On-form Douglas Pickard blazes trail towards defending Ultra Cape Town 100-Miler - TimesLIVE
Douglas Pickard will be defending his RMB Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 Miler (UTCT) title this November, where, after four years notching some successes in his endurance sport, he will no longer be flying under the radar.
Having started out as a kite surfer and adventure racer, 41-year-old Pickard’s ultra-trail running journey began when he competed in the 2021 Ultra-Trail Drakensberg. It was the year Ryan Sandes broke the course record in 22 hours 30 minutes 38 seconds.
In 2022, Pickard announced himself to the ultra-trail running world when he shattered Sandes’s record by more than 27 minutes. He went from being a nobody to being recognised but his path to the top hasn’t been paved in gold. Last year, Pickard won the UTCT 100 Miler and shattered his previous time.
“I’m not going to lie, that was a bit unexpected because I had a rough year,” the Salomon-sponsored athlete told TimesLIVE. Pickard first cut off a chunk of his heel in a freak accident, then damaged ligaments in his shin and later tore his quadriceps muscle racing at the Mountain Ultra-Trail (MUT) in George.
“Last year, I went into the UTCT not expecting to win it. Training has gone well this time but anything can happen during a 100 miler. I’m trying to remain level-headed, carry on with my day job and get my training in, but there is definitely increased pressure this year.”
Ahead of the UTCT on November 20, Pickard’s training block began by building mileage. Each week he aimed to run a minimum of 100km because it was about building mileage.
Pickard has also worked on hill climbs along with said mileage. He has done days of training in the Drakensberg, running up and down the Sphinx, the prominent rock formation and popular day hike located at Monks Cowl, and has run from loading zone to loading zone on what is known as Mount Lebanon.
Pickard is now putting in speed work and doing hill sprints. And when it gets even closer to the race day, training becomes race-specific. It’s about running at race pace and finding the same kind of technical ground on which to practice.
“I’m a big believer that if you’ve got the mileage in your legs, you should be good,” he said, in reference to the gruelling race that traverses the northern range of the Mother City to the southern mountains and along the Indian and Atlantic coastline.
Everyone always talks about the uphill but downhill running is just as important, because if you run it fast, you can catch a lot of other runners.
With a vertical gain of 7,516m over the tough 163km race, altitude training up north is arguably Pickard’s secret weapon.
“It helped me last year at the UTCT 100 Miler. If I go to the coast, my legs will get tired before I run out of breath. Whereas, in Johannesburg, I feel I need more oxygen before my legs get tired.”
As such, training in the city of gold and then heading down to sea level makes a material difference for the man who uses Salomon Genesis trail running and S/Lab training shoes.
The UTCT 100 Miler is a diverse race in terms of terrain and weather changes throughout the traverse. Pickard said once you hit between 80km and 100km, it’s how you deal with the pain that matters. “You go into a pain cave, and it’s just about how deep you can dig and how you manage the pain.”
Pickard goes into the UTCT in form, after two strong victories in September. He won the Karkloof 50 Miler near Howick in KwaZulu-Natal in 6:51:18.
Two weeks before that, he set a new course record at Mount Aux Sources Ultra, which he says was good preparation for the UTCT’s hill climbing and downhill.
“Everyone always talks about the uphill but downhill running is just as important, because if you run it fast, you can catch a lot of other runners.”
