Test run of AdventureLisa's Ultra Fun Run & Relay in September

I first had the idea for this event in 2003 after running the 80km Tussey Mountainback relay ultra in Pennsylvannia, USA with my friend Bob. It took me years to get around to doing anything about it and when I started scouting at Lakenvlei I realised that the plantation wouldn't be able to support this concept - and so Forest Run was born. But I didn't stop thinking about potential locations for a relay ultra - I have a few half-plotted routes on Google Earth!

After moving to Parys and exploring the area, I knew that I had what I needed here but it took some friends and some arm twisting for me to get around to measuring out the route and look at dates. And that's about as far as I got. With time whizzing past, I knew that presenting the event this year wasn't looking likely.

Until Hazel, suffering from Washie FOMO, asked if she could come and test run my route - just for fun. She came through last weekend, with her friend Deon. I so loved having them here.

Full of a cough and a cold, I didn't run with them, but Celliers and I did do support - meeting them out on the road. I so loved being out there at 01h00 under the moonlight that I decided to go ahead with a test run of the event on the date I'd pencilled in for it - Saturday 9 September 2017.

A test run of AdventureLisa's Ultra Fun Run & Relay is happening.

I've got an awesome 120km route.

There's no entry fee. There are also no bells & whistles.

I'm looking for a couple of entrants in each entry category - solo, teams and run-bike pairs - to come out to enjoy the area and the route. My aim is to get an idea of how long people take on the sections (splits), whether the checkpoint locations work, any route errors that happen, what kinds of route markings are most effective and logistics with support crews. And also total running times.

Although I love a relay ultra (I've done three 1 x 80km in a pair and 2 x 160km in a 4-person team), the one category that I'm very excited about is the run-bike pair.

For this, the pair has one bike and at any time one person is cycling and one person is running. They alternate. The cyclist is not in anyway allowed to assist the runner (no pushing, pulling or lifting) and the pair also does not have to stay together - so they can do a rolling relay. I am very interested to see what strategies the teams will employ.

There's no time like the present and so I jumped in this weekend to work on graphics and to work up a website and get a Facebook page going. And there we have it... I've got a bit of planning and mapping and recruiting to do - and then we're go.

If you're keen, please drop me a note. I'd love to have you out here.