Rave Run The Lesotho Loop

LESOTHO LOOP,

LESOTHO

WORDS

Mike Finch

RUNNERS

Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel

PHOTOGRAPHS

Craig Kolesky

BEST TIME TO RUN

Autumn. Lesotho can be brutally hot in summer and freezing in winter. Finding just the right time between the extremes is key.

TERRAIN

Varies from high-altitude mountain trails with rocky, grassy tracks on the escarpment, to open farm roads on the west side of this hilly country.

CONFIGURATION

Circular, 1 100km.

THE RUN

Starting from the Tele Bridge border post in the southwestern corner of Lesotho follow the contour of the border for its entire circumference.

HOW TO GET THERE

Fly in to Bloemfontein and then drive to the Tele Bridge border post via Lady Grey.

THE EXPERIENCE

Ryan Sandes and partner Ryno Griesel recce’d their proposed Lesotho loop earlier this year, with a plan to run the course for real in April.

Together with SkyRun organiser Adrian Sa y (who is in charge of logistics), they got to experience some of the terrain and conditions likely to occur during their attempt on the 1 100km journey.

The run is expected to take between 10 and 14 days, with an average of 70km a day during the tough mountain stages and 100km a day on the atter farm-road sections.

The two will be self-su cient for the more remote stages, sleeping in a light single-man tent together and carrying much of their supplies with them.

One of the biggest challenges facing the two will be the village herd dogs, which sometimes travel in packs and are aggressive towards stangers.

“It’s the hardest terrain I’ve ever had to negotiate,” says Sandes. “It’s not really trail running, on the mountain sections – more like fast hiking! There’s tons and tons of elevation.”

The two hope to be able to formalise a route and establish the challenge as an FKT (Fastest Known Time).

TO KEEP TABS ON THE PAIR’S LESOTHO ADVENTURE, FOLLOW @RYANSANDES ON INSTAGRAM