"The breathtaking trail run" 

The 21st Rhodes Trail Run will be staged on Saturday, 18th July 2009.

•The Rhodes Trail Run forms part of the Ultra Cup South Africa series•

The Rhodes Run, South Africa's iconic breathtaking trail run, is staged in the tranquil beauty of the southern Drakensberg mountains surrounding the Victorian-era hamlet of Rhodes.

The idea of the race came during a discussion between Reinhard le Roux and other Rhodes property owners over a couple of drinks one night in 1986. The intention was to put Rhodes back on the map before it followed the same fate as other small platteland villages which faded into obscurity. With the initial assistance of the late Peter Jooste, this vision led to the birth of a unique event on the South African sports calendar.

The first event was staged in July 1989, and almost did not happen thanks to very heavy snow falls the night before. The start of the 2001 event was delayed while officials checked conditions to establish if seconding vehicles would be able to safely reach the runners after snow fell early on Saturday morning. If an exceptionally heavy snowfall occurs, as was the case in 2002 when there were very heavy snowfalls in the week leading up to the race, the route would have to be changed as the feeding station helpers would be unable to reach the plateau and runners would not be able to make their way through the Mavis Bank kloof.

The atmosphere before and after the race is extremely festive. It is common for the temperature at the start to be below zero (usually around -10 degrees Celsius!).

The race has a limited field of about 300 runners. Entry is by invitation only with a substitution facility. Should you wish to receive an invitation you need to fill out and submit a waiting list form and will then be placed on the waiting list.

In the true spirit of trail running there are no financial prizes - and other than a few floating trophy's all our runners are treated equally with the same pre and post race hand-outs, which in themselves are usually rather special.

•The Rhodes Trail Run is a founder member of the Affiliation of Challenging Events (A.C.E.)•