Any chance I could join?

“Hey Armand, I see you and Damien are doing the 13 peaks challenge starting this evening… any chance I could join?” 

It was just one of those days, you know, the ones where you wake up feeling inspired for some bizarre reason! “I’ll pick you up in 5 hours, make sure you take lots of nutrition”.

I will admit this was the most impulsive decision I have ever made. Go attempt to be the first people to tag Cape Towns 13 peaks in under 24 hours as conceived by Ryan Sandes and Kane Reilly. Sure why not?

For the record, this would be my furthest ever run by crazy amounts!! It would be almost triple the distance or elevation and 4 times the number of hours of anything I had ever run before. I told Armand this fun fact and he had a little chuckle – “You’ll be fine, I think”. 2 of my closest friends, Calvin Amor and Logan Eales echoed these thoughts, saying it would be a crazy experience to have a crack at but also to bear in mind there is a very high possibility of complete meltdown. I accepted this as fact, telling them it was probably an 85% likelihood.

The challenge is simple, tag the following peaks on foot in order as quickly as possible.

Armand had tried two weeks earlier but not managed to break the 24-hour barrier and we were now back to try to claim the title of first people to manage the challenge in less than 24 hours.

Signal hill > Lions head > Table mountain (Maclears beacon) > Grootkop > Judas peak > Klein Leeukop > Suther peak > Chapmans peak > Noordhoek peak > Muizenberg peak > Constantiaberg (the mast) > Klassenkop > Devils peak > Signal hill.

We started just after 8pm in high spirits, and made good time on the first 2 peaks. Getting to the top of Plateklip though, I started to feel overwhelmed… we hadn’t even been going for 2 hours yet and the body was starting to feel a bit sluggish. I was getting very tired (bad nights sleep followed by a 5 am gym sesh followed by a busy workday straight into this impulse run decision). The reality that kept hitting me was that we had already spent a good amount of time on the mountain and yet we still had 22 hours to go.

The banter was good and some great conversations kept the mind off the scale of the task at hand. We tagged Mclears and traversed the top of table mountain under the full moon.

By midnight, somewhere near Grootkop, I was becoming close somewhat delirious from tiredness.

I decided to try to switch half my brain off at a time like dolphins do when they sleep. As it turns out that didn’t work at all and you just end up falling a lot. At the Grootkop 5 minute stop, something interesting happened. I managed to close my eyes for no more than about 20 seconds, but that worked like a reset button!! Think of turning your phone on and off when it freezes. That was what happened and I was ready to keep moving again. The next section flowed nicely, and at one point I excitedly mentioned that we had completed our first half marathon, only for Damien to point out that we had 4 more of those still to go.

The body moved well over the next section to Judas peak, down Llands ravine, up Klein Leeu, down the back of it (sketchy as anything at night, almost fell badly), up “Suffer” peak with a quick ankle strap stop and then back down into Hout Bay. Milestones started ticking by… longest run in terms of hours, most elevation gain and most chicken Viennas eaten during a run.

We traversed a deserted Hout Bay, stopping at the petrol station before Chapmans Peak. This was the first time we saw another human during our run, last having seen people at Signal Hill carpark. It was over 8 hours in, now 4h30am, and a police officer who asked why we were starting to run so early. We tried to explain to him that we started at Signal Hill at 8 pm the night before but still had to go to Muizenberg and then back to Signal again before 8 pm. He seemed unable to process this information and just shook his head. This was our first proper pitstop, and we were met with coffee and banana bread by Sophia Ndlovu.

After that, we set out onto Chapmans Peak road and turned up onto the trail just before the viewpoint.

The nearly full moon was setting over the ocean, had turned crimson orange and was absolutely epic. This was to be the darkest hour both literally and figuratively.

Coming up Chapmans Peak, the first half still felt alright. But the second half started to feel pretty uncomfortable. We had also decided to up the pace as daybreak was approaching, and my quads and glutes were very tight from 43kms of moving.

Runners will know what this means, the ACL starts working overtime and causes pain down the sides of the knees. Due to the increased pace, I got to the top of Chappies last and didn’t get to rest the legs. The way back down to the saddle became an excruciating slog. Every step was painful in an attempted run down. Eventually I got to the saddle and used the poor light excuse to hide the facts, but inside I knew my body was not in a good place. Maybe this was just my max distance. It made sense, after all, I was broken after Otter and TMC in 2017, and this was now on par distance wise.

“So that’s it then,” I thought. I should just call it quits, say my thanks and wish the others good luck, head down and uber home (which was pretty close at this point). And then an unexpected voice inside of me said: “are you really such a little #&%@¿ that you aren’t even going to make it halfway?” Okay fair enough, let me at least do half of what these 2 insane athletes besides me are going to achieve. Let me at least get to 52kms. So I phoned my good mate Wes Sweetnam and asked if he could please meet us at Silvermine Crossing. This was all that mattered now, just make it to Silvermine via Noordhoek Peak.

I was slightly sceptical, given the condition I was in at that point. Turns out, as true as a man who has spent enough time in the mountains to know, once the dawn broke and the sun’s rays came over the mountains the body suddenly felt reinvigorated. I felt a renewed energy. It then broke through the pain threshold, the climbing became steadily easier, the knees progressively less sore and I started to feel the best I had felt since the beginning.

We hit the top of Noordhoek Peak and I was a new human. After being joined by Filippo Faralla at Noordhoek Peak, we stared across towards False Bay at our next checkpoint – Muizenberg Peak. We covered the next few kilometres quickly, moving between 4m 30/km and 5m 30/km on the gradual downhills. I was still in disbelief as to how smoothly everything was going after being convinced my run was over only a few hours prior. Wes met us at Silvermine and between him and Filippo, there were some much-needed coffees, chocolates and cokes waiting for us. Wes also gave me a watch charger and some words of wisdom, telling me to push through the mental pain barriers as more were bound to come.

The run to Muzies and back is a long way from the other peaks but was a lovely change to all the steep vertical ascents and descents up until that point. Other than a little bail on the way back and some missing skin, everything was still on track. Ryan knew what he was doing when he set this route… We headed across to the mast via Blackburn ravine, and everything still felt good. It was getting progressively hotter and water/fluid intake now became a top priority. The mast came by around the 75km mark, and relief was waiting for us at Constantia Nek in the form of some much-needed nutrition and a change of clothes. The next downhill and Vlakkenberg Section were pretty tough, but the thought of a nice stop off kept us all moving.

Mike de Kwaadsteniet and JJ de Villiers greeted us with a variety of treats, including milkshakes, sandwiches, chocolates and race bars. We decided to take a 20 minute stop off, before the final push to the end.

I managed to squeeze in a 4 minute power nap on a bench, totalling my sleep time for the past day and a half to a casual 4 mins and 20 seconds.

We then began our climb to the dams, punctuated by Armands cramping legs. Damien and I gave him any anti-cramp and Rennies we had on hand. We made it to the top and then went in search of the elusive Klassenkop Peak. A sketchy single track through bee covered flowers, onto rock fingers over thorn bushes, climb through a tree overhanging a gorge and you’re there. I genuinely have no idea how Armand found this place in the dark on his last expedition.

Now we only had Devils left to tag, but that left a decision to be made: down nursery and up Newlands, or up to Maclears and down Ledges. We chose the latter. This would be faster with less elevation gain assuming all went to plan. We headed up to Maclears for the second time in 24 hours. We were still comfortable on time at this point and began reminiscing about the adventure thus far. Myself and Damien were now well into unknown territory in terms of distance in one go. Armand was hurting with shin splints and cramps, but soldiering on without so much as a whince. We hit the beacon and aimed straight line for our final peak, bundu bashing to get to the start of ledges where the waterfall drops off. I took a GU for the first time on the trip, another Rennies (probably my 20th one so far) and had a quick stretch before what I was told would involve a bit of free climbing. The game now became – “don’t cramp while hanging onto a handhold on a cliff with a steep 10m drop below you”.

Ledges started well, with some epic free climbs, chimney sections and technical descents. Then things took a turn for the worse. There is no obviously marked trail, only a bunch of rock kerns to guide you in the general direction that links to the ridgeline which becomes the saddle of El Diablo. Somehow Damien got separated from myself and Armand. A lovely game of ridgeline zig zag thus began. One monent we were 1 ridge below Damien and 50m right, then next minute we were 2 ridges above and 80m left of him. It was also treacherously slippery, with steep drops and littered with protea and thorn bushes. We completely missed all our set aiming markers and ended up taking over 2 hours for a section that should have been no more than 40 minutes, coming out bruised, battered, cut up and covered in thorns.

Time was now against us, and had just over 2 hours to summit devils, head down to tafelberg road and get across to the signal hill beacon. Despite the 22 hours, 94kms and 6000m of climbing thus far, we had to dig deep to ensure we got our 24 hour goal. With not much left in the tank, we started our final ascent. Damien was feeling the strongest at this point and led the charge up the mountain. This climb was without a doubt the hardest in terms of effort. If all the other climbs were at 80%, devils was 150%. We gave it every last bit of effort, even started shouting weirdly encouraging one liners at each other. We were dragging ourselves up the mountain, grabbing branches, rocks, thornbushes, roots and anything sturdy enough to help us get up the steep climb.

This climb was the closest I have ever come to actually realising that dream. Legit.

I had also never been up devils peak (shock and horror), so had no idea that the mountain has a false front. This means when you finally summit what you think is the top, there’s still actually another 130m of climbing left to go… that last 130m was possibly the deepest I have ever had to dig.

Finally, just when I thought there was nothing left to give, amidst all the pain and suffering, the 13th beacon appeared!!

We tagged it, turned and started racing straight down. My shoe tread and lugs had all but disappeared by this stage, and the descent must have looked something like a newborn giraffe ice skating. We were also hoooooooking it down. The only thing going through my mind was “no mistakes. Can’t afford disaster this close to the end”. Concentration at this stage was made harder as we had the sun in our eyes throughout the sustained descent and some of the earlier leg and knee pains had started to resurface.

Never have I been happier to see a tar road during a run as when we hit Tafelberg road, greeted by Ryan Sandes. He mentionned something about us doing really good time up and down devils, but there was still 8kms to the finish so no time for celebrations. We pressed on, moving as quickly as our aching legs could towards signal hill. There was something quite special about watching the garmin tick over to 100kms, something I didn’t expect to see until much later on in life… it was also a good sign that we were still alright because it was our fastest kilometre at 4.07/km.

Once we had hit kloof nek at the base of the lions climb, we could finally relax knowing we had done enough to get our one day badge. We were greeted and cheered along this path by Calvin Amor, Tallon Robertson, Tayan Brittz and Sandy Hamel, for one last push to the finish. Calvin, Tayan, Wes and my parents had also been my ICE go to guys and were in contact and available to me the entire race in case of catastrophe.

The final hill came and the 3 of us ran the last climb to the Signal hill beacon, in a mixture of euphoria, ecstasy and sleep deprivation, having succeeded in being the first ever humans to complete the 13 peaks challenge in one day! Ryan was there to give us all a massive congratulatory sweaty hug.

A few minutes of laughter ensued, and I then proceeded to vomit up alot of liquid into some bushes, got driven home by Tayan, vomited some more, showered, fell asleep, woke up at 3am confused, ate 2 slices of pizza, went back to bed and woke up at 8am for lifesaving duty on Easter Friday, pondering how to get my aching body out of bed without cramping up every single muscle at once.

What a day!! Sometimes impulse decisions and playing outside of the daily comfort zones are all that is needed to reframe any limitations and push the boundaries of what is truly possible if you can just dig deep through the low points. My sincere gratitude goes out to everyone who sent messages of encouragement and support, to all those involved in whatever way and to anyone who loves the mountains and our fantastic trails and scenery!! Thanks for keeping it pure.

Some fun facts:

13 peaks
103.49km traversed
23h12m – current fkt record holders with Damien and Armand
6250m elevation gain (more than Kilimanjaro)
4.07/km – Fastest kilometre (100th km)

Armand Du Plessis and Damien Schuuman – biggest frikkin legends ever!! route knowledge insane, company unbeatable
Ryan Sandes and Kane Reilly – what a route, thanks for showcasing Cape Town in such an insane way

Litter collected and thrown away – as much as we could fit on every section: leave the mountains in better condition than you found them
Annual running – 1/6 of my average annual mileage covered in 1 day
Salomon S-lab 7 HG – unbelievable!! Best shoes I have ever ever run in. From racing to this challenge, no blisters or discomfort to report
Rennies – 1 per hour on the hour, 24 in total (no real notable cramps to report)

9800 – Calories burnt
Food: 12 chicken Viennas, 8 boiled potatoes, 1 avocado, 1 Madeira loaf, 3 sandwiches, 2 wraps, 4 coffees, 3 cokes, 6 chocolates, 10 jungle bars, 4 rush bars, 12 date balls, 3 GUs, 6 slices of banana bread, 6 milkshakes, tailwind nutrition, hammer perpetuem, 500g nuts, 300g biltong, close to 12 litres of water

5.7kgs – Weight lost (started the day at 73.5kg, ended at 67.8kg, mostly water weight that was back within 2 days)

Stoke levels – unreal and somewhat inexplicable. Haven’t gone 2 minutes since then without thinking back to this insane adventure.

Thank you to all involved, and most of all to Armand and Damien. What a journey!!

Submitted by Robert Shaff.