauser, claimed his first of three wins. The first foreigner to win the women’s title was Ariane Lüthi in 2011. The Swiss racer did live in South Africa for a few years. A similar situation occurred with the only Swedish winner, Jennie Stenerhag. The 2020 women’s champion lives in South Africa for part of each year (the cold part of the year in Sweden).
OVERALL PODIUMS
2007
MEN
1 Kevin Evans (RSA) 5:10:03
2 Linus van Onselen (RSA) 5:16:28
3 Billy Moore (IRE) 5:16:30
WOMEN
1 Yolande de Villiers (RSA) 5:32:28
2 Anka Martin (RSA) 6:03:06
3 Ischen Stopforth (RSA) 6:10:02
2008
MEN
1 Kevin Evans (RSA) 5:50:14
2 Paul Cordes (RSA) 5:57:33
3 Dennis du Toit (RSA) 6:15:11
WOMEN
1 Yolande de Villiers (RSA) 6:29:22
2 Fienie Barnard (RSA) 6:43:06
3 Hanlie Booyens (RSA) 6:45:26
2009
MEN
1 Francois Theron (RSA) 5:36:10
2 Kevin Evans (RSA) 5:40:13
3 Nico Pfitzenmaier (RSA) 5:48:35
WOMEN
1 Ischen Stopforth (RSA) 6:34:54
2 Samantha Oosthuysen (RSA) 6:46:07
3 Erica Green (RSA) 7:00:25
2010
MEN
1 Kevin Evans (RSA) 5:43:52
2 David George (RSA) 5:47:43
3 Max Knox (RSA) 5:48:15
WOMEN
1 Yolande Speedy (RSA) 6:36:16
2 Ischen Stopforth (RSA) 7:07:11
3 Hanlie Booyens (RSA) 7:20:59
2011
MEN
1 David George (RSA) 5:01:50
2 Stefan Sahm (GER) 5:01:52
3 Karl Platt (GER) 5:01:52
WOMEN
1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 6:09:36
2 Yolande Speedy (RSA) 6:14:05
3 Ischen Stopforth (RSA) 6:19:07
2012
MEN
1 Matthys Beukes (RSA) 5:09:10
2 Charles Keey (RSA) 5:13:19
3 Philip Buys (RSA) 5:17:13
WOMEN
1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 6:05:22
2 Ischen Stopforth (RSA) 6:07:45
3 Kathrin Stirnemann (SUI) 6:11:45
2013
MEN
1 Christoph Sauser (SUI) 4:56:29
2 Lourens Luus (RSA) 4:58:06
3 Erik Kleinhans (RSA) 5:02:49
WOMEN
1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 5:42:29
2 Sharon Laws (GBR) 5:50:46
3 Yolande de Villiers (RSA) 6:09:03
2014
MEN
1 Urs Huber (SUI) 4:47:56
2 Christoph Sauser (SUI) 4:54:43
3 Karl Platt (GER) 4:55:16
WOMEN
1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 5:40:38
2 Robyn de Groot (RSA) 5:57:26
3 Ischen Stopforth (RSA) 5:57:27
2015
MEN
1 Christoph Sauser (SUI) 4:51:59
2 Stefan Sahm (GER) 4:56:24
3 Gert Heyns (RSA) 4:59:39
WOMEN
1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 5:30:08
2 Robyn de Groot (RSA) 5:38:12
3 Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 5:55:08
2016
MEN
1 Karl Platt (GER) 4:56:24
1 Tim Bohme (GER) 4:56:24
3 James Reid (RSA) 5:17:13
WOMEN
1 Robyn de Groot (RSA) 5:46:27
2 Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 5:49:47
3 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 6:09:07
2017
MEN
1 Christoph Sauser (SUI) 4:50:09
2 Kristian Hynek (CZE) 4:50:11
3 Karl Platt (GER) 4:51:47
WOMEN
1 Annika Langvad (DEN) 5:25:55
2 Robyn de Groot (RSA) 5:30:00
3 Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 5:42:11
2018
MEN
1 Matthys Beukes (RSA) 4:56:56
2 Tim Bohme (GER) 5:06:02
3 Phil Buys (RSA) 5:12:13
WOMEN
1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 5:45:11
2 Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 5:57:11
3 Sabine Spitz (GER) 6:01:31
2019
MEN
1 Matthys Beukes (RSA) 4:51:46
2 Gert Heyns (RSA) 4:56:00
3 Nicol Carsten (RSA) 4:57:05
WOMEN
1 Yolande de Villiers (RSA) 5:38:05.599
2 Samantha Sanders (RSA) 5:38:05.830
3 Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 5:38:05.929
2020
MEN
1 Matt Beers (RSA) 4:59:25
2 Matthys Beukes (RSA) 5:06:26
3 Wessel Botha (RSA) 5:08:06
WOMEN
1 Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 5:54:23
2 Robyn de Groot (RSA) 5:54:24
3 Barbara Benko (HUN) 6:03:48
2021
MEN
1 Wessel Botha (RSA) 4:46:22.187
2 Alex Miller (NAM) 4:46:22.946
3 Marco Joubert (RSA) 4:46:23
WOMEN
1 Yolande de Villiers (RSA) 5:59:23
2 Amy McDougall (RSA) 6:04:55
3 Sarah Hill (RSA) 6:18:49
2022
MEN
1 Simon Andreassen (DEN) 5:11:20
2 Tristan Nortje (RSA) 5:14:44
3 Matt Beers (RSA) 5:19:04
WOMEN
1 Yolande de Villiers (RSA) 6:06:18
2 Sarah Hill (RSA) 6:45:15
3 Mariske Strauss (RSA) 6:54:56
2023
MEN
1 Matt Beers (RSA) 5:00:29.378
2 Alex Miller (NAM) 5:00:29.792
3 Tristan Nortje (RSA) 5:02:30
WOMEN
1 Sarah Hill (RSA) 6:33:29
2 Elrika Harmzen-Pretorius (RSA) 6:41:18
3 Catherine Colyn (RSA) 7:37:36
THE SILVER MEDAL
Every finisher within the cut-off time limit gets a medal at the Attakwas Extreme. The first three men and women each get gold medals and then every finisher that beats the six-hour barrier earns a silver medal. It’s actually a difficult medal to secure and mostly secured by competitive age-group racers who are going for a podium in their division. In the past 10 editions, only 362 riders have beaten six hours. In 2022, when conditions were extremely hot, only 16 riders broke six hours…
THE ROUTE
There have been three variations of the Attakwas Extreme route. The inaugural route was quite different in that it went north towards Oudtshoorn and not south towards the coast as it currently does.
“The first race route included a lot more of the Attakwas Reserve and it was about 135km in distance,” recalls race founder, Henco Rademeyer. “Then we changed it from 2008 until 2010. It was a 135km monster as you can see by the winning times in those years. From 2011, we moved it to the current route, which hasn’t really changed.”
The first rider to break the five-hour mark was Christoph Sauser in 2013.
“That was a big feat in our minds, but then the very next year, Urs Huber crushed Sauser’s time with a 4:50! Although Wessel Botha has the current record, I feel that it should possibly have an asterisk next to it because that edition was raced in winter due to the Covid-19 calendar disruption and the conditions were highly favourable. The summer heat and headwind as you close in on the coast are two elements that make the Attakwas Extreme an extreme challenge,” added Rademeyer.
“Having such high-profile racers from abroad and South Africa has been one of the great pleasures for us and each year we look forward to another set of contests. With a number of big names already entered, it looks like more memorable podium battles will happen at the 2024 Attakwas Extreme,” said Rademeyer.
For Rademeyer, the biggest mistake most participants make is starting too fast. They usually work this out on their first attempt.
“The race really starts in Bonniedale, which is about halfway. And then the headwind starts blowing around 14h00, which is a real challenge for the backmarkers. And of course, if there isn’t a headwind, then the heat becomes more of a challenge,” added Rademeyer.
If you haven’t yet, secure your entry for the 2024 Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen. All the race info and online entry can be found here.
Paid partnership with Dryland Event Management
