The Red Bulletin February/March 2020 (UK)

Geraldine van Tromp during the toughest part of Ultra-Trail Cape Town: the climb
at Hout Bay, 41km from the finish line. “I was running on empty,” she says
Ultrarunners are masters at predicting pain. Taping your nipples to prevent chafing
is one of the more straightforward procedures
“Feeling your
body work is an
almost spiritual
experience”
Geraldine van Tromp, 42
“It’s easy to get caught up in your
roles as a wife, a mother and [in my
case] an engineer,” explains Van Tromp.
For the South Africa-born ultrarunner,
who is now based in New Zealand, it
was “an opportunity to be alone while
I was training and running. And in the
process I learnt that I’m stronger
than I ever could have believed”. She
crossed the finish line in a time of
15 hours, 48 minutes and 44 seconds.
Ultra-Trail
Cape Town
South Africa
Start/finish: Gardens Tech
Rugby Club, Cape Town
Distance: 100km
Elevation: 4,300m
Checkpoints: 7
Month: Nov/Dec
Course record: 9:51:00
Challenge: very steep
ascents and descents
ultratrailcapetown.com
START/FINISH
Gardens Tech
Rugby Club,
Cape Town
THE RED BULLETIN 67